January
In January you need a good boost of sun-filled goodness and cheer. What does it better than an orange? I try and eat as locally and seasonally as possible and believe me, in the depth of potato and cabbage season to eat an orange is amazing. At Christmas, as a child, I would always find an orange/tangerine/clementine in my stocking and didn’t really get why they were special. To be fair that might have had something to do with growing up in Africa, but I get it now.
So, I decided to preserve the month of January by making marmalade. Seville Orange Marmalade. So I order a good few kilos of organic oranges from Riverford and bought a whole load of sugar and went over to Naveena’s house. Naveena had come to stay while she was between house moves and food and cooking created an instant friendship. When she moved into her new place she decided to start growing some salad and other stuff on her roof terrace. So before starting with the marmalade and I went up and found some good looking radishes, and picked them.
Then we started on the epic mission to de-zest, juice, measures, boil, wash pots, sterilise and fill. But we had such a good time, made a lot of marmalade in the end, and shared it with different friends and ate some through the year. An amazing smell rose right up to the roof terrace and look at the end product. This point I gave to Tristan’s dad for Christmas.
