We’ve just done the triple! and picked up – Gold, silver and Bronze awards for our home made marmalade.
Read the full details of our award in the Northern Echo Newspaper
Read below for the marmalade awards Press Release…
The World’s Original Marmalade
Awards & Festival at Dalemain
1&2 March 2014
www.marmaladeawards.com @MarmaladeAwards
Press release: Saturday 1st March 2014
THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT. THE FUTURE’S ORANGE…..
AND LEMON, AND HONEY, LAVENDER AND EVEN SEAWEED!
World’s Best Marmalades Announced at 2014 Marmalade Festival –
Marmalade purists would probably shudder at the very thought, but a new breed of makers of the breakfast table favourite are dipping their fingers into a more interesting pot of ingredients to a’peel’ to the next generation of marmalade lovers.
Beer, honey, chocolate, yellow mustard seed and even seaweed all feature in the 2,000 plus jars of marmalade entered from across the globe into the 9th annual World’s Original Marmalade Awards & Festival, which took place this weekend (1st & 2nd March) at DalemainMansion in Cumbria, England.
Top golden gong for best homemade marmalade was awarded to 70-year-old Sarah Byrne from Chiddingstone, Kent who used beer from her small family brewery in her ‘Seville Orange Marmalade with Beer’ concoction. Sarah added two pints of Larkins Half & Half (half porter, half traditional ale) to her grandmother’s traditional marmalade recipe. Her marmalade will now be stocked on the shelves of Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly.
Comments Sarah: “I’m delighted to have won this award, particularly as this is the first time I’ve made marmalade with beer. It tastes wonderful and not at all like a traditional Seville marmalade. It’s also a fantastic link to our family heritage.”
Three Artisan marmalade producers were awarded DOUBLE GOLD gongs
for their tasty, yet somewhat unusual marmalades. The three marmalade maestros will have their winning recipes also stocked in Fortnum & Mason.
Honey from Yorkshire bees featured in ‘Yorkshire Wold Bees Lemon & Honey Marmalade’, which impressed judges with its flavour. Mark and Alison Pennington, including daughters Kathryn and Sarah, run the family-owned honey business based near Malton in North Yorkshire. A delighted Mark commented: “We can’t believe we won! We’ve had to order an extra jam pan and marmalade spoon to make sure we can keep up with demand.”
Two other DOUBLE GOLD winners were Bokumjari Co. Ltd from South Korea, which won the top prize in the International category for its Deep-Rooted Tree Marmalade, and Cumbria-based Wild & Fruitful, which was awarded a savoury double gold for its Orange & BBQ marmalade – perfect with sausages.
Other interesting marmalade flavours to win GOLD awards at this year’s Awards included:
- Lemon & Vodka
- Sweet Orange & 70% Chocolate
- Blood Orange & Black Pepper
- Tangelo, Fennel & Smoked Paprika Marmalade
- Ginger Chilli & Indian Spice
- Clementine & Lavender
- Seville Orange with Ginger, Sage & Yellow Mustard Seed
- Tangelo, Star Anise, Cinnamon & Clove
- Lemon, Tomato & Thyme Marmalade
The most unusual ingredient in an entry was ‘seaweed’ from a marmalade maker on the Isle of South Uist in Scotland. Whilst it didn’t win any prizes this time, it certainly impressed the judges for its ingenuity.
Marmalade Awards & Festival organiser, Jane Hasell-McCosh, said: “We’ve been surprised and delighted not only by the sheer number of entries into this year’s competition – which exceeds last year – but also by the range of interesting and sometimes downright unusual ingredients that you wouldn’t normally associate with marmalade. I believe this reflects the resurgence in popularity in marmalade designed to satisfy modern taste buds. Whilst everyone appreciates a good, traditional Seville orange marmalade, our broadening food repertoire is leading us to create a plethora of new marmalade flavours for future generations to enjoy. Long live marmalade in whatever form!”
As well as seeing an increase in unusual ingredients, the 2014 awards also witnessed a big leap in novice (first time) and children’s entries, further supporting Jane’s belief marmalade is seeing a resurgence. This, despite official statistics which show marmalade has apparently fallen out of favour at the breakfast table versus honey and other spreads.
“Marmalade is and will continue to be a national institution at the breakfast table for years to come,” adds Jane. “But its appeal now crosses both taste and international boundaries, which is evident in the scale and breadth of our Award entries. This year we’ve had jars from as far afield as Australia, the Philippines, South Africa, Japan and South Korea.
For more details of all the winners, both amateur and artisan, of this year’s Awards, go to: www.marmaladeawards.com. The Festival itself boasted appearances from patron Paddington Bear and support from Mackays, the last remaining producer of Dundee orange marmalade in the area. The event kicks off National Marmalade Week (1-8 March 2014), overseen by the awards’ organisers, which encourages people to try, buy or make marmalade.
