Well its that time of year again, snow on the ground (at long last), its a bit foggy & a there is big splash of sunshine courtesy of Seville oranges which are back in season – whoohoo! Our kitchen smells deliciously of oranges cooking and we go into overdrive with our knives slicing & chopping. As everything is handmade we don’t have any whizzy gadgets just a very sharp knife and a chopping board. We have boxes & boxes of bitter sweet oranges arriving every day travelling all the way from sunny Seville in southern Spain to wintery Scotland to turn into marvellous marmalade.
from box to jar in 24 hours
The oranges are prepared by removing the zesty skin, juicing the oranges & keeping the pith & pips in a muslin bag. The whole lot is soaked over night. The next day we gently cook the oranges until the skins & pith have softened. Once they have we remove the muslin bag squeezing it a lot to capture all the lovely orangey pectin. We add sugar & boil until it turns in to our award-winning Perthshire Preserves Seville Marmalade. Sometimes we even add Deanston 12yr old Malt Whisky too.
One of our favourite ways of eating it (not including on hot buttered toast) is in a steamed sponge pudding with a big dollop of thick cream. Butter a pudding bowl & spoon a big dollop of marmalade into the bottom. Whisk butter & sugar together, add eggs & fold in self-raising flour. Spoon into the bowl, cover the top with folded greaseproof paper & foil. Stand in a pan of boiling water for about an hour. – we don’t have a microwave oven but you could microwave it if you prefer. When its cooked turn upside down & watch the lovely marmalade run down the sides as you remove the bowl. Then add extra thick cream (or custard) – yum
We also use it in savoury foods – why not try it in a sauce with roast duck or you could glaze a ham with it.
To add to roasted chicken for a lazy Sunday lunch pop a lovely organic chicken in the oven. Do some lovely roasted veggies. About 20-30 minutes from the end of the looking time mix a couple of spoonfuls of marmalade with the juices from the chicken, baste the skin & turn up the heat to glaze it. The whisky version is fabby on a goats cheese tart.
For more ideas or to order please go to www.perthshirepreserves.co.uk