It is once again Seville Orange season. They are also known as Bitter Oranges, for a very good reason. They don’t taste good!!! That is why in Seville in Spain these oranges are seen as decorative on the trees, but otherwise of no use. They are wasted. They don’t eat them. it is only when they ship the Bitter Oranges to us in the U.K. that we turn them into delicious marmalades :)
Seville Oranges are only available here for one or two weeks in January every year. This year I nearly missed them as they were available a little earlier than in the past two years and I’m still learning! There is no plan B, when it comes to Seville Oranges. Miss them and the only option is to wait until next year lol! Fortunately I have Yvonne at Achnashelloch Farm Shop on her toes looking out for them for me. I also bought a new set of sharp knives specially!
Every orange I use, and I’m talking hundreds here, is sliced by hand to create the shreds of peel that marmalade requires. Last year a few individuals requested “ Shredless” marmalade and I made a small batch to order. Personally I don’t understand it - the peel is the whole point of marmalade in my opinion - but hey, what do I know?! Actually I really like it when customers engage and tell me what they’d like. I love to try something new or hunt out a different recipe.
This week I was asked for Quince Jelly. I have made it before, but I‘d had Quinces from my Uncle‘s garden and he doesn’t live locally! I need to source some local quinces if I’m to make any more and on that one I’m struggling!
Anyway, I digress. It is marmalade season. In addition to the usual Seville Orange Marmalade, in the past year sales of Whisky marmalade has taken off. I made a conscious decision that I would only use local single malts in my marmalade. The furthest North is Ben Nevis distillery in Fort William and south is Campbeltown. Others are from Oban, Islay and Jura. The small gift packs I made with six different small jars of whisky marmalade have proved very popular with the tourists - particularly in The Gather in Tarbert. I appreciate that whisky for breakfast is not for everyone but I started making it after so many requests!
In January we have a break from the Mid Argyll Farmers’ market, that is held on the second Saturday of each month in the Co-op car park , but it will be back next month, in February. For those that go along regularly, ? they will have noticed that it has grown exponentially over the past year with more stalls than ever. That is such good news as it is worth people coming across to have a look at. Let’s hope this continues throughout 2022.
Happy New Year, to all my customers old and new. Let’s hope this is a great year for us all!
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