Seville Orange Marmalade

I fulfilled a long held promise last week. A month or so ago I came across Seville oranges for sale at the Farmers Market in Hastings, Hawkes Bay. Yay! I was finally able to make Seville Orange Marmalade. (My English friend Di told me many years ago, 'the only marmalade worth eating is Seville Orange Marmalade', but until recently I had never seen Seville oranges for sale here).
This, my first attempt, produced a fantastic result. My medication prevents me from enjoying my Grapefruit marmalade. Now, there are no limitations to the amount of marmalade I can smear on my Burgen toast. So delicious, so satisfying! It took an afternoon to make it and oh the mess. But it was a totally worth it!
For making - I followed the sellers instructions.
 - Cut oranges into quarters, remove seeds and these put into a muslin bag.
 - Weigh fruit.
 - Weigh an equal amount of sugar and set aside.
 - Place fruit and seed bag into a large pot and (just) cover with water.
 - Boil for about 30 minutes, by then the skins should be soft.
 - Cool, remove muslin bag - then toss fruit into a processor and pulse into little pieces.
 - Watch this step as you don't want to process to mush, it should be just chunky.
 - Place fruit back into pot and bring back to boil.
 - Add equal amounts of sugar to fruit. (Or less if you like it more bitter).
 - Stir gently to combine. Bring back to boil.
 - Boil mixture for about 20 minutes (watch it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan) and start testing for setting.
 - Boil until set.
 - Cool, put into sterilised jars seal when cool.

Sticky yummy stuff

Oops! Spot the spelling mistake

What a mess I made, it took ages to clean up

So satisfying to see all the jars lined up

Preserving and pickling stuff

There is a real resurgence of people interested in preserving now. We all took it for granted when we were younger. It was something our mothers and grandmothers generally did. Most homes in the 50's and 60's had a lovely supply of fresh produce from garden fruit trees and well tended vegetable gardens. And of course, bottling and preserving was one of the ways to ensure nothing was wasted. It meant the pantry was always full of very inexpensive jars of jam and fruit, chutneys, pickles and sauces to consume and gift throughout the year.

I knew all the jars I saved would be handy

In the 1970's and 1980's we went through the deep freezing craze. We owned one such humungous deep freeze. For me, it was always a bit of a challenge to retrieve the items from the very bottom. Usually a large beast would be purchased, chopped up, packaged and stored. By the time you got down to the Spanish chops at the bottom of the freezer you were well sick of the lamb. And don't ask what happened to the cheap bits of bagged beef!
I don't know too many people who go to the trouble of packing their freezers with half a beast or one ton of fruit and vegetables nowadays. But it is good to see the massive revival in jam making, pickling and preserving. It is fashionable again, "to do it yourself"....
I would have a least 4-5 jars of various chutney, pickle, mustard and jams (open) in my fridge. I love sauces and pickles and adore it with crackers and cheese, smeared on vegetable pies, slapped on a meat sandwich or drizzled over my homemade chips.

The huge bag of cloves and peppercorns in my tomato sauce mix

This year a request came from my hubby to make Nana Spence's tomato sauce (long story and no direct relation to me). He raved about it - so the recipe was duly acquired. I am not sure how to obtain permission to post the recipe on my blog as sadly Nana Spence is long gone, but I am working on it.
I also made my mothers green pickle which ended up a bit of the Edmond's recipe and a bit of what I remember she used to throw in -  namely green runner beans, cucumber and cauliflowers from the garden.
To make the tomato sauce we had to purchase a very expensive, super, duper, shiny mouli. We also had to buy sauce bottles. So I think my first batch of sauce was probably a little costly - future batches will be cheaper (gift recipients - please return my little bottles for next years batch!).
I made my marmalade this year from beautiful, juicy grapefruit donated by The Redcliffe Homestead B & B in Taradale, Hawkes Bay. Thank you Sue, it is especially delicious.
I get so much pleasure looking at all the little jars and bottles lined up in my pantry. It makes me smile and the hours and hours of work are so well worth it.....

Preserved lemons for Paula

Preserving lemons happens to be one of my favourite pastimes. This year our large old tree is laden and ready to ripen and I can't wait to get preserving. I have saved all my large jars in anticipation of the event.
My friend Paula called me wanting to know my tried and true recipe for preserving lemons and was it on my blog? I thought it was but upon further investigation Paula was proved right and I was wrong, so here is the recipe that never fails to make me happy. They are inexpensive and effortless to create and they can make that extra difference to so many dishes.

Preserved Lemons

(from Made in Morocco – Julie le Clerc Pub 2004)

Pick heaps of lemons. 

Sterilise a number of jars (to sterilise lids place in boiling water).

Juice a pile of lemons (you are going to use the juice to fill the space in your jars)

Take clean lemons and cut into quarters without cutting all the way through (leaving the base intact).

Cram coarse sea or rock salt generously into the cuts of each lemon.

Pack the reshaped lemons into an appropriately sized jar, pressing down well. (I use tongs to do this and my little wooden pastry shaper to push them down as it is easy to burn yourself). 

Top with a little more salt (don't be afraid to be generous with the salt) and fill the remaining space in jar with lemon juice. 

Seal the jar and store in a cool dark place for one month before using.

Shake the jar every day for the first week.

Remove lemons as required with a fork so as not to contaminate the remaining lemons.

Before using, rinse lemons with water to remove excess saltiness before adding to food, remove the lemon pith before using preserved skin.

Refrigerate once opened.