Saturday, April 26, 2014

The Annual Marmalade Making Adventure Continues

It felt like Christmas in April as I opened Reggie's beautifully wrapped kumquat marmie as part of The Great Marmalade Exchange of 2014
Photo: Chronica Domus


Back in February I posted a piece, that can be read here, on how we, or more specifically my husband, came to make marmalade at home, something that has now evolved into an annual rite of winter.  The first comment I received on the story was from Reggie Darling, the author of the wildly popular Reggie Darling, The View From Darlington House (I'm sure there aren't too many readers left in this corner of the blogosphere who've yet to discover this elegantly stylish, informative, and witty blog).  After a few emails transpired between us, the idea of The Great Marmalade Exchange was hatched.  You can read all about it at Reggie's blog here.

Reggie's preferred way of eating marmie, straight off the spoon!
Photo: Chronica Domus


Who knew that when we began our Annual Marmalade Making Adventure and I wrote about it, it would add impetus to the marmalade making aspirations of one of my favorite bloggers.  This week, I happily received a jar of Reggie's kumquat marmie, beautifully wrapped in blousy tissue paper and ribbon, and nesting in a bed of excelsior.  I can report firsthand that his inaugural effort into marmalade pursuits has resulted in the perfect storm in a jar; a confluence of juice, rind, and sugar making for a puckery spread which is absolutely delish!  Bravo Reggie!  My family and I enjoyed the marmie this morning at breakfast on our buttered toast with cups of tea.  We got through nearly half the jar before my insistence that it be put away so we could all enjoy it again on another morning. It was that good!

I am aware that marmalade is not as popular as other preserves at breakfast time in this country, but could that have come about as a result of having tasted only commercially available cloying concoctions?  Traditionally, homemade marmalade is an entirely different animal; less sweet, more bitter and therefore much more likely to make an impression upon the palate.  Some will never come to love marmalade, but an informed opinion is simply not possible without first having tried a properly bitter batch made fresh at home.  Into which camp do you fall - love it, or loathe it?

17 comments:

  1. In my home country we make our own preserves - jams, marmalades, dried fruits, sugared fruits, all sorts. I wish I could continue doing it here, but since I can't grown my own (and back at home we had a vast, absolutely vast piece of land for gardening), I have to buy some French ones. Not that I eat them often, though... I think I just enjoy the process of making a lot more than eating, the chemistry that goes in is just like magic! x

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    1. Hello Natalia,

      What a well stocked larder you must have enjoyed back home. I have unsuccessfully tried to grow blood oranges in my garden (a tree we planted over fifteen years ago did not produce a single orange and had to finally be removed unfortunately) . Lemons are an altogether other matter and I shall write on those in a future post.

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  2. We love it. There's still some jars of last year's in the kitchen. This year I haven't made any because Wholefoods didn't sell bitter oranges. It was so strange a few years ago to find bitter oranges in Atlanta and that they made the most delicious marmalade.

    In this house marmalade is made early in the year and chutney (Elizabeth Davids green tomato) and Dundee cakes are made in the Fall. Key Limes make a delectable, if soft-set, marmalade.

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    1. Hello Blue,

      So glad to read that you too make your marmalade and fall in the "love it" camp. Those bitter Seville oranges are certainly tough to find. We have to cross the Bay Bridge and go to Berkeley to get them at a wonderful market called Berkeley Bowl. If not there, they are sold at the farmers' market in late January and early February.

      Oh thank you for reminding me of scrumptious Dundee cakes. I always associate them with winter in England and pots of tea.

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    2. In Lancashire where I'm from fruitcake is, or perhaps was, eaten with cheese – Lancashire cheese, of course. Try it with a blue or a cheddar. I'm thinking of trying it with foie gras instead of the ubiquitous spice bread.

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    3. I've never heard of this before! I shall give it a try with some blue cheese. I can see the saltiness of the cheese working with the sweetness of the fruit. Thank you for enlightening me.

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  3. I don't know why, but I have never tasted marmalade. You have made me very anxious to try it. I will have to look for some that is homemade, though. Farm stands are plentiful this time of year so I will be on the lookout; breakfast is my favorite meal

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    1. Hello Bebe,

      Yes, farmers' markets and farm stands are certainly worth trolling to seek out small artisinal marmalades. I just tasted a divine one last week, made of meyer lemons would you believe. I was tempted to buy it but had to stop myself knowing that our shelves are groaning under the weight of this year's bounty.

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  4. Hello:

    Lucky, lucky you. How wonderful to be in receipt of Reggie's marmalade which, we are certain, will have tasted superb. Indeed, everything emanating from Darlington House is of the highest, professional standard in line with his posts which are always worth the read.

    Marmalade is virtually unknown in Hungary and very difficult to track down.

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  5. Hello Jane and Lance,

    Please put me out of my misey and tell me that the Hungarian breakfast table does include some type of fruit preserve at breakfast. I know a lot of Europeans enjoy apricot jam (yum!), so I can understand marmalade not being as popular on the continent.

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  6. Dear CD --
    Heavens, where have I been these last few days! On hiatus, that's where . . . I am only now back on the Blogo and catching up, and how delighted am I to find this kiss of a post and charmed and blushing with pleasure that you approve of the marmie and honored me with a post about it. Thank you! I look forward to continuing to enjoy the heavenly marmie of yours that awaits me at Darlington House, spoon in hand. I am ever yours with admiration and appreciation -- Reggie

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    1. I had to do a double take on the color of that ribbon. Brilliant!

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    2. Hello Reggie, the pleasure is all mine! Alas, your marmie is almost gone as we've woofed it down to the bottom of the jar, not surprisingly!

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  7. Dear CD,

    That is a beautiful package from Reggie and you are so lucky to be the recipient of a heavenly sounding gift. Knowing him, he must have toiled for hours in his NYC kitchen, not an easy task considering the limited space in most of the city's apartments.

    I adore marmalade, although I don't have the patience to make it. My daughter in law's grandmother makes the most divine peach marmalade every summer and I rave so much about it, I now get two jars instead of one. Just what I wanted. My mother adores orange marmalade and I always buy her a jar for her Xmas stocking, but always from a top of the line purveyor like Fortnum and Mason. Maybe this year, encouraged by Reggie's and your posts, I will give homemade marmalade another try.

    Here in the South they can everything. I love chutney and that I will make. Perhaps a chutney exchange next?

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    1. Hello Lindaraxa, and welcome to the blog!

      Yes, what a lucky girl indeed I am to have received such a limited edition marmie. As you so rightly have noted, it certainly takes many hours of toil and trouble to produce a batch of marmalade, but I can happily report that once you've tried it for yourself, there is no turning back. The entire Marmalade Making Adventure, as we've named it, takes several weekends to complete, but time flies if on one of those weekends, interested friends are invited over to chat (and help), accompanied by several glasses of wine.

      I've tried F&Ms wild orange marmalade, as well as Sir Nigel's and one with a dash of navy rum, but found them all a little sweeter than our more bitter variety.

      Chutney you say? Well, that is something I'm completely in the dark about and have never made. Love some on mature chedder cheese though. Do please write a post when you next make it to enlighten your readers.

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  8. Home-made, bitter marmalade, thick doorsteps of hot brown toast, great pooling slabs of salted butter and a massive pot of builders tea.

    Breakfast of champions.

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  9. ELS, you are welcome at my breakfast table any time! I'll put the kettle on.

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