How to make marmalade

Where the set comes from

Citrus flesh is comparatively low in pectin. The pith, the membranes and above all the pips are extremely high in it, and the traditional method extracts that pectin by simmering them, tied in muslin, alongside the peel and juice.

The bag comes out before potting, having given up everything it had. Squeezing it against the side of the pan as it is lifted releases a last thick, gluey stream of pectin, and it is worth doing.

Seville oranges also supply the acid the pectin needs and the bitterness that makes marmalade a breakfast preserve rather than a pudding. Sweet oranges have neither in sufficient quantity, which is why sweet-orange marmalade generally needs lemons and often added pectin.

The method

Proportions here decide set and texture. FoodHQ does not publish keeping times, jar-processing schedules or the acidity figures that decide whether a sealed preserve is safe on a shelf. Those are safety numbers set by a food safety authority rather than by a cookery writer. In the UK the Food Standards Agency is the authority — follow its guidance on sterilising, sealing and storing, and treat this page as the explanation of what is happening in the pan.

1. Scrub the fruit. Halve and squeeze it, catching every pip and every scrap of membrane.
2. Tie the pips, membranes and any thick pith into a square of muslin. This is the pectin bag.
3. Cut the peel to the thickness you want — fine shred, chunky, or thick slices. This decides the character of the finished marmalade entirely.
4. Put peel, juice, the bag and water into a preserving pan. Water is usually around twice the weight of the fruit, since the peel has to soften and much of it boils away.
5. Simmer, uncovered, until the peel is completely soft and squashes between finger and thumb. Two hours is not unusual. Undercooked peel stays tough for good once sugar goes in.
6. Lift out the bag, cool it enough to handle, and squeeze it hard back into the pan.
7. Add sugar — commonly twice the weight of the original fruit — dissolve it over a low heat, then boil hard and test on a frozen plate from about ten minutes. Stand for fifteen minutes before potting so the peel does not float.

Choices that change the result

The cut

Fine shred gives a delicate marmalade; thick-cut gives a chunky, chewy one. Neither is more correct.

Whole-fruit method

Simmer the oranges whole for two hours, then cool, halve, scoop out pips and pulp for the bag, and slice the softened peel. Much easier to cut, and a common shortcut.

Dark marmalade

Replace some of the sugar with muscovado, or add black treacle. Traditional in Scotland and much stronger.

Whisky, ginger or cardamom

All classic additions, stirred in off the heat or simmered with the peel.

Sweet oranges

Possible, and they will need several lemons and probably added pectin. The result is milder and less interesting.

Beyond Sevilles

• Three-fruit marmalade — orange, lemon and grapefruit — which is made from sweet fruit and available all year.
• Lemon marmalade, sharp and pale, which sets very readily.
• Lime marmalade, greenish and bitter, and excellent.
• Grapefruit marmalade, using ruby grapefruit for a pink colour and less bitterness.
• Kumquat marmalade, where the whole fruit is used and the pectin is abundant.
• Blood orange marmalade, which loses much of its colour to the heat but keeps a distinctive flavour.
• Freeze Sevilles whole in January and make marmalade whenever suits. This is the single most useful thing to know about the season.

Common questions