Preserving kitchen day

The indoor day. If the weather has put you off the outdoor ones, or if what you actually want to know is how a set works, this is the one.

What the day looks like

10.00. Out to the bitter orange trees for twenty minutes to pick what we are about to use. It is a short walk and it matters, because the difference between a day like this and a class in a rented kitchen is that the fruit was on a tree an hour ago.
10.30. Marmalade. Peel cut by hand, which takes longer than anyone expects, then the first cook of the peel on its own.
12.00. While the peel softens, lemon curd, which is quick and is a completely different technique.
13.00. Lunch. Bread, cheese, oil, something from the beds.
13.45. Sugar into the marmalade, the second cook, and setting point. This is the part everyone came for.
14.30. Potting, lids, labels. Then cleaning, which we do together because it is half of all preserving.
15.00. Done, with two jars each.

What you learn, honestly

How to tell when a preserve has set without a thermometer, and why the thermometer is still worth owning. Why sugar goes in after the peel is soft and not before. What a proper rolling boil looks like against what most people think it looks like. How to fill and seal a jar so it actually seals, and how to tell whether it did.

What you do not get is a folder of recipes for things we do not make. We cover marmalade properly and curd properly, and that is enough for one day. Six people around one stove is already the maximum that can see what is happening.

What you take home

One jar of marmalade and one of lemon curd, both made by you, both labelled with the date.
The written method for both, on paper.
A realistic idea of how long marmalade actually takes, which is the thing that stops most people making it twice.

What to bring

An apron if you have a favourite. We have plenty.
A bag with something padded in it for the jars going home.
Tell us in advance about any allergy. The kitchen handles almonds constantly and we cannot make it nut free.
Nothing else. Everything is here.

Weather

Irrelevant, apart from the twenty minutes outside at the start, which we do in the rain quite happily. This day runs whatever February does.

Who this day is not for

It is five hours mostly standing at a counter or a stove. There is a chair and you are welcome to sit at any point, but the work happens standing up.

Children under fourteen, no. There is a pan of sugar at 105 degrees on a domestic stove in a kitchen with six people in it, and that is not a good combination. Fourteen and over is fine.

If you are looking for a relaxed cookery class with a glass of wine, this is closer to a morning of chopping followed by an afternoon of watching a pan. People who enjoy it really enjoy it. It is worth knowing which you are.

How to book

Email hello@nossoparaiso.com with the date you want and how many of you there are, or use the form on the contact page. We reply within a couple of days.

We hold the place while we confirm, then ask for the full amount by bank transfer. There is no online booking system and no card payment on the day.

Cancel more than seven days before and you get everything back. Inside seven days we refund half, because at our group sizes an empty place is a place nobody else could take. If we cancel for any reason you get everything back. This is set out again on the questions page and in the terms.

Why February

Because the bitter oranges are ready in January and February and at no other point, and because the winter lemons are at their best at the same time. It is the only month both are true. The reasoning behind the marmalade is on its own page, and there is a longer piece on small batch marmalade in the notes.