Snipped from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/marmalade-why-it-isnt-yet-toast-782991.html Orange marmalade has been made in England since the late Tudor period. Ivan Day has a recipe from around 1615 and many variations from the 1730s. By the Victorian era our current notion of marmalade - in which the intensely sharp Seville oranges are tempered by the sweetness of the sugar to produce a fresh yet intense orange fragrance and flavour unmatched in any preserve anywhere in the world - was well-established. Jars of it travelled the world with colonial administrators throughout the days of the British Empire. Queen Victoria's grand-daughters had it sent to them when they became the Empress of Russia and the Queen of Greece. Captain Scott took it with him in 1911 on his expedition to the Antarctic where a jar was found, in perfect condition, 70 years later. In the process, marmalade turned from a mere food into an icon of Englishness, embodying all the qualities the English like to cherish in themselves: unique, eccentric, bitter-sweet. And, at its best, it has about it - as the lovingly labelled homemade concoctions sent for judging in the festival showed - the bumbling nobility of the amateur. It shows, says Lepard, that Britons' interest in food is not restricted to sitting watching sophisticated culinary extravaganzas on television while eating supermarket ready-meals. "All across Britain there are people making marmalade, sewing, knitting and gardening. Doing something carefully, and well, enriches people - and in the winter, the darkest time of the year when there are no native flowers, the heady smell of cooking oranges fills the house like the scent of a enormous vase of flowers." More than that, there is something about marmalade-making that brings out our humanity and generosity. "People make a big batch and they give jars away to their friends. I have never come across such a thing as a marmalade miser." ----- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

Marmalade Rules OK! Please have a look at http://www.marmaladefestival.com and see how we British still support the making of this fine product.......Support for the Hospice comes into it too. My wife entered this year and also made up nearly 50 jars of lovely dark chunky marmalade--almost all of which has now vanished into the pantries of relatives,friends and "trade persons"..I have my own small stock hidden away though. We think that the secret of making near perfect marmalade each time is the old Victorian rotary orange slicer that we inherited from a very dear friend many, many years ago. Turning it also keeps you fit, so that you need that toast and marmalade to revcover!!! Cheers Peter D Rogers,Suffolk UK

I personally, found this story of great interest. One of the first jams (for want of a better word) I attempted was Marmalade (1965c) since when I have gone on to more complicated cuisines - one of my hobbies is cookery. If for some reason, and I'm pretty short on that, I have time on my hands, I am in the kitchen "cooking up a storm". Seville oranges are not available here however, as soon as this "monsoon" is over I will do the Marmalade "thing" again. So John, expect a jar of Marmalade. Molly Sarstedt-Hamilton, Townsville, Australia We are having the most rain in 30 years!!! Researching - Sarstedt/Hitchcock/Osborne/Cullen/Pringle/Vargas/Hamilton/Slark/Samworth/Fury/Short/Lawcock/Smith