At heart, I am a simple sort...

[hirez]

... All I need to be happy is water, sugar, fruit, old jam jars and a sharp knife.

Comments

[sarah_mum]

So basically you're a Samaurai wasp?

Shame that Malestrom's finishing.

[hirez]

That would be an ecumenical matter.

[bogwitch64]

Oh, NOM indeed! That looks wonderful.

[hirez]

I seem to have made it work by mashing the contents of the muslin bag thoroughly through a sieve and dolloping that into the boiling sludge. We shall see tomorrow when it's all cooled down properly.

The taste is bang on, mind. I am somewhat tempted to repeat the experiment if I come across more Sevilles this week, if only because there's less than I thought and I've got an accidental queue of people wanting jars.

[nalsa]

Why aren't the lids on tight? Please tell me that you didn't leave them loose for more than a tiny amount of time after filling?

Sorry, am paranoid about buggy marmalade.

[hirez]

The lids went on tight when I could actually hold the jars w/o getting burned.

[nalsa]

Fair enough. It does look like a very good colour with suitably thick strips.

[hirez]

It does seem to have come out proper robust. I think I'll potter down the Guildhall market on the off-chance that there remaining supplies of Sevilles.

I fondly imagine that bunging the jars in the oven for a quarter hour such that napalm-sludge and container are at more or less the same state of 'impossible to touch w/o protective clothing' is good enough to deal with most bugs.

[bmlg]

I've been mucking about with occasional apple-peelings jelly, but it is just a casual fling, I am absolutely not taking up jam-making because it appears to be horribly fiddly and requiring special equipment and boxes of pectin. Also I have previously been under the impression that I didn't like jam.
Those, however, look pretty tasty. Do you add pectin, or do they set just with sugar and boiling?

[hirez]

Seville oranges are rammed with pectin - I just mashed it all together (save the pips) and let it get on with it. For the jam last year, I tipped in a half-bottle of the stuff, but according to Ma I could have likely done without or mashed in an apple for its pectin content.

Thus far the only 'specialist' equipment has been the muslin, and I could have used a handkerchief for that. I think because I'm making the stuff for me (and perhaps because I'm a bloke) I don't feel under any particular pressure to produce something 'correctly', and I'm having a deal of fun just skimming the various instructions and mostly busking it.

There's probably some sort of lesson from a self-help book in that somewhere.