Home made marmalade is to my mind one of the best preserves to make. You can buy some fantastic jam almost everywhere but I never find bought marmalade as thrilling. I guess I like a shape flavour and lots of peel but the marmalade must still taste fresh.

The temptation to buy it is strong as I would calculate we get through at the most 3 jars of marmalade a year and many recipes for Seville Oranges have a huge yield and marmalade making does take a bit of effort . Whilst you can pot up the preserve and keep the jars for gifts I now make this grapefruit version most years. It has the advantage of meeting the criteria listed above and as grapefruit aren’t as seasonal as Seville oranges it can be made most months of the year.

In my book James and Chutneys I give a whole load of marmalade recipes they all vary a little but certain points hold true.

Choose best quality, fresh fruit and scrub it well before cooking.

Cut the peel thinly, it will expand as it adsorbs the sugar so medium cut will become coarse.

Don’t skimp the boiling stage. You really do need the peel to be very soft, a wooden spoon should easily “cut” it before you add the sugar. There are few things worse than tough chewy marmalade no matter how tasty.

Pink Grapefruit Marmalade
Pink and ruby grapefruit make a lovely preserve. They often have thin skins but on the chance that the white pith is very thick pare away a portion before chopping the skins.