Try Our Seville Orange Mmmarmalade!

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What makes our Seville Orange Marmalade quite possibly the best marmalade you’ll ever have? First, the fact that my mother-in-law taught me how to make it, who in turn learned to make it from her mother. This proves that my gran’s recipe is tried, tested and delicious! Yet, what truly makes our marmalade taste great, is the hand shredding, top quality ingredients and that we take no shortcuts. 

If that doesn’t convince you, my marmalade won a Bronze at the World Marmalade Awards (hosted in Cumbria, UK) and you will find it at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in November.

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Why you’ll love it

Our marmalade is made from certified organic Seville oranges and they make all the difference. Aside from the health benefits, organic oranges have a better flavour as they have a slightly chunky peel so you get the sweet and the bitter combined, and set more quickly than non-organic oranges – leading to a better quality marmalade.  

The fresher your oranges are when you make your marmalade the better. Over ripe fruit tend to lose some of their pectin so you will have to cook your marmalade down too far in order to achieve set. Seville oranges are generally in season from January to February, so we spend a bit of time creating our marmalade then to ensure the best quality marmalade is produced.

The Process

We make our marmalade the traditional way, with the peel of the orange being hand shredded. If you are looking to enter your marmalade into competitions, you always want to follow the two-day process.  You will end up with a brighter marmalade that is more appealing from an appearance perspective for the judges, trust me as for the past two years I have had the pleasure of being a judge at the Mad for Marmalade Awards at Fort York.

Our marmalade uses all the parts of the orange. The skin is shredded and softened in water, the membrane and the seeds are added to the marmalade to release the natural pectin of the oranges and achieve the perfect set for the marmalade.

Orange You Glad You Tried It

While we believe there’s absolutely no wrong way to eat marmalade (straight from the jar?), we have a few suggestions for you to try out. Our marmalade tastes fabulous as a cheesecake topping and tastes equally as amazing on toast combined with a splash of butter.  Let your taste buds decide.

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Written by Farhana Choudry, Intern

The Road to the Royal

I am not sure what it is about entering preserves contests that I love so much. I think I have Mad for Marmalade, Crazy for Citrus to blame. It was the very first competition I ever entered and to my astonishment I came in 2nd in both categories that I entered and then to top it all off I won the amazing door prize. I left buzzing and smiling, and I have been hooked ever since.

At times, my preserves have placed poorly, but instead of being disappointed, I waited with anticipation for the judges cards to see if there would be some feedback. Something that would teach me more about the art of preserving. And other times I have won in a category that completely amazed me. Not because I didn't think I was deserving, but because it was something that at the time was out of my comfort zone

This year, when I received a message from the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair asking if they could highlight my journey on the Road to the Royal, I was so excited I could almost not respond to the email fast enough. I consider it a real honour to have been one of the 4 competitors across multiple categories chosen to be highlighted. 

This year will also be our first year having a booth selling our preserves at The Royal. So if you plan on visiting, be sure to drop by booth #2623 and say hi.

Officially on The Road to the Royal

 

Last summer when I thought of entering the Royal Winter Fair Jams, Jellies and Pickling Competition, I have to admit I was intimidated. This was a showcase of the best of the best, and I just didn’t think I was ready to compete at this level. So I didn’t enter, but I couldn’t help but think I’d missed a chance. Then when I went to the Fair I walked around the winning entries and I was so inspired by the people who had entered and wondered how I would have stacked up against them. I also thought about how amazing it would feel to be reviewed and possibly recognized by such a venerable institution as well as the high caliber judges.

So in early February of this year, when I saw a tweet mentioning an event at Fort York called Mad For Marmalade, I decided to check it out. I was excited to see on offer a talk by Sarah B Hood, (author of the cookbook We Sure Can) on How to Make Prize Winning Marmalade and immediately bought myself a ticket. I had decided this would be where I build up my courage for the Royal Winter Fair.

I made a traditional Seville Orange Marmalade and then got creative in the mixed category and made Lime Cilantro Marmalade. I tweeted a photo of the Seville Orange Marmalade and got a great reply from Sarah which gave me confidence.

 

 

The event was wonderful and I learned a lot. I feverishly took notes through Sarah’s session and asked what I am sure was an overwhelming amount of questions. Met some wonderful people and my marmalades both placed in their categories. Now, I felt like mentally I was ready to take the plunge at The Royal.

I knew the competition booklets came out sometime around mid August, so I stalked the web site waiting for the information I wanted and at the same time, I continued to hone my skills and thought about what I would enter.

I have what I consider to be a bit of an advantage as I have a stall at 3 different Farmer’s Markets in the city so I get to keep a pretty close eye on Ontario produce. I firmly believe that the quality of what you put in the jar is what you will get out of the jar, so I never settle for bruised or past their prime produce. When the raspberries were so juicy they practically melted in your mouth, I went into the kitchen to make Raspberry Jam. When Wild Ontario Blueberries started to make weekly appearances, I planned my Blueberry Jam entry.

Now that I have made the decision to throw my hat in the ring, I am excited to plan out my remaining entries and even more excited to get in the kitchen and get my preserve on!

No matter where my preserves place, I am so excited to be on the Road to the Royal.