Seville Orange Marmalade

Marmalade

I had only had store bought marmalade until recently, and I just didn't care for it.  A few years ago, our friend of ours handed over a jar of her homemade marmalade.  It was completely delicious!  A lovely blend of tart, sweet, bitter, pure citrus deliciousness.  When another friend pointed out Seville oranges in the store and mentioned how good they were for marmalade, I thought, "What the heck, I''ll give it a try."  I really love preserves and jams, but am not yet an expert jammer.  A fan of the soft set, I like try to take my sweet confections off the stovetop before they set up very firmly at all.  Long story short, I did not hit the soft set sweet spot on this marmalade adventure, and instead created something that could be called Marmalade Gummy Candy.  It's not easily spreadable...though it can be forced to spread on a warm piece of toast but the flavor is damn good!  A must have for those that love the tart and bitter in life, with just a touch of sweet.

seeds of the Seville oranges are the pectin source: they are in a cheesecloth bag

I'm looking at this picture and realizing our stove top is due for a good cleaning!  (By the way...best and gentlest way to clean a stainless steel appliance?  Baking soda and water paste and a paper towel.  Rub in the direction of the grain of the metal, then wipe with damp sponge and dry.  Works great!)

Anyways, Seville Orange Marmalade recipe is as follows:  http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/02/seville-orange/ complete with the story of how Seville orange marmalade became popular.  I had no idea orange seeds contained so much pectin.  Next time, I will remove the seeds sooner and take the marmalade off the heat sooner and hopefully have the soft set marmalade I'm aiming for.  My marmalade is very tasty nonetheless.  Three cheers for the warm orange color of marmalade on a grey winter day!