It is the season for Seville oranges and we are in a marmalade state of mind. After years of a lot of sticky preparation work, Mum has discovered the joys of Marmade (available from well-known supermarkets in the UK) – tins of ready-prepared Seville oranges that can just be added to sugar to make marmalade that tastes as good as the long-winded version.

I was reading about the history of marmalade the other day (see http://www.dalemainmarmaladeawards.co.uk/cms/about-marmalade/the-history-of-marmalade.php for a useful summary of the origins of marmalade) and I was interested to see that it has its origins in a quince preserve, and that the word ‘marmalade’ developed from the Portuguese word for quince ‘marmelo’. There is a myth that the word marmalade was invented by the servants of Mary Queen of Scots when she was a child in France. The story goes that the little girl was ill while staying at her grandmother’s chateau in Joinville and the cook was looking for something to tempt her appetite because ‘Marie est malade’. When Mary became the Scottish queen she brought the recipe with her to Scotland and was very proud that it was named after her. Sadly, this more romantic origin for marmalade is not true (but it is a great story).

Marmalade has therefore been popular in the UK, in various guises, for centuries so it is not surprising that our own Mrs Beeton devotes a whole chapter to recipes for marmalade (Chapter 3 in Mrs Beeton’s Jam-making and Preserves). For Mrs Beeton making marmalade is more of a technique than a specific orange-based preserve and she includes recipes for marmalades made using a wide variety of fruit, including tomatoes! She provides four versions of an orange-based recipe – Marmalade I, Marmalade II (reproduced below), Orange Marmalade (Transparent) and Orange Marmalade with Honey.

ORANGE MARMALADE II

Have ready 24 Seville oranges, their weight in preserving sugar, and 2 pints of cold water.

Take off the rinds of the oranges, divide the pulp into small pieces, and remove the pips. Boil the rinds in water for 2 hours, changing it two or three times to reduce the bitter flavour; when quite tender, drain well, and shred them finely. Boil the sugar and water to a syrup, skimming well mean­while, then add the pulp and shredded rinds. Boil gently for about ½ an hour, or until the marmalade sets quickly when tested on a cold plate, then pour into pots and cover down with paper brushed over on both sides with white of egg. Keep the marmalade in a cool, dry place until re­quired for use.

The book also includes a recipe for Quince Marmalade and, harking back to the historical origins of marmalades, Mrs Beeton includes recipes for preserving oranges that are rarely made today. For example:

ORANGES AND LEMONS, TO PRESERVE WHOLE

To 1 lb. of oranges allow 2 lb. of sugar and 1 pint of water; to lemons add 3 lb. of sugar and 1½ pints of water.

At one end of each orange make a hole sufficiently large to admit a small spoon, and scoop out the pulp and juice. Cover the rinds with cold water, and let them remain for 3 days, changing the water two or three times daily. Drain, place them in the preserving-pan with sufficient cold water to cover them, simmer gently until tender, and drain well. Boil the sugar and water to a syrup, add the juice and pulp, boil gently for about 15 minutes, and pour the whole over the oranges. When quite cold, replace in the pan, simmer very gently for about ½ an hour, then turn into an earthenware vessel. On the following day boil up the syrup and pour it over the oranges; this process should be repeated on two or three consecutive days until the rinds are quite clear. Fill the oranges with syrup, place them in wide-necked jars, pour the remainder of the syrup over them, and cover closely. Store in a cool, dry place.

As described in a previous blog post (see http://www.wordstothewise.co.uk/blog/my-life-in-sandwiches-part-1), marmalade makes a delicious breakfast sandwich, particularly when eaten on a West Dorset beach. Of course a certain bear from darkest Peru had a penchant for marmalade sandwiches. Appropriately enough the new Paddington film was released at the beginning of marmalade season (in January) and it has received rave reviews. However, I don’t care how good the new film is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-d-V9jXYDE  (and apparently it is great fun, even for grown-ups, particularly those grown-ups who loved the Paddington stories when they were children like me!), Paddington bear will always be this Paddington for me, narrated by the wonderful Michael Horden, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNZ3i9utHl4 Indeed, Michael Horden’s voice could be described as marmalade-like – rich and fruity!

When autumn is nigh my mother is overcome by the squirreling urge. The garden, local fruit farms and the surrounding countryside are bursting with fruit and vegetables that are crying out to be stashed away for winter. Obviously, these days, some garden produce goes into the freezer, but Mum is also a keen jam-maker and preserver. As a child, autumn walks always required a pocket full of plastic bags in case we came across blackberries for bramble jelly, sloes for sloe gin or elderberries for jelly and wine. I also have fond memories of coming home from school to a kitchen filled with fragrant steam as the preserving pan on the stove blipped and blurped with gently simmering concoctions (Mum knows when her jam is ready because it makes a ‘knocking’ noise in the pan as the mixture thickens). Muslin jelly bags hung from an old mangle frame so that the clear juice could drip slowly into the bowl beneath.

It is clear that there is enormous satisfaction and a sense of wellbeing to be gained from shelves full of neatly labelled jars filled with a range of jewel-coloured jams, jellies, chutneys and sauces. Home-made jams and preserves are a defence against the dark fruitless days of winter, a taste of summer and a great gift for friends and family all year round.

Our new Vintage Words of Wisdom title is Mrs Beeton’s Jam-making and Preserves. This book includes many recipes that my mother has made over the years, including sloe gin, marmalade, pickled pears (my Dad’s favourite – fantastic with cold meats) and blackberry (bramble) jelly (my favourite – perfect with scones and clotted cream). However, Mrs Beeton seems to have missed out one of our all-time family favourites (one could say it is a family addiction) – Mum’s famous rhubarb sauce. Therefore, I have included the recipe here.

Rhubarb sauce (this recipe was originally taken from a ‘cut-out and keep’ leaflet in Woman magazine, 17 June 1972, but we have never seen it since and Mum has adapted it over the years).

Makes about 4 pints:

3 lb of rhubarb;

1 lb of raisins (using fewer raisins makes the recipe more savoury if you find it too sweet);

2 lb of brown sugar (you can use white sugar but brown sugar improves the colour);

½ pint of spiced vinegar (there is a recipe for spiced vinegar in our Mrs Beeton book but you can also buy it ready-made these days);

½ lb of red onions (optional but they make a more savoury sauce. Also, white onions are fine but red onions improve the colour).

Method:

Wash the rhubarb, trim off and discard the ends. Cut the rhubarb flesh into 1 inch lengths. Stone the raisins (seedless may be used if preferred). Dissolve the sugar in the spiced vinegar over a gentle heat, then simmer for 10 minutes. Add the prepared rhubarb, raisins and onions (if you are using them) and cook gently until the mixture is thick. Put into a liquidiser and blend or pass through a sieve to form a smooth purée. Pour into warm, dry bottles or jars. Seal when cold. This sauce improves with age so resist the temptation to try it until it has sat on the shelf for a couple of months or more. If you like to re-use jam jars remember to use a jam pot cover (waxed paper or transparent) each time as, if you don’t, the acid in pickles, chutneys and sauces will gradually eat away holes in a tin jam-jar lid if it is used regularly with vinegar-based contents!

Rhubarb sauce is great with meat pies (for example, corned beef tart or Cornish pasties), lovely with quiche and other cheese dishes, and it makes a fantastic sandwich with some liver sausage or other cold meat. It even works with smoked mackerel or other strongly flavoured fish. It is very brown but absolutely delicious!

Image attributions: Marmalade by Amanda Slater [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Rhubarb sauce: poster’s own image.