Back from Scotland! I will post properly about that later. Plus, I went to another book launch yesterday, so that’s another owing post 🙂

This week’s Foody Friday is World War Two jams. Cheap and thrifty.

Marrow and Ginger Jam

Ingredients

450g marrow (weight when peeled and seeds removed)
3 tablespoons preserved ginger
450g sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Equipment

Sharp Knife
Preserving pan
Wooden Spoon
Cold plate
Hot jamjars

Instructions

Dice the marrow – about 1.5 cm, or half an inch cubes. Cut the ginger very finely, to ensure even flavour

Bung it all in the pan with the sugar. Leave in a cool place overnight.

The next day, give it a good stir. It should be a bit mushy now. Stir over a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Add the lemon juice and boil until you reach the settling point.

The marrow remains in cubes (albiet slightly mushy). Allow it to cool in the pan and stir to make sure everything’s even before adding to the jars. Mrs Beeton (who se recipe was adapted for the WW2 books) suggests leaving it for 3 days for the flavour to distribute nicely.

Orange Peel and Apple Marmalade

Ingredients

Peel from 450g sweet oranges
1.2 litres  water
450g cooking apples when peeled and cored
1.35 kg sugar

Equipment

Sharp knife
Peeler, corer, or the same knife
Preserving pan
Muslin bag
Grater/zester

Instructions

Eat your oranges. Lots of lovely vitamin C! In WW2 oranges were heavily rationed, so only children could eat them. Hence,the lack of orange marmalade, and hence why concerned parents would save the orange peel to make this instead.

Shred the orange peel as finely as you can, but make sure you don’t get any of the pith (too bitter). Soak the orange peel in the water for several hours or overnight – if your peel is quite chunky, use more water.

Once the orange peel is soft, simmer it in the water until it’s even more tender.

Slice and dice the apples. Put the skins and cores in the muslin bag; this is where the most pectin is, which causes the marmalade to set. Weigh the apple flesh.

Add the apple to the orange water, and rest the muslin bag of peelings in there too. Continue simmering until the apple flesh has turned to puree.

Remove the muslin bag, add the sugar, and stir over a low heat until it dissolved.

Boil rapidly until setting point is reached. Allow to cool a little and stir to make sure the orange peel is evenyl distributed. Add to jars.