Lachlan’s lockdown marmalade toffee

Written by Lachlan Shackleton-Fergus.

In these strange days, it is not a bad idea for us to try and think of a few different things to do in the extra time we have been granted other than driving our other halves mad!

I am in full lockdown and have not been out of the house for six weeks.

Kind friends have hung tomatoes on our gate and delivered bags of figs and passionfruit … always welcome for breakfast.

The sugar cutter pictured left was made by a blacksmith for our family business about 1790. It was used to slice loaf sugar.

We have been a family of Marmaladiers for a long time – I am the 5th generation.

This advertisement (of about 1860) for cough drops from a Glasgow paper is strangely appropriate to these difficult time. Sadly I don’t think they work for coronavirus!

 

 

 

In 1881, my great grandfather J.B. Shackleton made the big move to the Australia in search of enhanced opportunities as so many did at that time corresponding to the Gold Rush. He opened a range of shops in Melbourne and this is a picture of an advertisement in a paper bag used back in about 1889. This was the first shop in Australia.

But – back now to the purpose of this article!

Being somewhat at a loose end a few days ago, I decided to make some lemon and grapefruit marmalade using the big pithy grapefruit and knobbly lemons from our tiny orchard. The mix usually works so well for that confection. I carefully sliced the peel according to the best advice from the experts and let it simmer and then steep for a couple of days. In anticipation of a lovely brew, in went the sugar and up went the temperature to setting point and into the heated jars. It looked just fine.

However, on going back to the commercial kitchen an hour or so later – horror – it had not set and even 24 hours later was just a runny mess! Now we have all had it happen and sometimes there is a good reason and sometimes not. This time I have no idea why except I may have got the pH wrong.

Anyway I was stuck with a dozen jars of semi liquid. Luckily, my wife is partial to marmalade pudding so lots went into one of those and a second for the freezer, but I was still left with three 150 gram jars. I tried it on the cats but they said “no thanks”. I even tried that East European – I think Hungarian – luxury tea where you mix a teaspoonful of marmalade into black tea. It’s great – give it a go.

Still, I had jars left over.

I had a look in the old family confectionery recipes and I thought – well, how about trying to make a marmalade toffee? I agree it would probably not be recommended as the most healthy snack in the world but it should be yummy and what is more, it would cheer us up – if we don’t end up losing too many fillings! So suck, don’t chew!

The first try was sort of ok but too sticky – sugar temperature not high enough. However, the second batch that I made worked. So here it is for any of you who want to give it a go.

Lachlan’s ‘lockdown marmalade toffee’

Ingredients

3 runny jars of marmalade (any type is fine), net weight 450 grams
900 grams white sugar
a little unsalted butter or treacle (optional)
chopped nuts (optional)

Utensils

A medium-sized heavy bottom pan – cast iron works well. (Thin pans tend to let the sugar burn and then there is a black mess to remove).

A wooden stirring spoon.

An accurate candy thermometer (desirable as sugar is a bit unforgiving). You can do the test other ways and at the end I include a suggestion from that bible for candy The Good Cook Confectionary.

A pan or tray to pour the mix into.

To ‘cast’ the toffee, I use a set of heavy well oiled confectioners’ iron slabs to retain the mix but if you grease a pan well with butter or spray with vegetable oil – it works fine. Line with parchment paper to be doubly sure.

Method

Dump the runny marmalade into the pan and gently heat to a slow bubble – about 10 minutes.

Add the sugar and mix gently and then let it slowly heat to 154degC. Watch the temperature rise. It will take about half an hour but as soon as it reaches 154degC, take it off the stove or you will have dark set glue! Don’t stir too much or it will crystallise. It will foam up as it gets near the required temperature.

Using heavy gloves or an oven cloth, pour the mix gently into the setting pan and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes.

After about 10-15 minutes, using a heavy knife, make indentations into the mix about the size of a single tablet of chocolate. If the indentations fill up, wait a few more minutes and then do it again.

Sugar cools very slowly so give it a good couple of hours and then remove the mix from the pan using a spatula or similar. Put it on a wooden or strong table surface and break the mix up into units. If it does not work well – take a hammer and give it a gentle bash. If you still can’t break it up, put the whole thing in the fridge for an hour and then try again.

After the toffee has been cut up, lay the pieces into a plastic shallow container, dust with icing sugar (to keep the pieces from sticking together) and store in the fridge to keep it hard.

When the need comes over you – just take out the container and either carefully suck the toffee or wait till the bits soften a bit first.

Note that you can sprinkle some chopped nuts over the hot mix on the slab or even dust it with cocoa. It helps to push the nuts down into the toffee with the back of a wet spoon but you will need to wait until the mix is a little set or they just pop out again!

Also note that sugar absorbs water so it can start to get a bit sticky if you leave it in a warm room. If that happens, just put it back into the fridge. in the spirit of his ancestor J.B. Shackleton.

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Now that quote from “The Good Cook Confectionary as to how to check you are at 154degC, which is known as ‘hard crack’. “Drop some syrup into cold [they say ‘iced’ but cold works as well] water. Remove the solidified syrup from the water [when it has cooled a bit – the toffee not the water!] and bend it. If it snaps easily … it has reached the hard-crack stage. It will no longer feel at all sticky.“

I would love to hear how you get on with the recipe so please email a picture and some comments.