Pavers and Marmalade

We probably have a few too many pavers now!. The bobcat brought another twenty from the other end of the road, first thing this morning. Robert had to be down there at 7.30 to load them onto the scoop. Kevin, who does difficult and heavy things in the garden, will come round and lay them properly next week.
They have started pouring concrete already. The strange thing is they are only doing our side. They said a team of outside contractors will come and do the other side later.

I have another batch of the chutney simmering and so here is the marmalade recipe as promised. I can keyboard it in between stirring.
I use Seville oranges which are a bitter orange which can't be eaten raw. Beverley in NZ has grapefruit to use up. These could be what we call ugli in OZ. They are orange coloured and bitter like a grapefruit. They should make really good marmalade too. I use the recipe from Stephanie Alexander's book called The Cook's Companion. I have had great succes with all the recipes I have used from this book except for the marmalade one, but I persevered and by reducing the water from 1.8 litres to 0.8 litres I seem to have it licked.
Here goes...

Seville oranges or other bitter citrus fruit
Water
Salt
Sugar
*Thinly slice the fruit having removed the pips and central white membrane. These can be tied up in a muslin bag and boiled with the fruit, then they get squeezed out and thrown away. The pectin in the pips helps the stuff to set.
*For every 500gm of prepared fruit add 0.8 litres of water and 1/4 tsp of salt. Simmer until the peel is really soft and squishy...about half an hour. Leave it in a glass or ceramic bowl until the next day.
*Measure it with a measuring cup into a preserving pan or kettle. Bring it to the boil and for every cup of it, add 1 cup of sugar. Cook at a gentle boil for about 30 minutes and then start testing for setting point.
*It should set if the temperature is 105 Celsius, or if it forms a skin when a spoonful is chilled on a saucer in the fridge or both. Bottle it in jars you have heated to 18o Celsius in the oven for twenty minutes and then leave it alone until it is quite cool.

I have ruined a few by turning them upside down to see if they are setting while they are still warm and I have learned since that this destroys the set. You can reboil runny marmalade to reset it but it will go dark. Oh the lessons I have learned the hard way. I have even resorted to phoning my mum in England for help and advice on non setting preserves.

I hope this works for anyone who tries it. I add things to some of my marmalades like whisky and cointreau and use some rich brown sugar as part of the sugar component and sometimes I do fine shreds and other times chunky and it seems to work well with any bit of fiddling about now that I have it down pat. Good luck with yours.
Cheers Gillian