Easy Orange Marmalade Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Do you have to soak oranges overnight for marmalade? ›

It doesn't matter if the water is hot or cold. You're going to soak the fruit in the water overnight. This will draw out the natural pectin in the fruit and help your marmalade to cook up nice and thick.

Marmalades contain the peel of the fruit as opposed to the whole fruit which jam is made from. Is marmalade just orange jam? No, orange jams use the entire fruit by crushing, pureeing and cooking, whereas marmalades consist of the citrus peel, (not the whole fruit).

Caster sugar is the one to avoid. The crystals are too fine, which is great for baking but they will dissolve too quickly when making marmalade. Granulated sugar is a good choice. The large crystals will dissolve quickly and cleanly, resulting in a clear, amber liquid that best shows off your perfectly floating peel.

Increase the heat and bring up to the boil but do not stir while the marmalade is boiling. After about 5 mins the marmalade will start to rise up the pan (it may drop back and then rise again) and larger bubbles will cover the surface.

This is a process of color loss and does not mean the jam or jelly is going bad. The browning starts at the top of the jar and slowly works its way down. If your jars were properly sealed and the seal is still intact, the jam or jelly, although not as pretty as it once was, is safe to eat.

Lemons contain a very high amount of pectin, which naturally sets and thickens the marmalade.

Don't overcook your marmalade

Lady Claire Macdonald, food writer: While you're testing your marmalade to see if it's set, take it off the boil. Otherwise you risk boiling away the water content, and ending up with a dark, over-thick marmalade that's dry and rubbery.

In terms of health, like its jam and jelly cousins, its healthiness largely depends on the amount of sweetness in the ingredients. However, marmalade's citrus base provides a boost of vitamin C and other antioxidants.

The Seville orange (the usual name in this context) is prized for making British orange marmalade, being higher in pectin than the sweet orange, and therefore giving a better set and a higher yield. Once a year, oranges of this variety are collected from trees in Seville and shipped to Britain to be used in marmalade.

Why is orange marmalade not called jelly? ›

The high pectin content of the fruits used in jellies (for example, apple and quince) and marmalades (usually citrus) means that the larger amount of liquid will still gel to form the jelly. The difference between a marmalade and a jelly is that the pulp is strained out of a jelly, and left in a marmalade.

To prevent scum forming on the top of your jam, add a knob of butter to your fruit at the same time as you add the sugar, we recommend 20 grams per 1 kilogram of fruit. Note: Scum is nothing sinister, it is only air bubbles that are created during the cooking process, they will not ruin your jam/marmalade if they form.

The white pith of Seville oranges and Grapefruits clears once cooked so there is no need to remove it. If pith is discarded, the balance of the recipe will be compromised, affecting the set as pith is an invaluable source of pectin.

As I noted above, almost all fruit contains some acid, but I always add lemon juice to a jam mixture to ensure the acidity is high enough for gelling and food safety (and because I like the flavor).

If you use oranges with the peel, and you want to eliminate the bitterness, prick them with a fork and soak them for three days in a pot full of water, which you will change every day. In this way the oranges will lose the bitter part that many do not like.

Adding acid in the form of fresh lemon or lime juice is important for two reasons: First, it makes for a more well-balanced jam, returning some of the acidity lost with the addition of sugar. Second, pectin needs acid to properly activate, or firm up.

The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It is also made from lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, sweet oranges, bergamots, and other citrus fruits, or a combination. Citrus is the most typical choice of fruit for marmalade, though historically the term has often been used for non-citrus preserves.