25 January: Domestic goddess or what?

Today I have been mostly making marmalade.

I had this idea that home-made marmalade would be nicer than the shop stuff. And there's a preserving pan in the cupboard. We have assiduously recycled all our empty glass jars for months, but recently all jars have been carefully put aside; there were 6 by the time I spotted the marmalade oranges in the supermarket (just when I'd begun to think that Mr Tesco knew that nobody made their own any more, and didn't stock them). Luckily the cook shop in Durham sells jam jars.

Unsure how much would come from a bag of oranges, I bought 2 bags. By the time one bagful was chopped up this morning, it was perfectly clear that there were enough oranges for a couple of years' supply, at least.

So here is 1.5 kilos of oranges, one lemon, and 6 pints of water stewing away merrily -


Unfortunately, the instructions about the pips were a bit unclear, and when the fruit was cooked up, there were about a thousand pips still in it. So a merry hour or so was spent picking the pips out.

In went 3 kilos of sugar, and the whole lot boiled -


until it was done. Then came a rather sticky episode, pouring the (extremely hot) marmalade into a jug which poured it erratically into the assembled warm jars -


This photo is after wiping off the excess stickiness. The recipe booklet is one that my mother extravagantly paid sixpence for, but it's probably been worth it.

I was so pleased with my efforts that I made some labels on the computer; the jars may be an odd assortment, but the labels all match!


Now, what about that second bag of oranges.....