Making Marmalade

I have tried to make marmalade for the past two years and it has been no good, the first year it would not set so I threw it out, last year I boiled it so much that it turned to a thick sticky syrup that tasted horrible so I threw that out. One last go and if that doesn't work I will never try again. So when I popped to the market on Saturday morning, as I usually do and they had "Marmalade Oranges" 3lb for £1.50 quite a bargain I thought. I will have another go, so armed with my oranges, 4 lemons for £1 and two bags of sugar for 75p ( much cheaper than Tesco -check it out), I had a go. I had been looking at "The Cottage Smallholders" blog and Fiona's Easy Seville marmalade and decided to try her recipe.

find it here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/easy-seville-orange-marmalade-recipe-6464
First I had to simmer the oranges and lemons for 3 hours and leave over night, then cut in half and scoop the flesh into one pint of the simmering liquid and boil this up. While this was happening cut the peel into strips. Then strain the pulp through a cloth and add to the simmering liquid and make up to 4 pints. Add the peel and sugar and bring to boil.
Here it is starting to boil, it needs to really bubble up and boil for 15 minutes. I tested it on a saucer that had been in the freezer.
I save up my jars and re use them all the time, a good scrub and then pop them in the oven . Then put the hot marmalade in the hot jars and cover with a waxed disc.
The next day I gave the jars a wipe around the edge to get any stray stickiness off and wrote the labels.
AND this is the perfect jar, the peel is evenly spread (not like some of the other jars where it floated to the top) and this this is the jar that I will enter into the Horticultural Society Spring show. I have put it away in a safe place. Top of the cupboard with plates in it ( just to remind myself when I can't find it in April!!!)
Oh yes it tastes really nice - orangy is the word I would use to describe it!