This bitter-sweet preserve is useful for a lot more than spreading on toast!

Use the winter’s Seville oranges to make some marmalade and then use it in baking.

Don’t get too stressed about setting properly or sugar to fruit to pectin ratios, concentrate instead on a rich, tart flavour.

Citrus and ginger marmalade

• To make four 500ml jars:
• 1kg Seville oranges
• 4 lemons
• 2kg granulated sugar
• 100g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

Remove the peel from the fruits and slice it into matchstick sized pieces.

Juice the fruits into a bowl then put the remains into a muslin bag and add to the juice.

Add the sliced peel and two litres of cold water to the bowl and leave overnight.

The next day, pour the mixture into a stainless-steel pan and bring to the boil.

Add the ginger, lower the heat and simmer for about an hour.

Remove the muslin bag of fruit remains and allow it to cool a little.

In the meantime, add the sugar to the juice mixture and bring back to the boil, then hold the muslin bag over the pan and use your hands to squeeze out all the juice.

As the mixture boils, remove the froth that accumulates on the surface.

After about 15 minutes on a strong boil, test to see if the mixture is ready to set.

Put a dessert spoonful of the boiling marmalade on a cold plate and refrigerate.

If a skin has formed after a few minutes, the marmalade is ready.

If the mixture is not ready yet, keep boiling and retest regularly.

When ready, decant into sterilised jars.