Making Marmalade

	The weather this week has continued to be poor and I have, pretty much, been unable to get outside and do any of those jobs that are getting increasingly pressing as winter descends on us here in South West France. The result of this has been a move to sorting out some of those pressing jobs inside the house that need doing... One job I tackled earlier this week was to clear out a kitchen cupboard which had some odds and ends in it's deeper, darker recesses....where, waiting to be rediscovered, was a can of Seville
orange fruit purée, just perfect for making a batch of orange marmalade. The can was not particularly old but I had completely forgotten it was there. It had got put in the cupboard after I received it as a gift about a year ago and , I remember, at the time, I thought I would make a batch of marmalade with it. Making jam also gives me another opportunity to use the rather beautiful copper preserving/jam
	pan which I was given a couple of years ago.   This is a French style confiture pan which has low sides and a wide mouth. It is great for making jam but I have to admit, I am still learning how to use it as I tend to fail to remember just how fast the mixture reaches setting point and also how fast the evaporation of water occurs, when using this pan. The recipe for the marmalade was pretty standard, simply adding just water and sugar to the purée.
I brought it to the boil fairly slowly and then added a knob of butter to reduce the froth. After the mixture had boiled for only a few minutes, I carried out a setting test and found it had already reached setting point I bottled the marmalade in the jam jars I love which are, originally, used by a French jam maker who produces some of their jams in this part of France.