Orange Marmalade – Attempt Two

I made another attempt at Orange Marmalade. The trick is to get someone else to open the cookbook to the correct page so you are not distracted by suggestions of how to prepare and serve a calf’s head. Mrs. Beeton has several orange marmalade recipes but I chose this one:

I chose this recipe because of the line: “Let there be an equal weight of loaf sugar and Seville oranges.” It sounds so biblical.

I like these wrinkly Seville oranges. They don’t look perfect and they are pretty bitter, much like an interesting character in a book or movie. Anyway, through the mysterious magic of chopping, sweetening and simmering they were transformed into:

Marmalade!! This batch is way better than the batch we made last year and infinitely better than commercially prepared marmalade. It takes about three hours to make and is well worth the trouble. Just the smell of the simmering oranges is enough to make it worth the trouble.

 

Citrus

Maybe it’s just a fear of scurvy but I always start craving citrus at this time of year. I got these lovely lemons:

and transformed them into Lemon and Lime Chutney:

I have some reservations about this chutney because it contains what I think to be an odd combination of ingredients: lemons, limes, salt, sugar, vinegar, hot pepper and raisins. It’s the hot pepper that has me particularly concerned. My concern was not alleviated by the taste I took before bottling it. I’ll give it a few weeks to settle down in the jar before I try it again.

 

In the Woods and Garden

You probably don’t need me to tell you that summer is slipping by quickly. This year we had quite a large crop of red currants. Normally the birds get to them before I do but this year there were plenty for everyone.

I tried making some jelly. The keyword here is “tried”. It’s a bit thick. I am exaggerating – it is unbelievably thick. It is hard to get a knife into it, that’s how thick it is. I am dutifully eating it with cream cheese on a bagel every morning and it tastes okay, but did I mention that it is a bit thick? I might try again if the birds haven’t made off with the rest of the currants.

I love watching the peas developing in the pods, it’s like nature’s little ultrasound. Dragonflies are pretty fascinating as well, you can’t see it in this picture but they have wings that sparkle. Even though I’m someone who thinks that sparkles are best avoided I really love the way the wings sparkle. I think if you are going to have wings, they should sparkle.

I haven’t been into the woods much because the mosquitoes and I are having a turf war and they have claimed the woods. Last week I sprayed myself with a toxic amount of insect repellent and headed into the woods. Since it has been a pretty wet summer I guess it isn’t surprising that there are a lot of mushrooms. The only thing I know about mushrooms is that you shouldn’t eat them unless you buy them at a grocery store so although I can’t name them, here are some pictures of a few of the many different types.

 

55 Days

Earlier in the year I planted cucumbers to make pickles. The package stated that the plants would bear fruit in 55 days. Well, it has been exactly 55 days. So, what do the plants have to say for themselves?

The plants themselves are leafy and green. There are no signs of damage despite the fact that this was seen inside the fence:

Very cute I know but let me stress that he was found inside the fence. He was trying very hard to look like a clump of dirt but I wasn’t fooled for a second. I shooed him away but I have since spotted him loitering around the fence. No good can come from this. However, the plants still have plenty of blossoms particularly if you look under the leaves:

Then, if you look closely you will see some of these:

Tiny, tiny cucumbers. Too small to make into pickles but with luck, and no rabbits, they should be ready soon. So, I guess technically, the plants did produce fruit 55 days after they were planted. The seeds are National Pickling and are from McKenzie seeds. They had a very good germination rate, and as you can see, did produce fruit in the time stated.