Our marmalade malady

One thing I can say is life is never boring at Towerwater. We are in the middle of major renovations of the interior rooms of the house. We tried to contain the inevitable disruption to our lives by undertaking it room by room, but this became impossible through the unpredictability of restoration processes and now we are living with three rooms packed up. Most of the content of these rooms huddling in the centre of the rooms leaving the walls free for the different stages of preparation and limewashing.

The house renovations are taking centre stage in our lives. I am sad to admit that the gardens are being neglected in the process this year. The major tasks like pruning, composting, and putting down manure did happen, but the planting and sowing has been neglected. We hope to catch up later in the spring.

One task we did not have time for this year was making marmalade. With the citrus lane covered in yellow and orange fruit begging to be turned into marmalade, we decided instead to give them to friends in town. At least they will still be used for making marmalade and all the healthy organic citrus peals will not go to waste. In our home, freshly squeezed orange juice has become a staple at breakfast.

Our marmalade malady was soon resolved by sharing the healthy organic fruit and hopefully picking up some good karma in the process.

Our holding back on sowing plans this year did not stop Mother Nature from doing her own thing. The garden looks as though She danced through it with a broken bag-full of nasturtiums seeds. The garden is a riot of shades of yellow and orange. The dams around the fruit trees are filled to the brim with flowering nasturtiums. A nasturtium has also spread up and through the citronella scented geranium in the herb garden.

The flowering almond trees alongside the road between Robertson and Bonnievale reminded me of the passing of time and that it has been eight years since I started writing this blog. It is amazing how things change and yet how many stay the same. I suppose these are the signposts of the normal eb and flow of life.  

We did not get around to making marmalade this year, but we are managing to finalise the restoration of the interior detail of the house, I hope.

Happy 8th birthday, Blog!

Previous birthday posts

Still life with oranges - 2021
Almond trees in August -2020
Of birthdays and blossoms - 2019
A life imagined - 2018
Looking back to the future - 2017
Reflections - 2016
Happy birthday blog - 2015
Heading for spring -2014

Marmalade weekends

This year has been a tough one on the citrus fruit at Towerwater. Even the electronic beams installed alongside the citrus lane did not prevent the larger part of the crop from being stolen. The naartjies (tangerines) were almost all stolen apart from the few that I could rescue early in the season. The rescued fruit was zested for making a naartjie infused gin.

We did however rescue enough of the Valencia and Seville to cook seven batches of a variety of Marmalades. These included batches of Seville and Ginger, pure Seville, pure Valencia and an Earl Grey Valencia marmalade.  The Earl Grey marmalade was made using a loose-leaf premium black tea, loaded with extra Bergamot.

Loose leaf Earl Grey tea

Earl Grey tea with Bergamot

At least one batch proved to be particularly adventurous. Earlier, I had made a naartjie infused gin and a lemon infused gin for use in unique Towerwater cocktails during the summer. To ensure that we did not waste any of the naartjie peels, we decided to re-use the peels that had been macerating on gin for two months and make a gin infused naartjie marmalade.

Naartjie zest

Naartjie infused gin

For two weekends, the Towerwater kitchen became a Marmalade hotspot. A feature was the four pots of marmalade on the stove at different stages of the marmalade making process. From cooking the peels soft, melting the warm sugar into the juice, to the final stage of cooking the peels.

The historic kitchen was infused with the fragrance of citrus oils and the warm and comforting aroma of cooking orange peel. We prefer to cook the marmalade in small batches. We understand that our method of preparing and cooking the marmalade will not be commercially viable. The absence of the use of electrical appliances, and the use of fully organic vintage citrus varietals for these small-batch marmalades, would have to be priced at a premium to recover costs and still make a profit.

The batch of marmalade made the first weekend

The batch of marmalade made the second weekend

At this stage, the marmalades are a sheer indulgence for exclusive use at Towerwater breakfasts. The small-batch, hand-sliced, organic, preservative free artisanal marmalade made in the historic kitchen is so worth the effort. The result is naturally extraordinary. We appreciate our garden and its organic fruit each day. Breakfasts remind us of how blessed we are as we bite into the wholesome fragrant citrus peel spread on slices of toast.

The Seville oranges are a luxury we treasure as an indulgence of our one weakness, marmalade. We must agree that Seville oranges are simply the best for making marmalade.

Famed 19^th Century Cape cookery authority, Hildagonda Duckitt, in her book entitled ‘Hilda’s Diary of a Cape Housekeeper’, printed in 1902, mentions in regard to the fruit available in the month of August “…Seville or bitter oranges are now in season, which makes excellent marmalade, …” and on page 140 of ‘Hilda’s where is it? of recipes’ printed in 1891, she provides the following recipe for Seville orange marmalade.

Our trusted Towerwater marmalade recipe is one that has become second nature to us. However, we still look at other recipes and are sometimes tempted to make them. Perhaps next year we might again introduce a new recipe, or at least a new kind of marmalade into our vintage repertoire.

Towerwater Organic Seville Orange Marmalade

The planting of the Seville orange tree in the Towerwater garden was never planned. It could best be described as an act of the universe. The universe knowing that one day we would need a Seville orange tree.  A citrus tree, wrongly labelled by a nurseryman many years ago, has inadvertently become a great blessing.

It remains the one tree that supplies enough fruit for endless baskets of oranges. These organically cultivated oranges are our first choice for making our favourite breakfast condiment.

It is important for us to always use our own organic oranges. Doing so ensures that we always have the freshest and healthiest untreated orange peels with which to make marmalade.

 Towerwater Organic Seville Orange Marmalade Recipe

Ingredients:

1 kg organic Seville oranges (about 6 large Seville oranges)

1 large lemon

1.8 kg sugar

2.25 litres water

Method:

1. Halve and juice the oranges and lemon.
2. Cut the orange rinds in half. Remove extra pith and slice thinly.
3. Tie the seeds, pulp, extra pith and roughly chopped lemon peel in a muslin cloth.
4. In a large heavy base pot, combine the juice, thinly sliced orange rinds and 2.25 litres of water.
5. Tie the muslin cloth to the handle of the pot so that the bag hangs suspended in the juice.
6. Bring to a boil, then simmer on medium heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the peel is very soft. Stir occasionally.
7. While the peels are boiling, sterilize 6 to 8 medium jars and place in a low oven (210°F, 100°C) until dry.
8. Place two small saucers in the freezer.
9. Remove the muslin bag from the pot and set aside to cool. After cooling, squeeze as much of the liquid remaining in the bag as possible, back into the pot.
10. Heat the sugar in the oven and then add to the pot, stirring over a low heat until dissolved.
11. Increase the heat and boil the marmalade for 15 to 20 minutes or until it reaches its setting point. Do not stir at this stage. 
12. To test for setting, place a teaspoon of the boiling marmalade onto a chilled saucer. If, after a minute, the surface of the marmalade wrinkles when you push it, but doesn’t run, the marmalade is ready. If not, boil for a further few minutes. Retest using the second chilled saucer until the setting point is reached.
13. Remove the pot from the heat. Let it cool slightly to allow the peel to distribute evenly. Skim away any foam that may have formed from the surface. 
14. Fill your sterilized jars to 3mm below the brink. Seal tightly immediately and store when cooled.

The rhythm of handmade marmalade

The weekend was dedicated to the making of marmalade at Towerwater. With the citrus fruit in season, it was time to make our traditional organic handmade marmalade. The added luxury that we enjoy, is that we water the garden with untreated irrigation water which flows straight from the river.

With no known chemical additives in the soil or on the plants, we rest assured that we are making the healthiest possible natural preservative-free marmalade.

There is a rhythm to the garden. Activities are pre-determined by the seasons and what each provides in terms of vegetables, fruit and herbs.

The kitchen, our hands and cutting boards, were steeped with the fresh fragrance of citrus oil. Apparently, essential orange oil is a potent anti-depressant. It has wonderful properties for energizing and lifting the mood. Perhaps it is why we were happy to make the marmalade, the added energy stimulating our creativity. 

We decided to make naartjie marmalade, our first ever. We also made a Towerwater five-fruit marmalade. We used the five different citrus fruit varieties from the trees growing alongside the vegetable garden. We used Seville and Valencia oranges, limes, lemons and naartjies. We were excited to add this unique marmalade to our collection. It captures five of the seven citrus varieties available in the garden.

We made a batch of sweet orange marmalade using Valencia oranges. I decided to make Earl Grey tea marmalade, in order to experiment with the effects of the Bergamot flavour it contains. It adds a marvellous flavour, just perfect for breakfast.

5 fruit, naartjie, Earl Grey and sweet orange marmalade

Making the four batches of marmalade became a rhythmic exercise of washing, cutting, juicing, slicing, cooking and bottling the citrus fruit. There was no need for conversation. With music playing in the background, we were working as on an assembly line. Each focused on the task at hand.

Thinly sliced peel slivers hang suspended in different hues of amber jelly. They are ready for the enjoyment they can provide at forthcoming breakfasts.

The appeal of citrus peel

With the ripening of the citrus fruit, the Towerwater kitchen has become a hive of activity. The first two batches of organic Seville oranges and Eureka lemons were used to make marmalade.

The kitchen was filled with the fragrance of fresh orange oil emanating from the slicing of peels. While Keith cut them into precise slivers, I prepared the two pots of juice, water and a muslin-wrapped parcel containing the chopped lemon, pips, flesh and extra pith.

Jars were sterilised and sugar heated. All in preparation for the making and bottling of the organic Towerwater marmalade, 2018 vintage. Making marmalade is labour intensive. One has to be present and attentive for each step. The whole day was taken up with the making of the marmalade. Keith even managed to fit in a tour of the house and garden for a small group of visitors. I think he enjoyed the distraction from cutting citrus peel.

I enjoy marmalade making. One gets to use the whole fruit. Only a little bit of the pith and pips end up in the compost. Besides, marmalade is good for you, even healthy. It contains low amounts of sodium, fat and calories. I am pleased that we can use our own organic fruit to make our favourite breakfast accompaniment.

Although we lost half our naartjie crop to theft, we still had enough to make dried naartjie peel. I love this traditional flavouring for food. This time, I made a larger batch. I remembered that first precious naartjie from the tree, and in how many different dishes I could use its dried peel.

The jar of dried peel looks attractive. Almost like a snack one should enjoy with drinks. I will definitely add some dried peel to the jar of sugar. It adds that something extra, in the form of a special flavour, to teas and baked goods.

Although we finished with the bottling of the marmalade later, into the evening, I decided to make a celebratory cocktail with organic naartjies, orange bitters, gin and triple sec. A citrus trio that made sweet music together. This was the toast to a row of jars filled with beautiful marmalade.

Citrus peel can be used in so many different ways. It was gratifying to stock the cellar with jars filled with the elements of this versatile and appealing winter fruit.

The pleasure of finished work

We were greeted by a sea of orange and yellow nasturtiums in the orchard. Mother Nature seems to have decided that all the neat rows and beds in the garden are too restrictive. Nature thrives on a little madness. Bold strokes of bright nasturtiums grow larger on the orchard floor.

With an abundance of citrus in the garden, we cannot seem to drink enough fresh juice and use enough lemon zest in most dishes. Towerwater has got more than a hint of citrus in the air. We decided to focus on making marmalade over the weekend.

Between Keith and myself we got the production line going with me cutting, squeezing, removing the white pith of the skins, pouring water and juice into pots and tying the flesh and pips into muslin bags for hanging in the pots.

Keith took on the most laborious task of cutting the peels into strips after quality controlling the skins and removing more of the white pith. Being sliced by a perfectionist, the peels looked amazing and promised to make beautiful-looking marmalade.

We go to a lot of trouble to keep our citrus organic. That affords us the luxury of using the complete fruit. The selected marmalades for the day were ‘sweet orange’, ‘whisky’ and ‘three-fruit’.

With baskets of Seville and Valencia oranges and Eureka and Cape Rough Skin lemons filling the kitchen, it was like bringing the orchard into the house. For a moment, I could imagine what an orangery must smell like before wheeling out the citrus for summer.

With three pots of peels cooking on the stove, it was time to sterilise jars and heat up the sugar for each batch of marmalade. Until I get into the habit of labelling the preserves, I decided to colour code the lids for each of the marmalades. Black lids for the whisky, white lids for the sweet orange and golden lids for the three fruit marmalade.

The kitchen was fragrant from the fresh spray of citrus oil and the warm citrusy steam rising from the cooking peels and up the hearth chimney. I wondered how many times this ritual must have played out in the almost 200 year-old kitchen.

What it was like all those years ago, one can only imagine. I believe the way the marmalade was made was a bit different if I look at the recipe for Seville orange marmalade in the book, “Hilda's "Where is it?" of recipes” by Hildagonda J. Duckitt, published in 1891.

In “Hilda's Diary of a Cape Housekeeper” by Hildagonda J. Duckitt published in 1902 she writes “July (page 161) Oranges and Lemons. – Both orange and lemon trees were planted by the early colonists wherever they made a garden, every old farm had its large garden, well fenced round and planted with peach trees, orange trees, saffron pears, and fig trees. Even in the Transvaal every farmhouse has its orange trees. The fruit is not affected by frost, blossoming in September. The fruit matures and grows all through the summer months, and is only perfectly ripe in August and September, taking almost a year to mature.” On page 162 she gives us an insight into the cost of oranges.       “Oranges are sold in June and July, but are very sour, not being quite ripe and sweet till August and September. The price for fine oranges in Cape Town range from one to two shillings the dozen. I trust soon they will be less expensive, as they are being planted largely now wherever they will thrive. Some of the old orange groves are splendid.”

On page 175 she writes,” August, Fruits. Seville or bitter oranges are now in season, which make an excellent marmalade, for which a recipe was given in Hilda’s Where is it, p. 140 and others in this book.”

Sweet orange marmalade

I found the recipe she refers to and thought I would share it. It is interesting to see that the oranges were cooked whole before it was sliced. Perhaps next year I might try the recipe from Hilda’s book.

From Hilda's "Where is it?" of recipes by Hildagonda J. Duckitt published in 1891

“MARMALADE (SCOTCH).

(Mrs. Etheridge's Recipe.)

Ingredients.

6 lb. of Seville or Bitter Orange. 13 lb. of Sugar.

Scrape or grate the peel slightly; put the oranges into a stewpan; cover them with cold water. Boil gently for two hours, keeping them well under water with a plate on the top. When quite soft take them out and drain, open them, and take out the seeds. Cut the peel and pulp all together in thin strips (some people mince everything through a mincing-machine). For every pound of fruit, weighed after being boiled, take two of sugar, and one pint of the water the oranges were boiled in. Boil all together for half an hour, and pour the marmalade boiling hot into jars.”

Whisky marmalade

We pride ourselves on our handmade organic marmalade with the beautiful golden strips of delicate peel suspended in the amber syrup.

Three fruit marmalade

Cooking marmalade in relay meant we were busy, cutting, cooking and bottling the whole Saturday and most of Sunday. Standing back looking at all our hard work on the shelf in the cellar, a sense of accomplishment washed over us. It is very rewarding to make something beautiful and enjoyable. We know that we will still be enjoying our hard work for a long time. I decided not to try to count the innumerable toast slices that we can enhance with the marmalade before us.

With this year’s citrus crop we have managed, besides fresh juice, to make Van der Hum liqueur; Dried Naartjie Peel; Kumquat Jelly; Ginger and Seville, Seville, Sweet Orange, Three Fruit and Whisky- marmalades. Now finally for the cordials, and then we can conclude the citrus season at Towerwater.

For now, we can enjoy the pleasure of finished work - Acti labores iucundi