Marmalade Supplies January 2023
The planets aligned just before the New Year. In our January kitchen spheres of Seville oranges, blood oranges and pink grapefruit were in conjunction and made to collide and form the stellar success that is Diana Henry’s recipe for nick’s ‘good morning’ breakfast marmalade. You might be pay-walled at that link. Solution? Buy Diana’s book!
The ‘nick’ in question is Nick Selby from London-based deli Melrose and Morgan. Diana Henry acknowledges his inspiration and instruction for this, her favourite marmalade. Her version of the recipe appears in the first pages of ‘salt sugar smoke’, published in 2012 after three years in which the author preserved something every day. That mix of endeavour, research and experimentation resulted in a book which helps you - almost commands you to - produce something which, however small, will bring happiness to you, the maker, and all who share your bounty.
Marmalades - most of them - continue to remind me of early teenage years when I learned to love the sweet, syrupy candied oranges which glistened on Christmas nights as a treat after dinner. A sticky confection still with enough edge to think I was eating with grown-up taste.
The smell of hot, caramelising fruit and sugars is your immediate reward once the jam pan is bubbling away. The prospect of capturing that moment to be revisited each time a jar is opened is a delightful one.
I'd only dented the bag of Seville oranges for the three fruit marmalade. My mother would never forgive me if I failed to offer straight-down-the-line, bitter-sweet thick glaze for her breakfast toast so Fiona Beckett's 'best ever' recipe for Seville orange marmalade used up remaining fruit for what turned out to be a good yield.
Fiona Beckett has the recipe from her mum but versions are available all over the place. I like her method because it is kind to my increasingly painful arthritic thumbs. Cooking the fruit whole makes it blessedly easy to cut the peel into thin strips without straining fine-motor skills too far.
This year I finally remembered to scoop out a small pot of cut peel from the cooling mix before filling sterilised jars. Its sticky, sweet and tangy notes will find a place in home made nougat later on.
One vital thing with marmalade. Always spread generously. Small espresso shown for scale.
Don’t muck about too long into February before making your own batches.
Have fun with your labels but don’t fret about being too arty-farty. Just make sure it’s clear what the contents are and when they were made.
