Foxhill Marmalades from the stable of Foxhill Preserves is an annual event that we can enjoy all year round.
Foxhill Preserves tell Welsh Country of their Foxhill Marmalades season.
It’s citrus season again! The marmaladies of Tanygroes are busy in the kitchen cooking up your favourite Foxhill marmalades.
First ticked off the list is Bergamot – Prince of Pears. Grown mainly in Calabria, bergamots have a floral, sour and bitter flavour. Thought to derive from Turkish ‘beg-armudi’ – ‘The Prince’s Pear’ A fittingly majestic title for what is considered the finest and most exotic of citrus.
Our Prince of Pears marmalade is made with Bergamots and Seville Oranges, why not try it on your morning toast ?
Who said “Oranges are not the only fruit” ?? It’s definitely only oranges this week! Ploughing through the 170kg Seville mountain, we’ve made 500 jars of Seville Orange marmalade so far.
This bitter orange citrus was thought to have been introduced to Southern Spain from the foothills of the Himalayas, by 10th century Arab traders.
Sevilles are virtually inedible in their raw state, (as I discovered as a teenager on my first visit to Seville!) but as Marmalade it becomes a luxurious treat, produced using the time consuming method of small batch cooking, essential to preserve the precious scent of Seville oranges.
Traditionalists love the bitter edge of Seville marmalade, but we also use Seville as the basis of the majority of our other marmalade varieties;-
- Over the Rainbow: (Seville & Blood orange).
- St Clements: (Seville & Lemon).
- Three Fruit: (Seville/Lemon/Grapefruit).
- Pembrokeshire: (Seville/Lemon/Lime).
This week we’ve been knee deep in Blood Oranges. These gorgeous deep red fruits are only available late winter/early spring, they have a unique flavour compared to other oranges – with more than a hint of raspberry in addition to the usual citrus notes.
The distinctive dark flesh colour is due to the presence of anthocyanins, (common to many flowers and fruit, but rare in citrus fruits), which gives the orange its maroon colour and will only develop during low night temperatures.
The three most common types of blood oranges are ‘Italian Tarocco’ the sweetest of the three, grown in the fertile soil surrounding Mount Etna; ‘Spanish Sanguinelli’ a late mid season variety, and ‘Italian Moro’ – the most colourful blood orange with – this is the variety Foxhill use in Blood Orange Marmalade.
Dreaming of Limes. Nothing takes me back to my first visit to Jamaica like the fragrance of fresh cut limes. Limes were in such abundance that they were used for all sorts of household chores as well as cooking a myriad of foods, both sweet and savoury; washing dishes, cleaning mucky hands, in the mop bucket.
My mum’s home-grown Jamaican limes were yellow and I always thought it was my childhood memory making me think these limes had a stronger fragrance. As it goes, there are many varieties of limes including blood limes and limequats (who knew?) but generally three varieties are grown commercially.
Makrut (‘Kaffir’) limes grown throughout Asia, the knobbly skins & leaves used commonly in Thai cooking.
Key lime (‘West Indian Lime’) grown in the Caribbean, Mexico and Florida … these have a much stronger aroma and ripen to yellow!
Persian (‘Tahiti’) Limes are a key lime/lemon cross), the most commonly available lime – this is the type we use in our Lemon & Lime, Grapefruit & Lime, Tangerine & Lime, Pembrokeshire, Dark & Stormy and our famous Lime Marmalade which was the Gold award winner of the 2019 Dalemain Marmalade competition.”
All the marmalades are available from the Foxhill stall at St Dogmaels Market Tuesday mornings or Glebelands Market Garden, 1176 Castle Deli Cardigan, Cilgerran Post Office, Brynhoffnant Garage and Aberystwyth Online Food Hub.
