The oranges for orange marmalade should be dense and fleshy in appearance. If you lightly squeeze an orange in your hand, you can feel the dry orange, it is lighter and feels like cotton inside. You can't squeeze a lot of juice out of such an orange.

Wash the oranges and squeeze the juice out of them using any suitable method. If you squeeze oranges using a manual juicer like the one in the photo, you can first hold the orange under hot water and roll it on the table, so there will be more juice and it will be easier to squeeze out.

Divide the juice approximately equally into two containers. This can be done by eye. Add sugar to one part and mix. The amount of sugar can be adjusted to taste. If you plan to roll the finished marmalade in sugar, then take a little less than a glass, if not, then you can take a full glass, and if the oranges are very sour, then a heaped glass.

Add agar-agar to another part of the juice and mix. Leave for 5-10 minutes.

Bring the juice and sugar to a boil. Add the juice with agar-agar into this syrup, stirring. Cook the mixture for 3 minutes and remove from heat.

Let the mixture cool slightly and pour into silicone molds. It should be borne in mind that mixtures with agar-agar harden quickly even at room temperature, so you should not wait for complete cooling. Otherwise, the mixture will harden right in the ladle and it will be difficult to pour.

Let cool slightly. Then put it in the refrigerator for half an hour or an hour and remove the marmalade from the molds.

We found and tested for you an old recipe for real English orange marmalade, which Paddington loves so much. It turned out that this is not at all difficult and not only Peruvian bears can do it. The main thing is to follow the recipe exactly.

We will need:

• Two large oranges;
• One lemon;

• 500 milliliters of water;
• 700 grams of sugar.

Procedure:

Cut the oranges and lemon into halves and squeeze the juice out of them.

Carefully scrape out the pulp and white films from the squeezed orange and lemon halves and tie them in a gauze knot.

Cut the orange and lemon skins into thin strips.

Place the chopped skins, a gauze bag with pulp and films, the squeezed juice and all the water in a saucepan and leave this mixture overnight at room temperature, let it brew.

The next day, bring the mixture to a boil and simmer over low heat for one hour. Perhaps this is the most important stage of marmalade making - at this time, pectin, which is richly contained in the skins and films of citrus fruits, will turn into liquid and then give the marmalade the correct consistency. After an hour, remove the gauze bundle, cool slightly, squeeze thoroughly into a saucepan, and discard the cake.

Pour all the sugar into the resulting brew, mix thoroughly, bring to a boil and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the temperature of the syrup reaches 110 degrees. And if you don’t have a culinary thermometer, then drop a little marmalade onto a saucer and, after the drop has cooled completely, tilt the saucer to the side - the finished marmalade will not run, but will stretch slowly and leisurely.

Bright orange slices with a slight sourness can be purchased in the store, but homemade orange marmalade will be much tastier and healthier. Recipes suggest using gelatin, agar-agar and pectin as thickeners, or you can make thick orange jam using only citrus fruits and sugar. After all, this is precisely the meaning (thick orange jam) of the word marmalade in English-speaking countries.

The most common type of thickener, which can be purchased without any problems at any grocery store, is gelatin.

To prepare orange marmalade based on it, the proportions of the ingredients will be as follows:

• 4 oranges with a total weight of 1 kg;
• 250 g granulated sugar;
• 35 g gelatin.

Step-by-step preparation:

1. Prepare gelatin as indicated in the preparation instructions. Typically, this requires soaking the product in water for a while, taking it in a ratio of 1:3, and then melting the swollen thickener in a microwave oven or in a steam bath.
2. Meanwhile, thinly zest two oranges so that the white part remains intact, otherwise the finished marmalade will be bitter. Next, squeeze the juice out of all the fruits using any available method. You should get 200 ml of juice. If there is less liquid, you can add water to the specified volume.
3. Boil the zest, juice and sugar over the fire for about three minutes after boiling. Then strain the mixture and mix with the prepared gelatin. Pour the warm marmalade in its liquid state into molds (shaped silicone ice molds are good for this) and place in the refrigerator. After hardening, the marmalade is ready.

Gelatin marmalade is stored in the refrigerator. You can’t roll it with sugar, because it will simply melt even in the cold. For greater attractiveness, curly marmalades can be rolled in coconut flakes.

How to make with pectin

The ideal marmalade - as stable as store-bought marmalade, which can be rolled in sugar - can only be obtained by using fruit puree and pectin as a thickener.

For this orange marmalade you need to take:

• 500 g orange puree;
• 500 g sugar;
• 50 g powdered sugar;
• 100 g glucose syrup (can be replaced with invert syrup or molasses);
• 12 g citrus pectin;
• 8 ml lemon juice.

Cooking instructions:

1. The most difficult and tedious process in making marmalade will be making orange puree. To do this, you need to peel the oranges, divide them into slices, remove the white films from each of them and remove the seeds. After this, puree them with a blender.
2. Mix powdered sugar with pectin. This is necessary so that the pectin does not curl into flakes, but is evenly distributed and dissolved in the puree.
3. Place orange puree in a vessel with a thick bottom and walls on the fire. When its temperature reaches 40 degrees, add powdered sugar with pectin, stir and boil.
4. Pour glucose syrup into the boiling mass and add sugar. Next, boil the mixture with continuous stirring to 106 degrees. After reaching the required temperature, add lemon juice, stir and cook for about another minute.
5. Pour the warm marmalade into the prepared pan. The silicone one should be greased with vegetable oil, and the iron one should be lined with oiled parchment. After hardening (this will take 5-6 hours), remove the marmalade from the mold with a knife dipped in vegetable oil, cut into pieces and roll in sugar.

With agar-agar

The gelling properties of agar-agar appear already at 40 degrees, so if you make marmalade based on it, the homemade sweet will not melt like jelly, even if it is at room temperature for a long time.

The composition of this delicacy is as follows:

• 200 ml of freshly squeezed orange juice;
• 100 g granulated sugar;
• 7 g agar-agar powder.

How to make orange marmalade with agar-agar:

1. Mix ¾ of the total amount of orange juice with agar-agar and leave for about 30-40 minutes.
2. After the specified time, combine the remaining 50 ml of juice with sugar and bring to a boil. Pour agar-agar diluted with juice into the boiling syrup in a thin stream, stir and cook for 3-4 minutes after boiling.
3. Crush the mixture from the stove, let it stand for 10-15 minutes, and then pour it into silicone molds and let it stabilize in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

To obtain a sugar crust, the finished marmalade can be rolled in sugar several times and dried at room temperature.

Orange peel marmalade

Orange peels, which most people simply throw away, can be turned into delicious orange marmalade.

To prepare this delicacy at home you will need:

• 500 g orange peels;
• 300 g granulated sugar.

Sequence of actions:

1. Cover the orange peels with water and bring to a boil. Let the water bubble for three to four minutes, then drain it, add new crust and boil again. Repeat the boiling procedure a total of three times, always changing the water. This is done to remove the bitterness.
2. After the third boil, grind the rinds through a meat grinder using a wire rack with small holes. Mix the crushed peel with sugar, add 100 ml of the broth in which it was boiled, and cook everything for about 25-30 minutes, stirring continuously so that the marmalade does not burn.
3. Cover a baking sheet with parchment, sprinkle it generously with sugar, and place a mixture of sugar and orange peels on top in an even layer. Place everything in the oven, preheated to 60 degrees, and dry thoroughly, but so that the marmalade remains elastic.
4. Cut the finished marmalade into pieces, roll in sugar and store in a hermetically sealed container.

Cooking with Yulia Vysotskaya

Homemade orange marmalade according to the recipe of Yulia Vysotskaya consists of pieces of citrus fruits in sweet syrup, more like jam. Of course, fans of store-bought marmalade will not like this option, but fans of homemade jam will like a small jar of such marmalade.

Proportions of sugar and fruit:

• 1000 g oranges;
• 900 g sugar.

Cooking technology:

1. Soak the oranges for 48 hours in cold water. During this time, the peel will become wet and its pores will fully open.
2. Then drain the water, rinse the fruits, place in a saucepan with thick walls and bottom, add water so that it only slightly covers the oranges, bring to a boil and cook over low heat, avoiding rapid boiling, for 3-4 hours until soft.
3. Remove the oranges from the liquid, cool completely, and cut into quarters to make it easier to remove the seeds and membranes. Then cut into cubes with a side of 1 cm.
4. Mix the crushed oranges with sugar, put them back into a saucepan with a thick bottom, if necessary, pour a little orange juice into the bottom so that the marmalade does not burn, and cook for half an hour, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved.
5. Place the finished marmalade into small sterile glass jars and seal tightly with lids. Store homemade orange treat in the refrigerator.

From orange juice

The basis for orange marmalade can be either the whole fruit or the peels, but most often fresh juice is used for preparation.

So, using fresh juice, you can prepare a delicious chewing orange marmalade by taking:

• 200 ml juice;
• 400 g sugar;
• 20 g gelatin.

Progress:

1. Pour half the juice over the gelatin and leave for half an hour so that the thickener is well saturated with moisture.
2. Mix the remaining juice with sugar and boil the syrup. Bring the mixture until all crystals are completely dissolved and boil.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat and pour the swollen gelatin into it, stir until smooth and homogeneous. Then pour into molds and let harden.

This marmalade is viscous and slightly sticky, so you can roll it in sugar without fear of it melting.

Orange-lemon treat

This homemade delicacy not only has an excellent taste, but also an original presentation in the form of citrus slices.

To prepare orange and lemon slices you will need:

• 150 ml orange juice;
• 150 ml lemon juice;
• 250 g sugar;
• 50 g glucose syrup (can be replaced with invert syrup or molasses);
• 15 g apple pectin.

Cooking method:

1. Since the peel will be used for food, wash the oranges and lemons thoroughly with a brush. Then cut each fruit in half and carefully select the pulp from which to squeeze out the required amount of juice.
2. Mix 50 g of sugar thoroughly with pectin. Combine the rest of the sugar with lemon and orange juice and glucose syrup. Place this mixture on the fire, bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes.
3. Then, with continuous stirring, add the sugar-pectin mixture, let the marmalade simmer for 7-10 minutes and pour it into molds made of citrus peel.
4. When the marmalade hardens, cut it into slices and roll in sugar. A tasty and original homemade delicacy is ready to serve.

With carrots and apples

When you want a little variety, you can make a bright orange marmalade with apples and carrots.

This dessert includes:

• 2 medium oranges;
• 2 apples;
• 2 carrots;
• 270 g granulated sugar;
• 50 g glucose syrup;
• 6 g pectin;
• 2 g agar-agar;
• 4 ml lemon juice.

Algorithm of actions:

1. Peel the orange, remove white membranes and seeds, remove the top layer of skin from the carrots, remove the seed pod from the apples and cut off the peel. Use a blender to puree citrus fruits, root vegetables and fruits.
2. Weigh 250 g of the finished puree, add glucose syrup and 200 g of sugar to it. Stir this mixture well and boil until homogeneous. Then cool slightly to about 60 degrees and add the remaining 70 g of sugar mixed with pectin and agar-agar. Cook the marmalade until its temperature approaches 106 degrees.
3. Quickly transfer the hot marmalade into the prepared baking tray and smooth it out, leaving to stabilize. After hardening, cut into cubes and roll in fine sugar.

English recipe

As legend has it, one enterprising grocer decided to sell the bitter Valencia oranges by masking their bitterness with sugar, and thus English orange marmalade was born - a thick jam served with toast for breakfast.

To do this, you need to prepare:

• 6 medium oranges;
• 1 lemon;
• 500 ml water;
• 1500 g sugar.

Prepare marmalade as follows:

1. Cut the peel of two oranges into thin noodles. Next, prepare juice from all citrus fruits using a juicer.
2. Mix the juice with water, add the noodles from the peels, and you can also put the pomace there, wrapped in a gauze bag. Over medium heat, stirring occasionally, cook the mixture for about two hours, until the volume is reduced by about half.
3. Next, remove the pomace from the pan and add sugar. Boil the marmalade for a quarter of an hour, then drop a little onto the saucer; if after five minutes, when you tilt the plate, the surface of the drop wrinkles - the marmalade is ready. In case of a different outcome, continue to simmer for some time.
4. Pour the finished marmalade into sterile jars for further storage. Although no thickeners are used in the recipe, the product has a fairly dense consistency. Often it has to be cut with a knife.

The hole at first went straight, smooth, like a tunnel, and then suddenly dropped steeply down. Before Alice could even blink an eye, she began to fall, as if into a deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, only she had enough time to come to her senses and think about what would happen next. At first she tried to see what was waiting for her below, but it was dark and she saw nothing. Then she began to look around. The walls of the well were lined with cabinets and bookshelves; Here and there pictures and maps hung on nails. Flying past one of the shelves, she grabbed a can from it. The jar said “ORANGE MARMALADE”, but alas! it turned out to be empty. Alice was afraid to throw the can down - lest she kill someone! On the fly, she managed to stuff it into some closet.

What treats are most often associated with Carroll's Alice? Of course, puddings! “Alice, this is pudding! Pudding, it's Alice! I wrote about them in one of my old posts, even before my passion for British cuisine took on its current proportions: Now I would conduct this research in a completely different way, but still, that post has value precisely as a first acquaintance. Which is symbolic in the context of the book :) Returning to other food from Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, the next one that probably comes to mind is the pies marked “Eat Me.” Here, too, not everything is so simple and deserves a separate story. But not this time :) What else? In fact, if we read the text carefully, we will find that there are much more references to various interesting foods in it than it seems. This begins already on the first pages, as we see from the quote. This is where we will stay today, because orange marmalade is a topic that deserves a separate discussion.

© A. H. Watson (1939)

"Alice in Wonderland" is usually perceived as a very strange fairy tale. But it must be said that for a Russian-speaking reader it is even “stranger” than for an Englishman. At least, if we talk about the English - Lewis Carroll's contemporaries. In general, probably, for anyone who is far from the original context, this book is full of additional oddities. And the context is this: the realities of Oxford and its environs in the 1860s.

We all know how Winnie the Pooh appeared: Alan Alexander Milne began to compose stories for his son Christopher Robin, making the boy himself and his toys the heroes. By and large, Alice in Wonderland was created according to the same principle: Lewis Carroll came up with a story for Alice Liddell, making her the main character and naturally weaving various details familiar to her into the plot. Starting with the nimble rabbits that swarmed the surrounding meadows, and continuing with marmalade.

To this day, orange marmalade is one of the main gastronomic associations with Oxford. You can call it a local specialty. Although, of course, this is such a very national thing, well known to all Englishmen.

The product in question should not be confused with jam - it is marmalade in the Old English sense of the word. To be honest, I myself was perplexed before: why “marmalade”? I thought that it just happened historically, and there was no need to look for special meanings here. And only when I decided to cook it myself, I realized that the connection with marmalade in our usual format is as direct as it gets. In essence, this is what it is: fruit syrup, gelled by natural pectin contained in citrus fruits. That is, the correct texture of the product is important here. Orange peels in syrup are not marmalade. Orange peels in orange jelly - yes.

The composition is very simple: citruses, sugar and water. But to get the right result, it is important to observe proportions and technology. Otherwise, everything is elementary and relaxed. Cooking is somewhat extended in time, but processes requiring active participation are reduced to a minimum. Most of the time is spent infusing and cooking.

As for the composition, classic orange marmalade is made from bitter Seville oranges, and only from them. In their raw form they are of little use for food, but as such a savory preserve they are quite suitable. If you live in Europe, you'll have an easier time getting your hands on the right "inedible" oranges. In Russia, this is unrealistic (to put it mildly), but this is not a reason to despair. To make our marmalade close in taste to the original, you can add other citrus fruits to the oranges, with a more pronounced bitterness - grapefruit, first of all. And lemon is present in most recipes anyway. White films and seeds from all the fruits used will also add bitterness. But I will talk about this consistently in the recipe itself - my version is specifically designed to use the sweet oranges we are familiar with.

It's good if you have a cooking thermometer. But you can do it the old fashioned way, without it - below I will explain how.

Important: you cannot reduce the amount of sugar! I understand that the number may scare someone, but in this case it is a technological necessity: to get the correct marmalade consistency, you need a syrup of a certain thickness. Otherwise, it simply does not gel properly, and you will end up with a thin syrup with candied orange peel dangling in it. Thick syrup is the basis of this product. Fruits serve only to give it taste and aroma, and also as a source of pectin. In general, I cannot guarantee that experiments in favor of dieting will be successful. This is a classic case where it's best to simply cut down on your portion size. This marmalade has a rich taste. It is spread on toast in a very thin layer, and not spooned on :)

ORANGE MARMALADE

Ingredients:
1.5 oranges (approximately 350 g)
1 lemon
1/2 small grapefruit (zest only)
700 g sugar
500 ml water

Preparation:

1. First, prepare the citrus fruits. Cut oranges and lemons in half and squeeze out the juice very carefully. We scrape out the remaining white films from the orange halves, but do not throw them away, but save them. Divide each half into 4 parts. If the peels are thick, cut off the top layer of the white part (not all). Cut into strips as thin as possible. We do the same with grapefruit zest (no juice is needed, you can just eat the grapefruit).

The zest can be immediately placed in a saucepan, in which the marmalade will then be cooked. Add lemon and orange juice there. Add half a liter of water.
Wrap the squeezed lemon halves together with white films and orange pits in gauze and tie with thread. We send this gauze bag there, into the pan. The end of the thread can be tied to the handle of the pan to make it easier to remove later. Cover with a lid and leave to sit overnight at room temperature.

2. The next day, put the pan on the fire, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low. Cook for about an hour, at a constant but not strong boil. During this time, the crusts should become translucent, and the liquid should evaporate by at least a third. But the main thing that happens at this stage is that pectin is released from citrus fruits. So this is a very important stage, it is not worth shortening it in time.

3. After about an hour, remove the pan from the heat, take out the gauze bag and wait until it cools down a little so that you can safely pick it up. This bag needs to be squeezed out properly (it is convenient to do this with latex gloves), since it contains a lot of pectin, which we do not want to lose. In general, we squeeze it out as well as we can. After which, of course, we throw away the contents of the bag (and the gauze can be washed and used in the future).

4. We look at the consistency of the liquid remaining after cooking. For me it boiled away a lot - noticeably more than a third. So I added a couple of tablespoons of water at this stage - just to make it easier for the sugar to dissolve. But in general, moderation is important here; you shouldn’t add a lot of water.

5. Add sugar and stir. If our preparation is still warm, this is good - the sugar will dissolve faster. Place the pan on medium heat and heat. Important: sugar must be completely dissolved before boiling.

6. Next, if you have a thermometer, everything is simple: cook the marmalade until its temperature reaches 105 ºС. This does not happen instantly, it should definitely boil for about 10 minutes, but the exact time depends on the strength of the boil and the initial consistency of the syrup.
If you don’t have a thermometer, your grandmother’s old method will come to the rescue - the hardening test. In this case, it is worth putting a couple of saucers in the freezer in advance so that they are properly cooled. To check readiness, drop a little marmalade onto a cold saucer. When completely cooled, it should solidify. If the orange syrup remains watery, cook the marmalade a little more, then repeat the test. And so on until the desired result is obtained.

7. Pour the finished marmalade into jars. Once completely cooled, it will harden and be ready to eat.

Serve with toasted toast and combine with butter if desired. We sympathize with Alice, who did not have this luxury.

© W. H. Walker

However, this is not the only option for using orange marmalade. If you find that you have a lot of cooked food, there is a great way to recycle the excess! And do it in a very English, and moreover, literary way. I’ll tell you how in my next post. Don't switch!