How to Make Marmalade

5 from 16 votes

Orange Marmalade recipe made with beautiful Seville oranges for that bitter sweetness we all know & love. With my step-by-step photo guide and lots of tips on how to make it, you will be able to enjoy it on toast before you know it!

Course Jams, Marmalade, Preserves

Cuisine British

Keyword how to make marmalade, seville orange marmalade

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 3

Total Time 4

Servings 340g jam jars

Calories 42kcal

Author Jo Allison

Equipment

Ingredients

1 kg Seville Oranges see notes
1 lemon
2 kg granulated, preserving or caster sugar unrefined golden caster or granulated can be used as well
2.5 l water
Optional extras: whisky, brandy, grated ginger etc.

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Put 3-4 small saucers/plates in the freezer for later. You will need them to check whether marmalade has reached the setting point later.
Prepare the jars and make sure you’ve got the lids for all of them to avoid lots of faff later.
Cut oranges in half and squeeze out all the juice pouring it into the pan through the sieve to catch the pips. Remember to keep the pips!
1 kg Seville Oranges
Cut the orange peels into quarters and using a teaspoon (find one with relatively sharp edge) scrape out as much of the white pith from the skins as possible. Put it aside with saved orange pips.
Take a muslin square/cotton cloth/cheese cloth and put all the pips and pith on it, gathering into a parcel and tying it up with a string or a strong thread.
Make the string/thread long enough to be able to tie the parcel to the handle of the pot for easier removal later.
Put the bag into the pot and tie it onto the handle for easier removal later.
Do not skip this step as this pip/pith bag contains a lot of pectin you will need for your marmalade to set.
Cut orange peel into strips.
I like to cut my quarters into halves and slice them really thinly using a sharp knife. Feel free to cut your peel as thin or as thick as you like, it really is personal preference.
Once you’ve sliced all the peel pop it into the pan.
Halve and juice one lemon adding the juice to the pan.
1 lemon
Pour 2.5 l water into the pan and place it over medium heat and bring to boil. Lower the heat and simmer for approximately 2 hours until orange peel is nice and soft. You can check it by giving it a gentle squeeze between your fingers.
2.5 l water
Remove pan from the heat.
Take muslin bag out of the pan trying to squeeze out as much of the pectin goodness as possible by pressing it against the side of your pan with the spoon. Alternatively, squeeze the bag with your hands (wear silicone gloves as it’ll be super hot or simply wait for it to cool down).
Add sugar to the pan and put it on low heat until it dissolves stirring from time to time. Make sure you let the sugar dissolve completely before you crank up the heat and bring marmalade to boil.
2 kg granulated, preserving or caster sugar
Once sugar has dissolved, increase the heat and bring the mixture to boil (it may take some time). Once you get to the point of nice rolling boil with lots of foamy scum on top, let it boil for 15 minutes.
At this point try and disturb the mixture as little as possible to prevent sugar from crystallising once cool.
Once you get to the point of nice rolling boil with lots of foamy scum (impurities) on top, let it boil for 15 minutes.
There will be much less impurities if you use preserving sugar instead of granulated or caster.
Take your saucer out of the freezer and spoon a little bit of marmalade onto it to check whether it’s set. Simply push the liquid with your finger and if it wrinkles your marmalade is done. If it hasn’t reached setting point simply continue boiling it for another 5-10 minutes and do the wrinkle test again. You might have to repeat it few times so don’t get discouraged.
Once marmalade has reached setting point, turn off the heat and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. This will allow it to settle which will help keeping the peel evenly distributed once in the jars.
Skim the excess scum with a spoon.
Now is also the time to add any extras (alcohol of your choice, ginger etc.).
Transfer orange marmalade to sterilised jars, cover with lids and leave to cool.
Marmalade will continue to set as it cools down. Once your jars are completely cold you can put labels on store in dark and relatively cool place or enjoy immediately!

Notes

Nutritional information is approximate, per tablespoon of marmalade and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
You can buy Seville Oranges in the UK from late December until mid February. They freeze well (whole) so even if you don't fancy making marmalade now, stock up for later.
My orange marmalade recipe is naturally vegan and gluten-free.

Storing

Store your jars with marmalade in a dark & cool place, away from excessive light and heat. It should last up to 2 years if stored properly. Once opened, store in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Tips

Reserve some time. Marmalade making is more of a marathon rather than a sprint so choose the day when you know you don't have to rush or be finished by certain time as timing here can be a bit unpredictable.

Enjoy the process. Making your own marmalade may seem a bit daunting but it really is quite easy. Allow some time (see ⬆️) and enjoy!

Use organic fruit if possible. As we are using the entire fruit here I would highly recommend paying that bit extra for organic fruit that hasn't been sprayed with pesticides. However, if non-organic is all you've got make sure you give it a good scrub.

Orange peel. Cut it as thinly or as thickly as you like. Mine is cut sort of in between the two which is how I like it.

Muslin bag with pips & pith is full of pectin that releases as you boil the peel for 2 hours. However, when you take the bag out of the pan, make sure you squeeze as much of the pectin goodness as possible. Be careful as the bag will be super hot so use gloves is possible (silicone oven gloves are great for this). You can also wait until it cools down and give it a good squeeze then.

Marmalade setting point is 105C/221F so if you've got jam thermometer definitely use it to check whether your orange marmalade has reached it. I would still do the "wrinkle test" though just to double check.

"Wrinkle test" is done using well chilled saucer/plate on which you spoon a dollop of marmalade after it's been on rolling boil for 15 minutes. Once on the plate, you push marmalade with your finger and if it "wrinkles" it is ready. If it appears runny, continue boiling it for another 5-10 minutes and check again.

Take the pan off the heat when checking for set. You don't want to risk overcooking your marmalade which will make it go dark in colour and really thick once cool.

Sterilise your jars. If you want to preserve your marmalade for some time without it going mouldy, your jars need to be sterilised.

Nutrition