Lemon marmalade

Hot buttered toast, and lashings of sharp lemon marmalade. What a great way to start the day.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon making lemon marmalade. I remember having it for the first time when we’d visited India, about 15 years ago. We’d visited the state of Madhya Pradesh. I’d wanted to visit some silk weaving mills and there was a beautiful old fort to stay at in the town of Maheshwa where we were going. It was all very pleasant, and unlike most of our other trips to India, it was genuinely relaxing, and a lovely memory. So I thought, with the beautiful lemons I’d bought the other day, I’d try and recreate the marmalade.

This is how I did it. First, boil 6 lemons in 2.5 litres of water until the skins are soft – this can take a couple of hours. Remove the lemons, and let them cool slightly. Cut the lemons in half, and remove any pips, tying these up in some muslin to add to the pot later to help set the marmalade. Any juice released at this stage goes back into the water. Make sure you have 1.5 litres of water left in the pan, if it’s over, reduce it down, if it’s under add more water. Slice or chop the lemons, depending on how chunky you like your marmalade, and add these back into the saucepan with the bag of pips, plus 2kg of sugar. Boil for about 20 mins. You can test whether it’s cooked enough by smearing some of the juice onto a cold saucer. If it turns to jelly and wrinkles when you tip it up it’s ready to be spooned out.

You need to spoon the marmalade into pre-sterilised jars, making sure to remove the bag of pips when you come across it. Be careful when spooning the marmalade out, as it is very, very hot. My 6 lemons made 8 jars of marmalade.