You’ve heard the saying, empty vessels make most noise? Well here’s a little story about the proverb. it is marmalade making time again, and we have been collecting empty jars for the new batch of what we call Barmalade, since Bari makes it! I have a box of these jars, all washed and ready, stored in the area leading to the back door and every time Bari walked st he seemed to catch his foot on the box, much clattering and naughty words from Bari.
We bought the oranges, and two lemons, we bought the sugar, we bought the labels and checked we had enough black treacle (molasses, our secret ingredient) and boiled the oranges whole before taking out the pulp and then cutting the peel.
The marmalade was boiling away nicely and Bari began to collect his jars but was worried he wouldn’t have enough. I remembered that there was a box of jars in the cupboard under the stairs. It was beneath boxes of other things, but eventually we excavated them and pulled the box of jars out. I expected there to be a rattling as they knocked against each other, empty vessels etc.
Bari opened the box and took out a jar…
We had a dozen full jars of marmalade dating from January 2012!
Lois Elsden 
Lucky you! I’ve just made ours and I boil the oranges forst, so much easier than cutting and joucing them raw.
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Yes we do too… the peel is so tough to cut otherwise, isn’t it?! We put a couple of tablespoons of black treacle in ours, gives a lovely depth of flavour.
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mmm I use dark brown sugar – about a third to white – and a good slug of brandy
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Brandy! Mmmm, that sounds like a good idea… by the way have you made marmalade gin? Get any old gin and put a great dollop of home-made marmalade in it, wait three or four weeks,shaking the bottle every so often, and then you’ll have a lovely drink which is not too sweet!
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