marmalade

jars

Obviously recycled! We eventually ended up with seventeen jars of two types. I had a can of prepared fruit lurking in the back of a cupboard and I did that with the home made stuff

In total the home made batch was supposed to spend six hours bubbling away. Three hours for the fruit by itself, then anything up to four hours once the sugar's been added. I chickened out after an hour and a half but I'll go on longer next time. There's simply no comparison in the flavour. The home made batch has a very strong orange flavour and doesn't come across as sweet at all - in spite of the pounds of sugar that went into it. The flavour is rich and subtle. I'm a fan!

It always amazes me how much of the jam or whatever misses the jar, no matter how careful you are. I think I might get a jam making funnel before the next batch. It's not just that I'm stingy and hate wasting the jam or whatever, it takes ages to clean the outside of the jars and even longer to clean the worksurface.

Sad old git that I am, I get enormous pleasure out of the rows of jars in the store cupboard, and even more out of eating the results of my work!