I haven't made marmalade for a couple of years, The last time I made it I was meant to be giving a "masterclass" to Claire Dugue - but we started drinking and laughing and forgot about the marmalade which turned into an orangey glue... it loosened up a bit after a few months apparently, but I was deeply ashamed of this terrible production.
This year, feeling ashamed at having had to BUY marmalade, I made a vast quantity. I made two very large jars to give to aging parents (Stella and Peter) and the rest about 450 g jars - 18 of them. I used about 3kgs of oranges, and about 5.5kg of sugar. I do not like to use 1:2 ratio as it is much too sweet to my taste - I also use a mix of granulated sugar (about 70-80%) with dark muscovado sugar. I bought a 5kg bag of sugar for £4.95 - and the oranges were about 65p per kg (I bought about 3.5kg - the rest I used elsewhere). The only other ingredient was a lemon and the muscavado sugar, say £1.50 in all... and of course the gas used to cook it. I started at about 11.30 this morning and finished at about 5.15 - so approximately 5 hours work really... but some of the boiling time was usefully occupied doing other things.
So, 20 jars of marmalade for £8.50 - about 45p a jar,. not a bad bargain at all - bet I could sell them for £2.50 or so if I put pretty labels and covers on them.... but there's no outlet for that, unless I revive my market stall. But it would be £40 for 5 hours work - £8.00 an hour. Quite a good whack locally. I doubt if I could make any other product quite so cheaply... apple chutney perhaps - and if I ever had a bumper quince crop...
The trick that has really made marmalade making a joy, is being able to wash the grotty old pots in the dishwasher - spending hours scrubbing at them and drying them in the oven was a terrible bore.
This year, feeling ashamed at having had to BUY marmalade, I made a vast quantity. I made two very large jars to give to aging parents (Stella and Peter) and the rest about 450 g jars - 18 of them. I used about 3kgs of oranges, and about 5.5kg of sugar. I do not like to use 1:2 ratio as it is much too sweet to my taste - I also use a mix of granulated sugar (about 70-80%) with dark muscovado sugar. I bought a 5kg bag of sugar for £4.95 - and the oranges were about 65p per kg (I bought about 3.5kg - the rest I used elsewhere). The only other ingredient was a lemon and the muscavado sugar, say £1.50 in all... and of course the gas used to cook it. I started at about 11.30 this morning and finished at about 5.15 - so approximately 5 hours work really... but some of the boiling time was usefully occupied doing other things.
So, 20 jars of marmalade for £8.50 - about 45p a jar,. not a bad bargain at all - bet I could sell them for £2.50 or so if I put pretty labels and covers on them.... but there's no outlet for that, unless I revive my market stall. But it would be £40 for 5 hours work - £8.00 an hour. Quite a good whack locally. I doubt if I could make any other product quite so cheaply... apple chutney perhaps - and if I ever had a bumper quince crop...
The trick that has really made marmalade making a joy, is being able to wash the grotty old pots in the dishwasher - spending hours scrubbing at them and drying them in the oven was a terrible bore.
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