EU gets itself in a jam over UK’S bittersweet marmalade win

MEMBERS of the European Parliament want to change the legal definition of “marmalade” after Brexit so that German strawberry and plum jams can also use the label.

The EU’S directive “on fruit jams, jellies, marmalades and sweetened chestnut purée” states that a jam can only be called marmalade if it contains at least 20 per cent citrus fruit.

The 1979 rule supports the UK understanding of marmalade as being made from Seville oranges or lemons.

The rare British victory in Brussels has stuck in the craw of Germans and Austrians ever since. Traditionally, jams made from other fruits were called marmalade in those countries.

But under Germany’s Konfitürenverordnung (Jam Regulation), which imposed the EU directive into national law, non-citrus jams must be branded “konfitüre” and not marmalade.

Jakob von Weizsäcker, a German socialist MEP, believes that Brexit is the chance to put that historical wrong right and make jam marmalade again. In a question to Phil Hogan, the EU agriculture commissioner, the MEP for Thuringia said the European Commission should change the marmalade law.

He said: “To avoid overwhelming our British friends, the term has been used exclusively for citrus fruit marmalades throughout the EU since 1979 to the disappointment of consumers, particularly in Germany and Austria, who since then have only been able to buy fruit spread or jams instead of normal marmalade. Allowing marmalade to be called marmalade again could therefore help to sweeten the bitter aftertaste of Brexit for many EU citizens.”

Commissioner Hogan dashed the hopes, telling von Weizsäcker: “The commission has at this stage no plans to review council directive 2001/113/EC relating to fruit jams, jellies and marmalades and sweetened chestnut purée intended for human consumption.” Rosemary Jameson, of the Guild of Jam and Preserve Makers, said: “It’s amazing how in times of trouble, the jam laws raise their head. Perhaps people are looking for something to distract them from the really serious stuff they should be looking at.”

Marmalade is so divisive because it is such a wonderful invention. Thick-cut or thin, bitter or mild, without it a breakfast that deserves the name is unthinkable. Now a German MEP is rejoicing that after Brexit he may perhaps be allowed again to call some confecture of prunes by as marmalady a name as Germans are capable of enunciating. They blame Britain for the EU ukase that forbade anything to be called marmalade if citrus fruit did not form 20 per cent of it. The accusation was unfair, as even loyal Britons also enjoy ginger marmalade. And we used marmalade

(for quince cheese) long before we came up with the word jam, or Giam as in 1747 that redoubtable cook Hannah Glasse spelt it. As long as we’re left in peace to make marmalade to our own recipes, then frankly, mein Herr, we don’t give a jam.