Oh No! I was down to my last jar of marmalade!
My every day breakfast is fruit, toast and marmalade and a big mug of coffee. I need marmalade! And I'm not buying more of the very expensive jars from the local small business - Swallowtail Preserves. Not since they started charging £4.50 for a small half-pound jar. I'd like to support them but they've priced themselves out of sensible reach.
Thank goodness there was a tin of the Home Cook ready prepared fruit in the cupboard although I thought it was lemon until I looked properly and found it was orange.
I added some whisky that had been in the cupboard for years and soon made a batch of 6 jars of Orange/whisky Marmalade.
Breakfast is all sorted for a while. I'll have to order online if I want a tin to make lemon marmalade next time - the only reason for missing there being a Lakeland shop in Ipswich. Actually, come to think of it I'm not even sure tins of the medium cut or thick cut prepared orange are available in the supermarkets now, might need to order both.
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I’ve just been to look on Amazon to see what Home Cook ready marmalade is. The price of makes 5 pound a jar sound good from Swallow preserves as you need a tin of home cook plus sugar.
ReplyDeleteAmazon are expensive but don't think that it would come to £54 which is what the equivalent would be to buy from Swallowtail!!
DeleteIt is if you live abroad and have to import it.
DeleteKaren
Karen
ReplyDeleteI buy Robertson’s MaMade in Tesco for £2.45 a tin, it’s not always available so buy several tins when I see it. Was thinking of making Lime Marmalade from scratch in January, have you ever made it? Sandra.
ReplyDeleteI'll be looking to see which supermarkets still have the tins
DeleteIve occasionally made a sort of dark marmalade substituting some dark brown sugar for some of the white.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea that I've not tried
DeleteThe basic cost of everything is on the up and while larger companies and supermarkets might temporarily be able to absorb some, but not all, increases in costs. the local suppliers and manufacturers cannot afford to do so, and consequently they have to put up their costs. Unfortunately, the knock on effect is that people shift back to cheaper stuff and in a very short time we start to lose all our local businesses and the supermarkets win again. Coming from such a community, I will always do my best to continue to support local traders and manufacturers before lining the pockets of the already rich enough fat cats of industry.
ReplyDeleteI used to like buying from Swallowtail Preserves until this year when they've increased their prices by a big amount
DeleteI love marmalade but rarely eat it. Wish I could say the same about some of the other things I love!
ReplyDeleteToast and Marmalade are my breakfast staple
DeleteLast January the market stall holder gave all of his leftover marmalade oranges to his last customer on a cold, wet Saturday. They were distributed to jam making friends, and friends of friends, and I was given enough for eight jars of Seville and two of St Clements marmalade at under 40p a jar. I add a bit of treacle before pouring the last few jars for Oxford marmalade.
ReplyDeleteThis is my standby recipe, using peel saved from our breakfast orange and cooking apple peel from our stored apples.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-jwQnlKSxQI
That was a useful gift - I used to love big Navel oranges in winter but they now give me indigestion so can't eat them anymore
DeleteThe jars of marmalade look lovely on this cold morning. I like Rose’s Lime marmalade but haven’t seen any in the shops for ages. Catriona
ReplyDeleteI wrote about Roses somewhere on the blog a long time ago - it used to be green and tangy but last time I bought a jar for a change it was tasteless
DeleteI used to buy the orange MaMade from Asda and just add lots of bottled lemon juice to it, so while it looked orange in colour it definitely tasted very lemony. But the lemon version is only £7.99 from Amazon, so even with the price of sugar you are still getting a reasonably priced homemade marmalade that you can add other flavourings to if you want to.
ReplyDeleteI used to add a tin of grapefruit to the lemon MaMade but now I'm taking the dreaded tablets for High Blood Pressure I can't eat grapefruit. I wondered about adding vodka!
DeleteIt's nearly Christmas ... go for it!!
DeleteI've used Ma made many a time, reliable and a great colour and clarity.
ReplyDeleteI have now perfected making marmalade from scratch too ( blowing own trumpet 😉) but it is a bit of a process which won't be any cheaper than buying the Ma made tins of prepared fruit.
Alison in Devon x
I've made lime marmalade from scratch but the fiddling about with all the slicing etc put me off
DeleteI cook the oranges whole, 20 minutes in the pressure cooker, then let it cool for 20 minutes. Then it is easy to scoop out and sieve the flesh and pips, and slice the soft peel with a knife or scissors.
DeleteI've used MaMade but stopped when they stopped packing it properly for transatlantic shipping. Just thrown in a box, no packing materials. The cans arrived so dented I couldn't open them. When I complained, I got another set sent -- just as bad. Useless trying to open a can squashed completely flat. Before then I loved their mixes and made them for well received gifts.
ReplyDeleteHow very annoying. No equivalent in the US I presume?
DeleteMaybe some of the Christmas faires you go to will have someone selling marmalade?
ReplyDeleteI'm OK for a while now I've made the half dozen jars.
DeleteI've seen it in Morrisons, but think it was only the orange one. Xx
ReplyDeleteNever seen the tins of prepared lemon anywhere except Lakeland, they still have it online now their shop has gone from Ipswich
DeleteI love marmalade, but I've never made it. You're way more industrious than I am!
ReplyDeleteIt's ever so easy using the tins of prepared fruit
DeleteWhisky marmalade - what a brilliant idea.
ReplyDeleteI think it will give it a different flavour than just orange and it's got rid of some whisky that had been in the cupboard for years
DeleteI've quite a fancy for making some homemade marmalade. I'm put off because I'm the only marmalade eater in my house and don't want to end up with jars and jars of it. I've got a few recipes, I assume it would be easy enough to scale it down to just a couple of jars.
ReplyDeleteYes definitely. The Seville oranges are around in January.
DeleteOrange marmalade is an al- time favorite. I've never made it but am able to buy a large (store brand) jar reasonably.
ReplyDeleteI usually have marmite on toast lol. I brought back a large jar with me that should last a little bit. I can find it over here but it's really expensive - something that I treat myself to.
ReplyDeleteMy mom made orange marmalade from scratch every year, would that be more economical? Maybe fresh oranges are cheaper [were] in US. Just oranges, sugar and...water--six or so smallish jars.
ReplyDeleteThe pre-prepped marmalade is fantastic - saves a load of trouble and mess. xx
ReplyDelete