The Seville orange

In the days when we can buy strawberries all year, it is encouraging to find that the Seville orange season is still short. Blink and they will be out of the supermarkets before you can say ‘thick cut'. Making marmalade is a supremely fulfilling task: imagine an army of glistening amber filled jars lining your cupboards. If you haven't got the time now, freeze them (see below).

The best are grown in Andalusia but originated from China, something that has been forgotten along the way. Nowadays, the fruit seems to come from mainly Cyprus and Sicily. The flower of the Seville orange is used in the making of orange-flower water, whilst the aromatic oils flavour fine liquers, such as Curacao, Cointreau and Grand Marnier.

Seville oranges are extraordinarily bitter, virtually unpalatable in juice form but used in cooking, they can be positively inspiring. Use in place of lemon or lime juice and add to fish or chicken for a good match. Combine the juice with sherry, especially Manzanilla, and you have a fine accompaniment to scallops.

The zest is deliciously aromatic and when dried is useful in savoury dishes. Frances Bissell suggests paring the skin off the fruit and putting it in a decanter with cream sherry. Rub a sugar lump over the fruit so that the essential oils are absorbed. Add a dash of Iberian brandy and leave for several weeks. Use as digestif or add a dash to gin and tonic or Campari and soda. It is delicious added to duck casserole.

Claire Macdonald suggests ringing the changes as the pheasant season comes to an end, by making a marinade using Seville orange juice, nutmeg, cinnamon, honey, soy sauce and red wine. Marinade pheasant breasts for at least twenty-four hours. Pat the meat dry, fry the breasts until cooked through. Remove from heat and add marinade to pan and reduce.

The bulk of the crop is exported to Britain for marmalade. Marmalade's origin is purportedly Scotland. Scottish recipes of the mid 18th Century show that marmalade recipes gave a runnier consistency, more akin to what we make today. (Before that, the conserves were stiff and cut with a knife.) As jam production became more commercial, the manufacturers realised that marmalade could be made in the winter months, keeping the factories busy all year round, at not too greater a cost. Marmalade has always been considered a luxury. The rise of the Empire saw marmalade reaching corners of the Earth that their makers could hardly have dreamt of.

What to buy

Choose heavy fruit and avoid soft patches on the skin. You can freeze them to bring them out at a later date. Either freeze whole or just the juice and zest. This is really worth doing as you can then make Nigella Lawson's fantastically easy bitter orange ice cream.

What to do

Try out the two recipes below but don't serve them at the same meal, you might feel a bit over oranged.

Seared Scallops with Seville oranges and sherry
Serves 2

6 scallops
Juice and zest or 2 Seville oranges
1 tbs Manzanilla sherry
Olive oil

1. Prepare scallops by cutting out the white muscle and rinse. Separate roe from each scallop.
2. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and fry the scallops over a medium to high heat for two minutes on each side. They may take a little longer.
3. Remove scallops from pan and keep warm.
4. Add the juice, zest and a tablespoon of sherry and reduce until caramelised. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Place scallops on a bed of salad leaves, lamb's lettuce is good, and pour over the syrup. Serve immediately.

Marmalade bread and butter pudding
Serves four

½ pint milk
2 eggs
4 slices of white bread, brioche or better still pannetone
Unsalted butter for spreading
Caster sugar
Marmalade, thick cut

1. Lightly toast the slices of bread or brioche and spread with butter and marmalade.
2. Whisk eggs into milk.
3. Layer the buttered toast and sprinkle each layer with caster sugar. You could also add some zest.
4. Once you have used up all the bread, pour over the egg and milk mixture.
5. Allow the pudding to stand for ½ hour or so.
6. Put into a preheated oven on GM4, 350°F, 160° Elec Circo, 180°C, for 40 minutes or until the custard is set.

You can, of course, substitute cream for the milk to make an altogether richer pudding.