h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Seville Orange Marmalade - A87879479
Author: minorvogonpoet - U3099090

A short but sweet entry (I hope) about marmalade.

A very good looking Entry and the instructions look clear, but I will leave technical comments to those who do more cooking than I.

One small point, you say that sour oranges came from China. Do we know where the sweet oranges came from? The fact that they were introduced to Portugal suggests either Africa or Brazil, but I would like to see this clarified if possible.



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Thank you for your comments.

I found the history of oranges confusing because it's not always clear if the writers are talking about sweet or sour varieties. They both probably originated in South East Asia or China, but the sour variety came to Europe earlier.

I would appreciate a definition of marmalade as opposed to jam. It's so difficult to explain to foreigners who do not have this differentiation. (In German they use Marmelade - with an "e" - for all fruit preserves)

By the way, I strongly recommend reading the linked Entry on Marmalade - it's very well written and informative.

Is it true that the Seville oranges are grown in Spain mainly for the English marmalade market?

I know that Greek still distinguishes between "naranja" which are the sour oranges and "portakilis" (from Portugal) which are the sweet ones.

Oh this is a difficult question to answer! Wiki says jam usually contains the flesh of a fruit, whereas marmalade is made of the juice and peel of a citrus fruit. (This ignores the fact that the original marmalade was made of quinces.) It seems that marmalade is generally distinguished from jam by the inclusion of peel. I would also answer that, because marmalade is made of very sour fruit, it usually contains much more sugar than jam.

According to https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/sour_orange.html Seville oranges grow in a number of places round the world, and they are used for purposes other than marmalade. I think it's only in Britain that the marmalade is eaten!

A good Entry, everything seems clear to me.
Unfortunately I get a rash from citrus fruit, especially the peel.

As far as I know all citrus fruit originate in Asia.

I'm sorry about the rash!

Yes, I think it's clear that citrus fruit came from Asia, but the varous pieces I've read differ whether the sour orange came from China or South East Asia, or even India.

In much of the world sour oranges ripen in August. Or mid-winter anyway for them's parts.

More importantly, the biggest risk with marmalade is that the peel becomes rock hard. It isn't uncommon to soak it before cooking to ensure it is very soft. It is also easy to make it too big - what looks fine on the chopping board looks HUGE on a piece of toast.

The recipe I use preps the fruit the day before allowing long soaking in its fruit's juice. I haven't had hard peel since then.

Thanks Phoenician Trader.

I have seen recipes which say you need to soak the fruit first. I've never had problems with hard peel, cooking the peel in a pressure cooker, with half the water in the recipe. I'm not sure what makes the peel go hard.

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