Saturday 8 November 2014

Four Fruit Marmalade

Hello All, been a few days again since my last post, but I have been really busy.

Today my eldest granddaughter has been here making more presents. She is perfectly capable of  cooking and sewing independently, but likes to have company and the occasional word of encouragement.
 She has been making red onion chutney, marmalade and progressing with one of the quilts she is making. She prepared the fruit for the marmalade yesterday and left it to soak in water overnight. Using a recipe from an old recipe book of mine.
She bought the ingredients from Asda. I never go to Asda, but am very impressed with the quality of the fruit she bought - Grapefruits, oranges and lemons, all very juicy and fresh. We decide to double up the recipe to ensure she had enough for the little jars she has bought from Ikea. In truth she thought one and a half  times the recipe would be enough and I thought we should double it up.
 As she progressed with the marmalade it looked as though she was right and we might need to put a few more jars in the oven to warm and then some..!!
 Here is the recipe (not the double-up one!)
2 grapefruits
4 sweet oranges
4 lemons
1 and a half pounds cooking apples
6lbs sugar
7 pints water
Wash the fruit, cut the citrus fruits in six downwards and slice these segments thinly, discarding the pips We cut out the thick pith from the grapefruit as it would have made the marmalade bitter   (No I don't put the pips in a muslin cloth to cook with the juice !) Peel, core and chop the apples and put these in a large bowl with the other fruits and the water, cover and leave overnight.
The next day, pour all into a preserving pan and simmer until reduced by about half and the fruit is soft and tender. While this is happening, put the sugar in an  oven proof dish or bowl and put  the oven to warm. When the juice is reduced add the warm sugar. Put clean jars in the warm oven.  Boil the mixture rapidly for about 10 mins and then  keep checking to setting point. Pour the marmalade  into warmed jars and cover.
We priced the ingredients which for double the amount in the above recipe was £9.30 ( we used our own apples, so no cost there) and the yield was 24 lbs  - More than we expected!

Here is the finished product.
Enough for all the hampers she is making and lots to spare. We will look out the marmalade cake recipe tomorrow!
While she was making the marmalade and she and I were sitting either side of the table doing some hand sewing of the quilt, the chutney was bubbling away and reducing until it was nice and gloopy and then put into warmed jars.
I have been trying the odd recipe out that fellow bloggers have been sharing. I hope to tell you how I got on with these in my next post. I hope I will be posting again soon, however I have another busy week with a Remembrance Evening hosted by our Civic Society next week, which entails quite a bit of organising and running around. When this week is over I hope to get stuck into tidying up the garden and some serious Christmas present making. I am SO behind with this this year.
All for now
before I go a warm welcome to Karyn on Blog lovin
Back Soon
Gillx

21 comments:

  1. Your lined-up jars have the same allure as do mine (to me) when I make paté. I just wish I ate sugar.

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    1. Very satisfying sight isn't it ? Whatever the produce

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  2. Replies
    1. The colour is wonderful. We shall certainly make this recipe again. Though I don't think it will need to be for some time!

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  3. Certainly enough for a while! I bet there were lovely smells coming from your kitchen

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    1. Should last a goodly time. Better smells once the chutney was bottled though.

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  4. such a beautiful sight all the jars all lined up ,,,

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  5. Oooh that looks so scrumptious, Gill, and it must have been so companionable (is that a real word? :) with your GD

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    1. I think companionable is a perfect word. She is a very chatty and loving girl, great company.

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  6. That marmalade looks delicious. Sometimes it is so difficult to get marmalade to set.

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    1. This set very well and think the addition of the apples definitely helped. It is probably the nicest marmalade we have ever made.

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  7. What a lovely time you both had. I love thise little Ikea jars, they are the perfect size for a gift. I love homemade marmalade but these days there is only me eats it so its usually a jar of Roses Lime one.

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    1. They hold half a pound, but look smaller. I love lime marmalade, we thought of making it, but decided on this recipe.

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  8. Oh Frugal, how your book comment on my blog made me smile. Pigley Plays Truant was my son's favourite book and I read it to him every night when he was very small - still remember 'Lazy Little Pigley Wriggly, always stayed in bed to snore, after mother pig had called him (for he always snored before.) Happy memories - thanks for the memory!

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    1. Could this book have been the reason I am fond of poetry? When I was very small and on holiday, I remember scrambling down onto a sandy beach that had pebbles dotted here and there and thinking it was Piggly's beach. My mum said it probably was and maybe we might see him and his friends. I came upon a similar beach a few years ago, but my husband didn't share my joy!
      I used to read "Where the Wild things are" for my youngest daughter every night and " If you give a moose a muffin " to my granddaughter. As you say.. Happy memories.


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  9. I thought I was ambitious with my preserving........Busy little bee! xxx

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    1. She is working hard at her various projects. Mind you we didn't expect to produce that much marmalade!

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  10. Oh wow thank you for the recipe looks very tempting. I love the new photo with all the snow x

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  11. Eeek, all that sugar, or so I thought until I saw how many jars it's spread between. What a lovely idea making hampers full of home made produce. I do love marmalade but I've never made it myself.

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  12. I have never made marmalade , I will give it a try now xxx

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