Plenty of folk are in the market for marmalade
SIR – I was astonished by your report (February 23) about the decline in the popularity of marmalade.
My wife makes about 300 jars of marmalade a year, some for sale at local produce markets and the rest for our own consumption or as gifts to friends and neighbours of all ages.
The marketed jars invariably sell out, and the gifts are warmly received. Richard Last Woking, Surrey
SIR – In order to make an accurate estimate of marmalade consumption, account should be taken of the seasonal rise in the purchase of bitter oranges.
There is a very short window for their purchase in the shops, and those who have not already made perhaps 80lb of marmalade for family consumption may have a large number of these oranges in their freezers, to make their marmalade as and when required. Angela Peereboom Beadnell, Northumberland
SIR – My home-made marmalade was so popular with the grandchildren, aged seven and 10, that they spent a day of their half-term learning how to make it.
Having made their batch of eight jars, they made labels for them and took them home to distribute among their friends. Sue Wareham Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire
SIR – Dislike of marmalade among children is nothing new.
Wartime school dinners often included marmalade pudding, and I cannot remember anything which was disliked more. I was 20 before I reluctantly tasted it again and, of course, grew to like it. Peter Hollingdale-Smith Salisbury, Wiltshire
SIR – If you want to confirm the unpithy goodness and continued popularity of marmalade, just go along to Dalemain mansion in Cumbria for its annual marmalade festival on March 18 and 19.
This event attracts thousands of entries from all over the world to its many different categories – all hoping to toast success and win some tasteful prizes. Gillian Whalley Longridge, Lancashire