I had the use of a preserving pan for a couple of seasons when my cousin Penny lent me hers. Apart from that, I've never had one. When I wanted t make jams, chutneys and other preserves, I used my heavy duty casserole pan. This wasn't entirely successful . Because it gets used for all sorts of things, the preserves tended to stick on the bottom and burn. When I discovered some Seville oranges at Wilson's the Greengrocer's I bought them, and then decided to treat myself to a proper preserving pan. It's a small one so absolutely perfect for me. I pretty much never need to make industrial quantities of preserves.
I also bought a sugar thermometer (I already have at least one, but it's packed in a box somewhere) and a jam funnel.
And made this:
The marmalade is a bit dark. I used brown sugar instead of white or demerara, largely because I had brown sugar to hand. Also, it's a bit more set than I would usually make it. According to the sugar thermometer the marmalade didn't ever reach setting point. It did according to the "drop a bit on a saucer and see if it wrinkles" test. It tastes OK though.
What shall I make next? I am thinking beetroot chutney, or grapefruit marmalade, or ... Not jam, though. Not yet. I'll wait for the soft fruit season. And we need to start collecting empty glass jars as they come to hand. I have established a collecting box :-D
Oh. And today is our one year anniversary of arriving in Australia with a view to staying. It is, of course, not our anniversary of our first arrival together in Australia. We first came together in December 2005. But On This Day in 2016 we landed very, very early in Cairns and then flew on down to Melbourne and started the process of Moving In
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