Marmalade Choice in the UK

[Matthew Grant]

I was looking at why we couldn't find tangerines last year. It seems they were usurped by the generic "citrus fruit" others claimed that they are the same as mandarins (sounds fishy to me)

Article Here

Edited November 28, 2007 by Matthew Grant (log)

[bakerestates]

I was looking at why we couldn't find tangerines last year. It seems they were usurped by the generic "citrus fruit" others claimed that they are the same as mandarins (sounds fishy to me)

Article Here

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When I googled mandarin/tangarine Wikepidea said they were different with the mandarin coming from Asia and trngarine from S.Europe/N. Africa. It also said they were of a different genus.

Jane Grigson's Fruit Book says mandarin is the othe name for tangerine and says it is from China (as all oranges are). She quotes A Dictionary of English Plant Names (Geoffrey Grigson (1974) that its name mandarine is

'explained as an orange the colour of the robes of mandarins, or an orange eaten by mandarins, or an orange which looks like a mandarin.'

She says the Clemintine came about in 1900 in Algeria by crossing a Mandarin with the Seville orange. I could go on put it streches to five pages.

I took my first delivery of mandarins a week or two ago and I find them superior to the Clemintine. Darker in colour and a waxier skin with a more pronounced flavour.

Matthew - if you want to get some Mandarins try the Natoora website.

Piers

[Katie Meadow]

Wow, topic has rambled! There's some good info on the subject of tangerines, mandarins, etc on the thread called "Is there a general term for little oranges?"

Thanks for all suggestions. Dougal, the downsizer recipes look amazingly thorough.

[Andrew Chalk]

We did an orange marmalade tasting once, just for grins.

Wilkins: A little too sweet;

Duerr: Way too sweet;

Robinson's: Is this marmalade. It looks like orage silicon implant. No fruit at al;

Frank Cooper's 'Oxford': Da best. Thick rinds.

[Terrasanct]

I sent Katie a bottle of my dark, evil marmalade and she has reciprocated by sending some of hers. It's very good. I think she said it was made with Seville oranges, Meyer lemon, and bergamot, but I'll let her clarify. It is tart and makes my tongue tingle. I don't like over-sweet preserves, so these are perfect.

I've never seen a bergamot orange--does anyone here use them in their cooking or preserves? Where do they grow?

[alex chef]

Funnily enough I ordered a case of tangerines this morning to make some marmalade with, possibly with the addition of a spot of whisky and some limes.

Any further suggestions?

[Katie Meadow]

Thanks Terra! According to Wiki, bergamot is a cross between something called a "pear lemon" and a seville orange--or grapefruit--so even they don't exactly know. They do seem confident on where it's grown: Calabria, Italy, and apparently no other place on earth produces a good one. They are available in our favorite market here in the Bay Area for less than a month each year, and that's now.

Outside of my first batch of marmalade and the drink my husband and I invented (at least we like to think so) called the Bergamotini, I only know that flavor from Earl Grey tea, which is usually made with bergamot oil--I assume from the rind. That unique flavor must be inherited mostly from the pear lemon (whatever that is) and the Calabrian soil, since no sevilles or grapefruits hint at anything like that. The Bergamotini is based on the "Leap Year Cocktail" from the Savoy, which is misleading since it implies it's only available every four years and which uses lemon--certainly available year-round in the UK, altho perhaps it was invented on a British warship where they broke out the lemons very rarely. Clearly I don't know what I'm talking about.

Our proportions were as follows: juice of approx 15 small sevilles, 1 meyer lemon, 1 bergamot and one half regular lemon. The cut peel included only half the bergamot peel and no regular lemon peel. As you noted, it was indeed tart. That must have been due to the half lemon and the very stingy amount of sugar used. We tend to under-sugar everything. Dunno what happened to me when I was pregnant 20 years ago. I couldn't get enough sour, and it stuck.

And by the way, Terra, your marmalade was quite good, so I hope when you say "evil" you mean that in the best possible way.