I need a Marmalade Cutter!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Hi Folks,

I'd rather not have to resort to eBay if I don't have to, so I figured I'd ask here - since y'all are such profligate collectors of kitchen paraphernalia. Does anybody have a marmalade slicer of any sort that they'd be willing to sell/trade me? I've got high-end gran-cru chocolate and arriba cocoa nibs, as well as access to a number of hard-to-source Latin American ingredients.

Alternately, if anybody has any suggestions as to where I might be able to find such a creature, I'd be most grateful.

Thanks in advance!

____________________________________________

Host Note: Rules of the Game

Please use the PM system for all aspects of any exchange: cost of shipping, addresses, etc.

Edited May 4, 2012 by avaserfi
edited to add note (log)

[Katie Meadow]

Could you describe the operation you hope to perform? What exactly is a marmalade cutter?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I need to slice large quantities of oranges, lemons, and limes, quite thinly (think 1/8 to 1/16 of an inch) and fairly quickly. I make Seville orange marmalade when the Seville oranges are in season here (which starts about now and runs for 6-8 months a year) and I have picked up a contract to produce very large quantities of said marmalade for a deluxe grocery chain.

In Victorian and Edwardian times, a tool existed for this specific purpose; it generally clamped onto the countertop and hand a handle that controlled a sharp blade as well as a pusher of sorts to hold the citrus against the cutting surface. I think there's an example of one in the Unknown Kitchen Gadgets thread; the brands seem to be "Magic" or "Marvel" and it also appears that such a tool is no longer produced. They usually look like this.

Hence I'm looking for somebody who's got one they're not using, in order to do a trade.

[thock]

Would a food processor work? I'm guessing, though, that to use a food processor, you'd have to halve or quarter the oranges, so maybe that's not the best idea.

[Badiane]

Could you do it on a meat slicer?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Badiane - if that were the case, I could use my mandoline, but unfortunately that's not a good idea. The mandoline is all but useless for oranges (I'm very disappointed!) and in my experience meat slicers aren't so hot with something that's as juicy as cut citrus.

[andiesenji]

This is a marmalade cutter, minus the pusher.

This does not cut whole fruit. The peel is removed tightly rolled and pushed into the cutter which shreds off the edges that are pushed against where the reciprocal blade is located.

Meanwhile the pulp and juice of the fruit is cooked with sugar and strained then the shredded peel is mixed back into the syrup and cooked until the peel becomes translucent.

They do whop up on ebay more often in England than here.

If you want to slice whole fruits, you have to use a very sharp mandolin. I have the V-Pro deBuyer which works great. I never really did well with the straight blade Bron, which is why I used the marm cutter.

Edited May 4, 2012 by andiesenji (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Saw one on Craigslist in San Diego for about $65. Anyone from eG close enough to pick it up and ship it?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

This does not cut whole fruit. The peel is removed tightly rolled and pushed into the cutter which shreds off the edges that are pushed against where the reciprocal blade is located.

Meanwhile the pulp and juice of the fruit is cooked with sugar and strained then the shredded peel is mixed back into the syrup and cooked until the peel becomes translucent.

They do whop up on ebay more often in England than here.

If you want to slice whole fruits, you have to use a very sharp mandolin. I have the V-Pro deBuyer which works great. I never really did well with the straight blade Bron, which is why I used the marm cutter.

Thing is, I do have a very sharp mandolin, a Japanese model which I use for slicing things for pickling. It's sh*te with the oranges for some reason, and it's certainly not because of a dull blade. Which means that I've been chopping everything by hand with my Nakiri; this works but it's a royal PITA for large batches. Hence, if I'm going to spend some cheese, it might as well be on a tool that will do what I need it to!

Also, that's a very different method of marmalade making, Andie! Where is the 24-48 hour soaking period in water and its own juice? Is there a comparable depth of flavour to the marmalade when it's made quickly as you describe?

[Katie Meadow]

We make marmalade in February and March when Sevilles become available in northern CA. The method we use is closer to Andie's description--I wouldn't call it quick, but it takes only three or four hours start to finish. The oranges are juiced first, pulp with pips saved. The juice is cooked down w/a bagful of pips. After 20 minutes or so the fine-cut rind is added. A second stage boiling occurs after measuring liquid and adding sugar.

The most annoying and tedious job is scraping the peel. My preference is for as little pith as possible. The orange halves from the juicing get cut into wedges, and a sharp knife cuts away the thickest part of the pith. Then my husband has the hideous job of scraping the peel clean. We have found that a serrated grapefruit spoon is pretty effective, but we aren't making commercial quantities. He scrapes, then I cut the peel into fine shreds. If I found a tool that would make at least one of these two jobs easier I would be really interested. But getting the peel prepped has always necessitated two steps.

I've never tried the long soaking method. My experience is that depth of flavor in our marmalade comes from whether or not we partially caramelize some of the sugar before the final boil-down, resulting in somewhat thicker, darker and less delicate marmalade. At least that's the only way we have been able to change the flavor without ruining the texture. I like marmalade both ways--light and delicate, or more burnt caramel. In either case I find any white pith left on the peel only interferes with clarity and makes the taste bitter. I would love to exchange marmalades with anyone who does the long-soak method, just to see how that changes the taste.

[Kouign Aman]

Saw one on Craigslist in San Diego for about $65. Anyone from eG close enough to pick it up and ship it?

If its what PC ends up wanting, yes. Reply by pm if its of interest, because that a) follows da rools, and b) gets me an email notification. I might miss a post.

Also, Kerry, can you provide a link to the listing you saw, please? I am not finding it in your original post. Ta.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

We make marmalade in February and March when Sevilles become available in northern CA. The method we use is closer to Andie's description--I wouldn't call it quick, but it takes only three or four hours start to finish. The oranges are juiced first, pulp with pips saved. The juice is cooked down w/a bagful of pips. After 20 minutes or so the fine-cut rind is added. A second stage boiling occurs after measuring liquid and adding sugar.

The most annoying and tedious job is scraping the peel. My preference is for as little pith as possible. The orange halves from the juicing get cut into wedges, and a sharp knife cuts away the thickest part of the pith. Then my husband has the hideous job of scraping the peel clean. We have found that a serrated grapefruit spoon is pretty effective, but we aren't making commercial quantities. He scrapes, then I cut the peel into fine shreds. If I found a tool that would make at least one of these two jobs easier I would be really interested. But getting the peel prepped has always necessitated two steps.

I've never tried the long soaking method. My experience is that depth of flavor in our marmalade comes from whether or not we partially caramelize some of the sugar before the final boil-down, resulting in somewhat thicker, darker and less delicate marmalade. At least that's the only way we have been able to change the flavor without ruining the texture. I like marmalade both ways--light and delicate, or more burnt caramel. In either case I find any white pith left on the peel only interferes with clarity and makes the taste bitter. I would love to exchange marmalades with anyone who does the long-soak method, just to see how that changes the taste.

I can send you a jar of mine, if you like. I do a 48-hour soak with unscraped peels, with a preliminary boil at the 24 hour mark, and a final weigh-in and sugaring after 48 hours. My British expat clients down here swear it tastes like the marmalade they remember getting at Harrods in their youth. Then again, what I'm after is the traditional, bittersweet orange marmalade like my gran used to make; I've pieced together the recipe I use from memory and her badly faded, spidery handwritten notes. I spent a lot of time as a child in gran's kitchen with the wicked-sharp paring knives she favoured, cutting oranges for marmalade.

[andiesenji]

If you look at my tutorial on "skinning" citrus fruits for candying, this is the same process I use when I prepare marmalade but I do the further step of scraping most of the pith off with a grapefruit spoon (the serrated kind).

I then stack 2, 3 or 4, depending on how thick they are, of the peels and roll them enough to fit into the marm cutter and push them in until I need to use the wooden pusher.

A V-slicer is much easier to use for slicing citrus. I use it for slicing the Persian limes that have no seeds or for slicing Navel oranges, also seedless. It doesn't work well with citrus that contains seeds.

Edited May 4, 2012 by andiesenji (log)

[heidih]

You may want to check out our marmalade topic regarding the recipe and technique issues.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I wanted to follow up. Kouign Aman was fabulously faboo and send me this monster (after much wrangling with my PO box!) You can see that I'm using it to chop entire quarter oranges, which it does admirably.

Thanks to all!

[Jerry-oh]

Hi all

I too came in search of a marmalade cutter but only found the Victorian ones too.

But I have to say I have been astonished by the unnecessary processes that you guys seem to go through to produce marmalade.

For a start there is absolutely no need to remove skin and certainly not to scrape out the lovely pectin-loaded pith and all the sinews in the fruit - they will melt away miraculously through boiling and add that much-wanted flavour and enable the marmalade to set - add a lemon for additional pectin (DON'T remove the pith etc from that either!!).

Secondly - slice the oranges after cutting into segments ...no need to separate the pith and sinews etc.. see above

Finally - what on earth are you doing boiling it for 24 - 48 hours????

We never buy marmalade now as our is 'as good as from Harrods' or even better with marmalade boiled for only a few hours.

This way you keep the whole fruit working for the best results and your peel, thick or thin, will be tender and gorgeously bitter.

Have fun

Jerry