As the Seville orange season came and went, I resigned myself to another year without attempting home-made marmalade. So when I saw a battered jar of Ma Made on the reduced shelf in the Co-op, I had to buy it. Officially: “Test after 2 minutes, by drawing a finger over the surface. If it wrinkles, setting point has been reached. If not, reboil for a few minutes. Test again.” Well, I tried the finger business after two minutes, and it seemed a little bit wrinkly, so I kept the marmalade boiling for a few more minutes, then took it off the heat and had another go. Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/Gas 1. Wash the jars well in warm soapy water then rinse thoroughly under running water. Leave the jars and lids to dry, upside down, in the oven. Place a few saucers in the freezer to chill (these will be used to test if the cooked marmalade has reached setting point). But I still had the best of intentions. My grandmother made marmalade. My mother still makes marmalade. I wanted to make marmalade too, even if I did try to gloss over memories of quite how much chopping, straining and swearing was involved. Bring the marmalade to a rolling boil for 10-15 minutes. Skim off any orange scum that rises to the surface.

If you can't get unwaxed fruit, rub with a tiny drop of washing-up liquid, rinse well and dry. Weigh the fruit - you need around 1.6kg (3½lb) in total - then cut in half. Squeeze by hand or with an electric juicer to extract as much juice as possible, then pour into a jug through a sieve to catch any pips. Put pips to one side. You can easily reduce the quantity of sugar down – I ususally use a kilo for the can and also skip the majority of the water. Makes 5 (ish) full jars. Leave marmalade to stand for a further 2-3 minutes, before pouring into warmed jars.” The wide mouthed metal funnel I was given years ago came in really handy here, for transferring hot marmalade from an enormous pan into the jars with minimal mess.Place a small plate or glass dish in the freezer. You will use this later to test the viscosity of the marmalade. Preheat the oven to 110°C (90°C fan) mark ¼. Warm the sugar in a large roasting tin for 20min. Add to the pan and stir until dissolved. Rest a warmed sugar thermometer in the liquid, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and bubble until the temperature registers 104°C ‘jam stage'. Cook at this temperature for about 10min. Place a saucer in the freezer. Return the cooking liquid to a medium heat, add the bag of pips (tied to the handle) and lemon juice and boil for 10 minutes. Remove the pips, then add the chopped fruit and reserved juice, and boil until reduced by a third. Step 5

When the oranges are cool enough to handle, cut them in half and scoop out the flesh, pith and pips into a bowl. Pour the orange pulp into a muslin bag and secure with kitchen string. Add to the pan. Most people find it a very interesting dessert. this will also give you some left over skins ready for freezing or immediate use in your mamade. Realise the final of the Great British Sewing Bee is about to start. Remove mildly warm marmalade mixture from the hob, cover the pan with a tea towel, and abandon marmalade-making attempts for this evening. Add the sugar, stirring well to dissolve. Increase the heat and boil rapidly for about 20 minutes, or until setting point is reached. Step 6 Battle with tin opener to opened dented tin of Ma Made. Somehow succeed in getting the contents out.I duly hoarded jam jars like the worryingsubject of a Channel 4 documentary, and insisted on a special trip to Aldi when preserving pans and jam thermometers were on special buy.

Cover with 2.25 litres/4 pints water, then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about an hour until the fruit is soft. Note instruction on tin to “Add a knob of butter during boiling to disperse foam”. Realise have run out of butter. Decide to ignore any foam. When preparing oranges for inserting in with jelly cut the top and bottom off, then place on chopping board and starting from the top cut off peel including pith in a half circle cut down to the board. This will remove a slice about one inch wide, repeat all the way around the orange. Then hold orange in the palm of your hand with an edge facing upwards, with a large sharp knife cut down the side of a segment skin, say on the right side, and in one motion, twist the knife forward and to the right side, to cut up the other side of the segment skin. Repeat for each segment. The knife should slide across the segment skin. If you find this difficult then just cut down each side of skin to get your segments without their skins. When we moved to the country, I had idyllic visions of making jam, bustling about bottling things with great big pans bubbling away on the Aga. Do lengthy calculations to work out how many jars will be needed, based on normal jars of jam containing 454g and the tin of Ma Made promising 6lbs of marmalade. Only realise that normal jars contain roughly 1lb, so that means 6 jars, after resorting to a spreadsheet. Doh.

What are Seville oranges? 

Raise heat and mixture to a boil. Add sugar to citrus mixture and mix until well combined. Let boil until mixture reaches 223ºF on a candy thermometer, about 30 minutes. Keep a close eye on the marmalade. The mixture should darken in color. Test the doneness of the marmalade by placing a small amount of the marmalade on the chilled plate and letting it sit for 30 second. The mixture should turn into a soft gel and move slightly. If it is runny and thin, let it continue to boil until it reaches desired consistency. Because of the tartness of a Seville orange, the ratio of sugar to fruit in marmalade is 2:1. This recipe calls for 2kg of sugar and 1kg of oranges but you can scale it down or up using that ratio. How do you sterilise jam jars? Whether you’ve embraced the 'grow your own' phenomenon, if you love foraging in hedgerows, or your hunting is confined more to local markets, we can help you turn the fruits of your labour into great tasting homemade food.

I also make one batch without the shred – I strain it in a colander and then tie the shred in a muslin bag and cook away – just lifting the bag out before filling the jars. My husband is very pleased as he really only likes shredless! I keep the shred if I am making another batch or something else citrussy marmaladey. You can also dredge the peel in caster sugar and dry it out in the oven for crisp little candied shreds. Fend off child who has returned just as I am retrieving a pan of clean jars from the roasting oven, where they’ve been heating them for 10 minutes to destroy any remaining bugs. Suggest they taste the setting point sample. Liberate some of the massed ranks of hoarded jam jars, with a sense of relief that they are finally coming in useful. Demand your children return some of the jars filched for potion making so you can have matching lids. Realise that if you use an elderly Aga, and have just put an enormous pan of cold stuff on top, after already cooking two sets of noodles and two sets of stir fry, the chances of there being enough heat left to bring it to the boil any time soon are approximately nil. Curse the Aga. Pause for short day dream about modern hobs that actually, you know, heat things.

Remove the oranges from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Carefully measure out 1.7 litres/3 pints of the cooking liquid, discarding any extra or topping up with water as necessary. Return the liquid to the pan. Tie the muslin bag to the pan handle, so it hangs near the bottom of the pan. Add the juice and 3 litres (5¼ pints) cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 2hr without a lid or until the peel is very, very tender and the liquid has reduced to around 1cm (½in) depth. Skim off any scum during cooking and discard.