Spanish Sunshine in January – Marmalade!!!

January can be a bit of a depressing month, especially if the weather is grey and cold. But don’t worry, because Vale House Kitchen has the solution – a burst of winter sunshine in the form of our Marmalade Make & Bake Course, starring the very best Seville oranges that have grown fat, juicy and delicious under the Spanish sun. They’re only available for a couple of months of the year, beginning right about now – so it’s the perfect time to take advantage with our marmalade course.

January is the ideal time to learn something new and expand your skills, so we have plenty of fabulous courses coming up for you to choose from. But if you’re after a taste of summer, then our preserving courses are just the thing, because preserving is all about saving up summer’s bounty to enjoy throughout the rest of the year. Getting homemade marmalade right can be an intimidating prospect, but under the guidance of multi-award-winning tutor Vivien Lloyd, you’ll learn how to get every step right for a perfect end result, with all the tips and tricks you need to avoid common pitfalls.

At the end of the day, you’ll go home with your own batch of Seville orange marmalade – the ideal pick-me-up for those cold and dark winter mornings, especially slathered on hot buttered toast with a mug of coffee to wash it down. So why Seville oranges? Well, in our expert opinion, they’re the very best choice for making marmalade – and at Vale House, we firmly believe that the only way to create really good food is to start with really good ingredients. Seville oranges are particularly tart, which means they’re not terribly good for eating fresh – but their thick skin, packed with gorgeously aromatic essential oils and lots of pectin, is just right for marmalade. Once you’ve juiced the flesh, shredded the skin and simmered it all down, the flavour mellows into that classic marmalade combination of sweetness and bitterness.

As well as creating your own small batch of marmalade to take home, you’ll also bake one of Vivien’s scrumptious marmalade cakes – perfect with an afternoon cuppa. Plus, of course, you’ll enjoy all of Vale House’s very best hospitality, including a fantastic lunch created by Vivien herself, in our cosy dining room. So if January is getting you down, rather than giving things up, why not treat yourself and learn something new? Join us for some Spanish sunshine and pick up a skill that you can enjoy all year long. Our next marmalade course is on the 26th of January, so if you want to grab yourself a place, don’t delay – click here for more info and to book.

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