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!

Quince jam

This is a good resource to explain, despite being written for cancer patients it covers a lot of other drug uses and explains it in understandable terms. Must be frustrating for your dad. Hopefully you can find something he will enjoy as a replacement.
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/treatment/cancer-drugs/how-you-have/foods-drinks-avoid

It’s not just fruit, there are also herbal remedies that can cause issues. At uni I had a well-being support person recommend a herbal remedy that was counter indicated to my autoimmune illness. Thankfully I had sense to look it up, she was horrified when I told her.

Could he have lemon curd? If you make it yourself -super easy, by the way- you can make it sharper than the bought kind.

My DH has been having chemo for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and he has not been able to eat our seville orange marmalade during the treatment. The only solution we have found that has the same sharpness is quince marmalade which we made from our own quince tree. I don't know if you can buy it anywhere, but it does work.

They used to have Tiptree no peel. Ocado still do I think. M&S do their own brand one.

@theduchessofspork this one is a good basic recipe
https://britishfoodhistory.com/2013/01/23/the-original-quince-marmalade

Cook the mixture for another 10 mins until it resembles the volcano of polenta and then you get membrillo.

The main thing to remember about quinces is that they are fickle little buggers. As much fun as a butternut squash to prepare. Try hard to avoid blood in your recipe. The UK is the edge of their habitat and ripening is variable. They take between 10 mins and an hour and a half to cook.
Be sceptical of any recipes saying you need lemon, quinces have as much pectin as a bottle of Certo.

You can make marmalade out of lemons- it's lovely and very easy. Just use double sugar to fruit and follow your normal method.

Here is some decent info about why this is an issue. I’m a GP. It’s complicated but basically grapefruits or similar can either increase or decrease the amount of the drug in your system through the cytochrome P450 system, potentially to dangerous amounts. If they’ve spelled it out to him like this I think it must be really important for this drug specifically, some drugs it won’t matter as much as they are not going to have adverse effects even at higher doses. Having said that it’s possible that a small amount of marmalade wouldn’t be an issue, you need to discuss it specifically with his doctors I think OP. As you say for most people this isn’t such a big deal! Your poor dad! I would check with the nurse about lime before using this as a replacement as I think that could potentially be an issue as well. I reckon crab apple/gooseberry/rhubarb are the way to go for now. I love marmalade and find these taste similarly deliciously bitter.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapefruit–drug_interactions

Tell him to try making jam with green unripe plums. It’s got the same sort of tart notes and is absolutely delicious.

Vegemite. Goes very well with buttered toast or ryvita. Add cheddar and/or tomato slices.

spread thickly to know your tastebuds are alive. Otherwise just a smear is all that’s needed.

What about if he made some jam with blackberries or raspberries or some other unproblematic fruit and included some beer in it? The alcohol would boil off and the bitterness would substitute for the bitter orange.

This may be relevant but is still check before having it

www.poison.org/articles/grapefruit-and-medicines

I would still check

Tiptree orange and tangerine marmalade is lovely and not Seville.

Not sure what the ingredients list is, but this is absolutely delicious -

https://coedcanlas.cymru/products/sicilian-lemon-marmalade

Sainsbury's own brand is the only bitter ish marmalade I have found. The bitter marmalade of old are gone and there is so much corn syrup in many.
Otherwise I make marmalade out of lemons for a punch. With light brown sugar it's like a dark bitter orange marmalade
Oranges now lack the punchy citrus zing so don't cut it for homemade marmalade for me

@EBearhug I did comment about that in my next post after reading the pps explanation of how it affects medication

Could he make it with lime though check lime is OK.

How about blood orange marmalade?

Ginger preserve?