Please help me find an alternative to marmalade for my dad

[ArtyStripedSocks]

My lovely dad has been having a bit of a rough time with his health; non Hodgkins lymphoma type illness which has affects his spleen, plus issue with his prostate.
He's now been put on a medication which should help, but he has been told he must not eat Seville oranges or grapefruit. Now for your average Joe, this wouldn't be a problem, but my dad LOVES marmalade. He makes jars of the stuff in January, and tops up all year round by making it with marmade. He has won an award for his marmalade. Every morning he has toast or ryvita with marmalade followed by muesli or granola, and he's been doing this for years and loves it and feels a bit sad he can't have it any more.
Anyway, he tried making marmalade with ordinary oranges and it's rubbish.

I think a sharp or bitter jam might be better. Maybe rhubarb?
I don't know. Please send your ideas or recipes this way.

Thank you!

Would rose's lime marmalade do?

This is a good call. I used to live this as a child, I didn't know it was still around. I will ask him. Thanks

What you need is fruit curd, lovely sharp and not too sweet. Can be made with virtually ant fruit.

Apricot jam - one of the lower sugar varieties? Or crab apple jelly, which is delightfully tart?

I've been struggling to find no peel marmalade recently (only type dh will eat), I ventured into waitrose and they had a surprising range of interesting preserves which might be worth exploring (No peel free marmalade though 🤔)

Tiptree have a couple of nice ones, lime marmalade and lemon and lime marmalade. Or Ocado have a gooseberry and elderflower jam that has a nice tang to it. It’s not cheap, but it’s lovely. Made by Rosebud preserves. That company also have a lemon and ginger marmalade on Ocado, but I haven’t tried that yet, so can’t vouch for it if you see what I mean.

I agree with Apricot Jam. Lime or Lemon curd and Apple Rubarb Jam.

Sympathies to your poor Dad!

I make marmalade and jams and jams we like include damson, blackcurrant and gooseberry and raspberry as they are sweet but have a tang to them.

Can you do an ocado shop? They have this one….

Can you check with the doctor on whether it applies to marmalade? I’m on medication that can’t be taken with grapefruit and it only applies to the fruit itself and juice. It would be a shame if your dad has to
give up something that he loves so much.

If he can have other types of orange then it’s worth looking at Fortnum & Mason - potentially too expensive for every day but maybe for a treat?

They have wild orange (the most bitter), blood orange, tangerine etc etc

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/food-hall/fortnum-s-classics/preserves-marmalades?sub_type=Marmalade

Gooseberry jam?

Ginger marmalade https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/217783/ginger-marmalade/

Fortnum & Mason do a nice Tangerine & Cardamom Marmalade.
Their Orange & Champagne Marmalade is made with sweet oranges instead of Seville oranges.
Also their 2021 Japanese Dalemain Winner, Blood Orange and Orange Liqueur Marmalade & Sweet Orange, Bergamot & Lemon Marmalade.

Not sure if they'd be something he could eat instead as they aren't made from Seville oranges?
They do mostly tend to be on the sweeter end of marmalades.

They also do some lovely curds too - at this time of year we like the Cinnamon & Apple (also makes a nice filling for a plain sponge cake), but also the expected, orange curd, lemon curd, lime curd.

If full ingredient list isn't on the page for a product, their customer services are human beings in the shop & really helpful in my experience.

Find out why he is not allowed Seville oranges or grapefruits.
If he is allowed citrus fruit then lemon & lime, kumquats, regular oranges might be suitable.

Alternatives might be something like rhubarb, damson, gooseberry or quince jam.

This thread has really warmed my cockles! 😊

Tesco do a lovely ginger jam which is bitty like marmalade and really tasty, especially in porridge!

Which part of the orange is the bit to avoid? Just asking as you can buy citric acid granules (the stuff they make sherbet with) and a tiny bit added to maybe apricot jam might give him the sour note you get in marmalade.

Gosh! Thank you so much! I've skim read your replies and will read properly and do some shopping for him later. This is amazing! Thank you! So many good ideas and options!
Thanks to the person who suggested checking re marmalade vs fruit. His nurse told him no marmalade but I will make sure he double checks. Thank you!

These two fruits (and tangelos) are known to have an effect on enzymes in the gut that break down medications. It can lead to a significantly increased dose of the medication ending up in your system. There’s a surprisingly large number of meds that people need to avoid these fruits when taking. Some cholesterol meds, some cardiac meds, some blood pressure meds, the antihistamine Fexofenadine, the steroid budesonide to name a few.

It’s really important to read medication leaflets, not all HCPs are as on the ball as the ops dads nurse, and may forget to mention it. Certainly no one told me when I had my first course of budesonide, I found it reading the package insert.

My dd is on medication which means she needs to avoid grapefruit and just recently found out, Seville oranges! Also Pomelo as from the same family. I think you dad will be fine with a marmalade which is made from a fruit that is none of those. The fruit doesn't as such actually harm people on certain medications, it just stops them from working properly, so harms them in that way.

Lemon curd. Lovely and tangy but smooth and easy to swallow.

Cross post with @Treelesschristmas Ahh I didn't realise it could make the dose stronger. I thought it just stopped them from working as well as you couldn't absorb the medication. Either way, not a good thing.

My understanding is v amateur but grapefruit, especially red grapefruit, has the same effect as statins so would be effectively increase a statin dose.

What about fig jam? It's different to regular jam, the one I have has some orange in it but not strong like marmalade

Intrigued as to why it is just some citrus and not others.

Also have a craving for marmalade.

A while ago I had half a jar that was annoying me so I said to my OP 'do you like marmalade?' and he said 'not really' and I said 'there's half a jar here' and he said 'I'll eat it to get rid of it' ... and now I want it.

Yeah. I was on chemo and told no grapefruit allowed, but they never mentioned anything else. I can't stand grapefruit anyway so didn't bother me..

DH is on Bp medication and he can't have it either now.