A great fault of home-made marmalade is that the peel is generally hard. This defect is easily remedied by boiling the peel thoroughly before slicing. From three to four hours will be required, and it must be remembered that as the peel will harden somewhat when added to the sugar, it can hardly be too much done in the first process. Little if any advantage is gained by picking out the pulp of the orange, and much time is saved by expressing the juice instead, afterwards washing the fruit in order to lose none of the goodness.

Choose Seville oranges of a moderate size with fine smooth dark skins. Score the peel in quarters down to the fruit, remove it with as much of the white as will come without drawing the juice of the orange, throwing the quarters of peel as you do them into cold water. Put the peel into the preserving-kettle with fresh cold water to cover it, change the water three times during the boiling, and when the peel is tender enough to crumble when pressed between the fingers, drain it as dry as possible. Lay two or three of the quarters of peel together on a board, and with a sharp knife cut them into very thin shreds. Squeeze the oranges, and to every dozen add the juice of four lemons. Wash the fruit after squeezing, and use the liquor thus obtained to make the syrup. Weigh the shred peel and the juice, and to every pound (a pint of juice to be calculated as a pound) allow a pound and a half of lump sugar. To this quantity of sugar allow a pint and a half of the water in which the fruit has been washed after straining it, boil together, taking off the scum as it rises, for a quarter of an hour, or longer if the quantity is large. Add the juice of the fruit, and continue boiling until the syrup begins to thicken, still skimming, put in the peel and boil for twenty minutes longer, or until the marmalade will jelly.

A dozen oranges made by the above recipe will give twelve pound pots, the average cost being about fivepence per pot. Marmalade can be bought at a trifling additional cost, but even that of the best makers is inferior in flavour and quality to that made at home with reasonable care. A small machine for cutting orange-peel has lately been patented by Kent, High Holborn, and will be found useful where a large quantity of marmalade is required.