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!

I really sympathise with your Dad, home made marmalade is the absolute best. Shop bought is much too sweet .
And I love making it, it’s so satisfying and fills the kitchen with beautiful orange aromas when it’s cooking.
How about trying a three fruit marmalade with sweet oranges, lemons and limes? I’m sure there are plenty of recipes out there. Kumquats can be used too.
Finally, it’s quince season, if you can source any they make beautiful jam, jelly or curd.

Rhubarb and ginger jam is lovely.

Or what about lemon marmalade?

Another thought — blood oranges (eg sanguinellos) are very full flavoured and tangy and would make quite good marmalade, I suspect.
Better then sweet oranges anyway.
They come into season in the winter and lots of supermarkets have them these days.

What about membrillo, ( quince jam ) or sour cherry jam?

I hope he finds something he likes, it's miserable having to give up favourite foods when you're ill, it's just then that you need something you like to lift your spirits!

I love grapefruit but I'm on statins. Not sure a thin spread of marmalade every other day would be an issue though. If he really loves it 🤷🏽‍♀️

Agree with PP explaining the effect of grapefruit/Seville oranges on many medications (I’m a doctor). Sometimes there are alternative meds which are not affected by these fruits which he could have instead - worth asking his consultant. Obviously priority is to have the most suitable effective meds.

Check if the meds are ok with other citrus - if so, I’m a big fan of Rose’s Lime marmalade (dislike the lemon and lime), and I do home-made blood orange marmalade which is delicious. Last year made a Negroni marmalade which was blood orange, with a small amount of red vermouth/gin/Campari. Amazing!

@Treelesschristmas I've had fexofenodine before and it was never mentioned! I'll make sure to read all the inserts if something like this happens again!

It is quince season at the moment. You can make quince jam with a real kick.
I've got about three dozen going spare at the moment.
Put a shout out on facebook for some.

Agree with proper lime curd - a lady in our village makes it and it's awesome!! She's the first stall I head to every time it's market day as she sells out almost instantly

there are recipes for lime and lemon marmalade https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/british/lemon-and-lime-marmalade

https://www.wearetateandlylesugars.com/recipe/lemon-elderflower-marmalade. elderflower marmalade - I pick the elderflower late May early June and make gallons of cordial - then use some to make marmalade

how about rhubarb and ginger https://bonicellicookingclub.com/rhubarb-ginger-marmalade/

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/medicines/does-grapefruit-affect-my-medicine/

seville oranges can also affect medicine

Best to check if its all citrus fruit or just some etc

He might like rhubarb and ginger jam - another not-jam-jam.

Suntina Marmalade | Recipes | Delia Online

I third or fourth the suggestion for the lime marmalade. Or the curds, although the latter are sweet.

Cranberry makes a tart jam also. Frozen ones will be in the shops soon.

But given he's a marmalade maker, he could experiment with lower-sugar jams. They wont keep as long but he could try to replace that sweet/tart taste of marmalade. Or do 'freezer' jams, using much less sugar.

Or jellies, and add some herb or spice for extra flavour. Crab apple and mint jelly, that sort of thing.

I din’t think it’s the sugar that’s the problem in thus instance, Zebra, it’s the actual types of citrus. (As they may increase the effects of the gentleman’s meds)

I have just found another marmalade thread in which poster Alison Donut said, “Not gonna lie, last year, in January I made kumquat, quince and persimmon marmalade and it was sunshine in a jar. “
Sounds good to me!

Yes, I get that.

I was suggesting that to make a jam that is less sweet, and hence closer to marmalade, the expert marmalade maker could experiment with lower-sugar recipes.

I was going to suggest Ginger Jam too. Lovely and warming which might be warming at this time of the year.

Its probably worth approaching the Medicines Information unit at the local hospital. Most MI units will take calls from the public and are usually very helpful.
I googled medicines and avoid citrus fruits and found an article from the US National Institute for Health (NIH) a well respected organisation, concerning citrus fruit and drugs. A quick read seems to suggest that the problems are with citrus fruit juices and sometimes in volumes greater than 1.2L per day. It might be worth getting the medicines information specialists to have a good look, as it could be that even with a good dollop of marmalade everyday he might be OK.
That said, I stopped having grapefriut segments for breakfast occasionally due to the anti-hypertensives I'm taking.

I'm fairly sure that grapefruit juice contains a CYP3A4 inhibitor, and can so prolong the half life of some medications (like statins) which rely on 3A4 for clearance.

What I have no clue on is if Seville oranges have the same compound (coumarins and derivatives) - I think some other citrus but don't know about relative levels. I also don't know if these chemicals remains active after heating (like in cooking)

Just as a completely different suggestion, marmite, peanut butter or marmite/ peanut butter combo ( can buy in a jar) on toast are also really nice. I love marmalade too, and find the above, for me, are also a nice alternative.

Home made damson jam. Quince jelly..

Both sharp as can be and from the gods. I do think you have to make it yourself though.. some fruit spreads - eg Meridian blackcurrant - are quite sharp

@Itisyourturntowashthebath

Do you happen to have a recipe?!

Blackcurrant conserve can be beautifully tart or blackberry jam.

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.

It can cause harm. Friend ended up in hospital after grapefruit reacted with his BP meds - no, I don't remember exactly which ones he's on, but he definitely listens to the advice not to have grapefruit now. Caused a problem with his kidneys. He's otherwise fine now (still on BP meds, but I suspect some of that is his temperament as much as anything else, the things he lets himself get wound up by...)