Christmas Spiced Marmalade Food

ORANGE GLAZED HAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place the ham on its side in roasting pan. Mix marmalade and spices in small bowl until well blended. Brush 1/2 of the marmalade mixture over ham, gently separating the slices so mixture can reach middle of ham. Cover loosely with foil.
• Bake 1 hour, basting occasionally with pan drippings. Remove foil. Brush with remaining marmalade mixture. Bake 45 minutes longer. Serve ham with pan drippings.

CHRISTMAS-SPICED MARMALADE

Steps:

• Peel the zest off the fruit with a vegetable peeler, leaving as much of the white pith as you can.
• Pile up the strips of zest and snip them into tiny matchsticks with a scissors and set them aside.
• Juice all the dezested fruit, setting the juice aside.
• Roughly cut the dezested, juiced fruit pieces and add them to a large pot along with the pulp and seeds from the juicer. Add the whole spices and the water. Bring the pot to the boil, clamp the lid on, turn the heat down to medium low and allow to simmer for 2 hours.
• Take 3 small plates and put them in the freezer.
• After 2 hours of simmering, pass the water through a fine mesh sieve, making sure you squeeze all the water from the pith. Discard and collected pith, pulp and spices.
• In a very large pot, add the water from the pith, the fruit juice and the snipped up zest. Stir and bring to the boil.
• Add the sugar. Stir it to help the sugar dissolve and bring to a rolling boil.
• If you have a candy thermometer, you will need to let this reach 105 degrees celsius so it will set. If you do not have a candy thermometer, then just let it boil for about 40 minutes.
• To test if it is done, take a not cold plate from the freezer and pour about a tablespoon of marmalade onto it and leave it for 5 minutes. Then slowly drag your finger across it. If the surface of the marmalade forms a crinkly surface and your finger leaves the plate clean behind it then it is done and will set. If that doesn't happen, let it boil for another 10 minutes and check again with the second plate from the freezer.
• Allow the marmalade to cool a bit before pouring it into sterilised jars. To sterilise jars, you can boil them in water or run them through the hottest cycle of the dishwasher, just don't touch the inside of the jars once sterilised. I sterilise the lids by boiling them in a small pot of water.
• Once the jars are filled, put on the lids not so tightly and submerge all the jars in a very large pot of water or a number of smaller pots and bring to the boil. Allow to boil for half an hour before you remove them from the water and tighten the lids.

HOW TO MAKE MARMALADE

Steps:

• Squeeze the oranges and keep their juice. Scrape out the pith and pips with a metal spoon, again keeping everything. Juice the lemon, too, then put the lemon shells, orange pith and seeds into a square of muslin about 30 x 30cm, and tie it with string. Leave the string long - that way you can tie it to your wooden spoon, which will make it easier to lift out later.
• Cut each orange shell into 3 petals, then finely shred with a large, sharp knife. Put the peel into a preserving pan, tip in the juices, then sit the bag in the juice. Pour in 2.4 litres/4 pints cold water and leave to steep overnight.
• Next day, leaving the bag in the pan, bring the liquid to the boil, then simmer for about 1 hr, or until the peel is soft and translucent and the liquid has reduced by one third. Turn off the heat and lift the muslin bag into a large bowl. Leave the bag until it's cool enough to handle.
• While you wait, get your jars ready. Wash 8 x 450g/1lb jars (or the equivalent volume larger or smaller jars) in hot, soapy water, then leave in a low oven to dry completely. Keep them warm. Alternatively, if you've got a dishwasher you can run the jars and lids though a hot cycle, then let them dry. Put a saucer in the freezer at this point, too.
• Now for the messy bit - I like to don a pair of rubber gloves at this point. Hold the bag over its bowl, and squeeze and pummel it until you've extracted every last drop of juice and gunge through the muslin. This stuff contains the pectin - the crucial ingredient to the perfect set. You can now throw away what's left in the bag and wash the muslin, ready to re-use.
• Stir the contents of the bowl, plus all the sugar, into the pan. Stir every so often over a very gentle heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Don't boil before all the sugar has melted.
• Slowly bring the pan to the boil. After 10 mins boiling, spoon a small blob of marmalade onto the cold saucer. Leave for a few secs, then push the marmalade with your finger. If it wrinkles, it's ready. If not, boil for 10 mins more then try again. Even if you have a sugar thermometer (look for 105C or where it says 'jam'), I'd still recommend the saucer test. If yours seems to be taking a while don't worry, it can take anything from 10 mins to 45 mins for marmalade to reach setting point, depending on your oranges. Skim off any scum that comes to the surface in the meantime.
• Once you've reached setting point, ladle the marmalade into the warm jars and seal. A funnel is really handy if you have one. The marmalade will keep for up to 1 year in a cool, dark place, and for up to a month in the fridge once opened.

FIVE-MINUTE SPICED ORANGE MARMALADE

Steps:

• Combine first 5 ingredients in large saucepan. Pierce each orange peel strip with 4 cloves, spacing apart; add to pan. Simmer until mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Add marmalade; bring to simmer, stirring often. Remove from heat.
• Using tongs, transfer 1 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 vanilla piece and 1 orange-clove strip to each of three 8-ounce canning jars. Fill each jar with hot marmalade and seal with lids. (Can be prepared 4 weeks ahead. Refrigerate.)