Do you ever wonder what you would be if you were a food? (don’t lie, I know you’ve thought about it at least once). What food truly represents who you are, your passions, your personality, everything that you love? Well, I think I’ve found mine & of course, it had to be some kind of marmalade, but not just any marmalade… earl grey marmalade! Combining bittersweet orange marmalade with the distinctly citrus, floral taste of earl grey tea has to be one of my few moments of genius on this earth. Honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to top this one.
The bitterness of the Seville oranges & sweet perfume of bergamot make for a fragrant & intriguing marmalade. Darker in colour than most due to infusing the juices with the black tea before boiling, what this lacks in colour, it more than makes up for in flavour. Absolutely delicious spread on toast in the morning or this would also make a lovely gift for any tea lovers in your life, because let’s face it, everything is better with tea.
EARL GREY MARMALADE
(makes approx 4-6 jars, easily halved or doubled)
Ingredients:
- 1kg seville oranges
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 4 tbsp loose leaf earl grey tea
- 1 3/4 litres of water
- 2 kg granulated sugar
Method (see pictures below for a short step-by-step):
- Before beginning, place a small saucer into the freezer to chill
- Start by juicing the oranges & lemons
- Place the orange juice & lemon juice, along with all of the water into a maslin pan or a large heavy bottomed saucepan
- Next, slice each orange in half & use a spoon to scoop the flesh, pith & pips out, leaving behind the skins
- Place all of the scooped out flesh, pith & pips into the centre of a piece of maslin cloth (or you can use a clean dishcloth)
- Add the squeezed lemon & earl grey tea to the maslin cloth & secure everything inside by tying a knot using each of the corners
- Place the muslin cloth into the pan & secure it to the handle of the pan so that you can easily remove it later
- Next, take the peel of the oranges & slice into either thick or thin strips, depending on how you like your shred, & add it to the pan
- Bring the pan to a boil over a high heat before reducing it to a simmer (medium heat) & leave it to simmer away for 2 hours or until the strips of peel have all softened
- After 2 hours, take off of the heat & remove the muslin cloth before setting it aside to cool
- Once it has cooled enough to handle, use your hands to squeeze the orange flesh inside of the maslin & extract as much of the gooey pectin that seeps through as you can, adding it all back into the pan
- Now, add the sugar to the pan & stir over a low heat until all of the sugar has dissolved
- Bring the mixture up to a fast boil & continue to boil for 30 – 40 minutes
- After 30 minutes, test the marmalade to see if it’s reached setting point by placing a small drop onto the chilled saucer from the freezer
- Push your finger through the marmalade & if the surface wrinkles then it’s done, if it doesn’t give it another 10 minutes & test again
- When it’s ready, take the marmalade off the heat & leave it to stand for 20 minutes
- After 20 minutes, pot up into clean, sterilised jars
- Turn the jars upside down & leave them to cool for 1 hour before turning them upright & leaving to fully cool
