Grapefruit and Orange Marmalade

Ingredients

• 1.7kg oranges (or any combination of citrus fruit – I like pink grapefruit and orange)
• 1.2kg preserving sugar
• 2.4 litres water
• juice of 2 lemons

Method

1. Wash the fruit to remove the wax, put in a large pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, partly cover and simmer for 2 ½ hours, until the fruit is very soft. Remove from the heat and place the fruit into a large bowl. When they are cool enough to handle, cut the fruit in half and scoop the flesh into a preserving pan using a spoon, remove any pith that sticks to the flesh.
2. Remove pith from the peel and cut into strips. Simmer the peel in some of the water used earlier for 20-30 mins until translucent. Add the peel, sugar, lemon juice and water to the preserving pan. Put a couple of saucers in the freezer.
3. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved, then raise the heat and boil rapidly until setting point is reached. This should take around 10 mins. To test this turn off the heat under the marmalade, take a saucer out of the freezer and spoon on a little blob of marmalade. Leave for a minute, then push the marmalade with your finger. If the surface wrinkles it is ready, if not boil for a few more minutes and test again.
4. Allow to cool for 10 mins. Give it a stir to distribute the peel evenly, then spoon into clean warm jars (I put them through the dishwasher to sterilise) cover and label.