‘In the midst of winter..’ Oil on on canvas, 90 x 120cm Best in Show recipient Walkerville Art Show 2019

The full title for this painting is a quote by I have held close in some blue times “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invinsible summer” Albert Camus.

Mental health, good nutrition and a connectedness to the food you consume have been linked in my life, with one being an indicator of the other. So I ask you all, are you ok? Spoil yourself a little and do some slow cooking. Maybe store up some of winter’s citrus abundance for a future, summer morning, breakfast.

Yes, I’m talking marmalade! My marmalade making days were changed forever by a book called ‘A Year in a Bottle’ by Sally Wise. The old ‘slice thinly, cover with sugar and water, and leave overnight method ‘ went out. Sally’s method is faster and can be adapted to any combination of citrus you have in your garden. I usually have a lot of fruit to process and double up on the recipe below, but I have a very large jam pot!

Orange Marmalade

Ingredients

500g oranges, freshly picked

1 lemon, freshly picked

2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice (from real oranges not out of a bottle)

4 cups water

1.5kg sugar

Method

Cut fruit and remove seeds, put through a mincer, food processor or chop very finely.

Place in a large saucepan with water and orange juice. Bring to the boil, turn down to a slow boil, and cook till the fruit is soft. Add sugar off the heat and stir until totally dissolved. Bring back to the heat and boil hard for about 25 minutes.

Test for set by placing a teaspoonful on a galss or china plate, rest a minute and push with a finger from the side into the centre. If the marmalade wrinkles, it will set.

Allow to stand for 10 minutes before pouring into warm sterilised jars. Seal immediately.

Makes aproximately 1.5kg marmalade, ready to eat at once.

Variation

Swap oranges for cumquats and orange juice for mandarin juice. This results in a marmalade so delicious is was labled Heavenly Marmalade by children I know and became a fundraising bake sale favourite.