Onions and Oranges?

Yes I know that it’s a rather strange combination to put together in a blog, but that’s the way things go I suppose. I went into out local town this morning as the Saturday market is on, as I wanted to see if they had any Seville Oranges. If you want to make proper marmalade, then that’s what you need to get. The supermarkets tend not to stock them, and as we don’t have a greengrocers locally, the local market was the place to go. After looking round the 2 fruit and vegetable stalls, I couldn’t see any, so I asked, and they had placed them underneath, hiding them from my view. They were 75p per 1lb, which I though was quite reasonable, so I asked for 4lb, as that should make enough marmalade to last me a year. The lovely chap that served me said it was slightly over, which wasn’t a problem, but still only charged me £3. When I got home I weighed them, and they were quite a bit over 4lb, in fact they weighed 5.5lb to be exact!! I’m not complaining, it just means that I need to get more sugar. So that’s my job for Sunday afternoon is to make my marmalade. I’ll put the recipe up for you when I’m done, but it’s a Delia Smith one, and I’ve used it before, it’s fabulous. Then later I went to the shed and brought in the last of the onions. I’ve only got about 6 left, and they’re rather small, so once my leeks have gone I’m going to have to buy some onions. Oh no!!

4 Responses to Onions and Oranges?

Scott at RealEpicurean says:

January 18, 2014 at 6:11 pm

Same problem here. I just can’t find those damned oranges!

- clairesallotment says:
  
  January 20, 2014 at 3:58 pm
  
  I think the best place to find them is at a town market, or an independent greengrocers (if you have one locally ask if they can get some). Hope you find them, as the season is very short for them, and in a couple of weeks they’ll be gone until next January.
  
Rosie says:

January 19, 2014 at 10:01 am

Hi Claire! I grew a few onions from seed last year but only had 7 grow ( but there wasn’t that many in the urwins packet anyway ) so it turnd out to be expensive for 7 small but tasty onions! Could you please recommend some good varieties to grow…don’t want spanish size onions but bigger then large picking onions lol also can you give me growing tips like weather its best to grow from seed or onion sets! would be very greatful if you can…
Thanx Rosie 🙂

- clairesallotment says:
  
  January 23, 2014 at 4:42 pm
  
  Hi Rosie,
  I’ve tried growing onions from sets and seeds, and to be honest the best way to do it is buying sets. They’re far more reliable, and you tend to get much better results. Make sure you get “Heat Treated” as they tend not to go to seed (most of them are). Start your sets off in half toilet rolls (which are filled with some multi purpose compost) in February time, then when the weather is warm enough in March/ April, then move them outside. I’d go for something like Sturton, Centurion, or Hercules. I’ve tried them all, and have always had great results from them. Keep an eye on my blog though, as I’ll be blogging about what I’m doing regarding the allotment/garden and I always do onions.
  Hope this helps,
  Claire