My Nan's famous marmalade recipe

Last couple of weeks have been particularly sad ones in our house, my Nan after a long battle with her health passed away peacefully.  If you're a regular reader of this blog or know me in in real life, you'll know what a special relationship I shared with my Nan, what a big part of our lives she was and how much she meant to me and my frills.   Some of my most favourite times with Nan were in the kitchen, as so many in my family.  Nanny was always a good sharer of recipes - including this one - which she shared with a family friend who passed it on to me.  Her handwriting is un-mistakeable.  I've always loved it.

It's no surprise this was written on a blank TAB card, because Nan would never waste the back of an envelope or back of blank junk mail to jot down reminders to herself, phone numbers and of course the lotto numbers each week etc.  The TAB cards were free of course and there were a stash of them for when she wanted to put on a bet here and there -  she did love to put a bet on every now and then and would review the form and then discuss/swap tips with my uncle when she felt like having a flutter.

Now mine made 800ml of marmalade, but I used pretty big navel oranges and big lemons, I added a bit more water to compensate.

Make sure you have airtight sterilised jars - I sterilised mine in the dishwasher - no tablet/powder on a hot rinse.  If you don't have a dishwasher - preheat your oven to 110 degrees, wash and rinse your jars, boil them for 10 minutes (make sure they are submerged) then pop them in the oven for 15 minutes to dry.

Ingredients:
4 oranges
2 lemons
5 cups of water
1.5 kg sugar

Method:
Slice your oranges and lemons thinly

Then you (Or, your assistant! Love that my girls want to learn Nanny's recipes too) put them into a stockpot and add your water.  Use the 5 cups as directed if you're using regular sized oranges or lemon, a bit more if you are using larger ones.  I used 6.5 cups.

Pop the lid on (to keep away fruit fly etc.) and leave overnight.

Next day, bring the pot to the boil then turn down to a simmer, total time 40 minutes.

I'm going to tell you now, your house is going to smell wonderful.  Pop a side plate into the freezer.

Then add the sugar. Mix in and then bring to a furious boil for another 45 minutes.

This is the time the peel begins to soften and caramelise... then your house is smelling like marmalade!

After the 45 minutes is up, take your plate out of the freezer and spoon a little of your marmalade onto the plate.  If it spreads, it's not ready..Put it back on furious boil and check it every 5 minutes.  If it is ready, it won't spread and when you touch it, it feels gel-like.  For me the difference between not ready and ready was about 10 minutes more on furious boil.

Now you can pour into your sterilised jars.  (I bought my jars from here) Would thoroughly recommend getting a wide funnel too, I think you can buy it at the same place.

Nan would always deliver her annual batch of marmalade to us since my hubby came on the scene because he loves his marmalade.  He used to have one jar at home and one jar at work so he could have marmalade toast at work for breakfast each morning.  Hubby couldn't even wait til I had the lids on, he was making himself some marmalade toast!

Place your lids on and give each jar a bit of a shake to ensure it's airtight.

Serve!

These are nice to eat, a lovely gift or something to donate to the school fete.

But maybe just share them with the ones you love, like my Nan did.

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