Mrs Rundell's Orange Marmalade

History

Mrs Rundell's orange marmalade from A New System of Domestic Cookery (1806) represents early nineteenth-century English preserve-making when Seville oranges became reliably available through maritime trade. Maria Rundell, a domestic writer whose work became one of the most successful cookery books of the era, recorded methods that evolved from earlier sugar-based preserves. Her recipe helped standardise marmalade-making in British households, typically using bitter oranges, sugar, and careful boiling techniques. The preserve was favoured by the middle classes who could afford imported citrus and refined sugar. Modern marmalade remains remarkably similar, though commercial production now dominates what was once a wholly domestic art.

Sources

• Maria Rundell, A New System of Domestic Cookery, 1806
• C. Anne Wilson, The Book of Marmalade, 1985
• Elizabeth David, English Bread and Yeast Cookery, 1977
• Ivan Day, Royal Sugar Sculpture, in Harleian Society publications and food history research
• Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson, 1999