Editorial

Marmalade is at risk, Jo McCarroll says, and it is up to us to preserve it

Ihave grave and distressing news, my very dear readers. It may shock you – it certainly did me – and I grieve to be the bearer of such tidings. But our favourite zesty breakfast spread is at risk of extinction. Marmalade sales are falling. Young people do not seem to be developing a taste for it – not the eating of it, nor the making of it. I do not mean to scaremonger but this threat is very real. I suspect that if we do nothing, then marmalade is toast.

It’s not that people are not eating marmalade anymore. It’s that the people who are eating it have – how can I put this? – been people for a lot longer than the people who aren’t. Overseas figures show that only 1 per cent of marmalade buyers are under 28. More than half are on a pension. In the UK, 80 per cent of marmalade is sold to consumers over the age of 45. There was a slight lift in sales in the UK when the movies about the most famous international ambassador for marmalade were released – Paddington and Paddington 2, in 2014 and 2017 respectively – but even that charming Peruvian bear has failed to turn the decline around. Exact New Zealand figures have proved hard to come by, but in Lynda Hallinan’s SOS for marmalade in this issue (page 16) – a call for us to Save Our Spread – a spokeswoman for one supermarket chain said that with marmalade, “volumes are flat”.

That it should come to this. Marmalade is the stuff of history; the spread of heroes. It was considered by British prime minister Winston Churchill to be so essential to public morale during World War II that it is said he insisted the boats carrying bitter Seville oranges into the UK (an essential ingredient if you want to make this toast topping in a truly traditional fashion) be allowed to sail. English explorer Walter Scott took marmalade to the Antarctic and Kiwi mountaineer Sir Ed Hillary ate it at the base of Mount Everest. That all this weight of history should be at risk because – apparently – millennials don’t like the fact it has “bits” in it.

Why, may you ask, should gardeners care about marmalade? Because if we are honest, gardeners need people to eat marmalade. Citrus comes in such abundance in winter, you need a quick, straightforward way to preserve it. And marmalade is the easiest preserve to make, bar none. Even a novice jam maker can knock out a successful batch. (Don’t believe me? Try Christchurch foodie Kate Fraser’s Really Peely Marmalade which is the simplest preserving recipe in my repertoire. Put 15 grapefruit into a pot, cover with water and boil for 30 minutes, adding extra citrus if you have it to hand. Drain and cool. Dice the fruit – I use my food processor to do this, but do it by hand if you like a chunkier texture – and weigh the pulp, then add three-quarters of its weight in sugar. Place in a large pan, heat until the sugar melts, stirring continuously, then bottle.)

But I do not expect you to make marmalade out of duty, my best beloveds. I want you to make marmalade because you love it. And I want you to tell me why you love marmalade. Write a letter, send a recipe, share your secret ingredient or even pen a poem and send it to mailbox@ nzgardener.co.nz before July 29. Twenty of those who contribute will win a box of oranges from Twisted Citrus in Gisborne and a bag of Chelsea Jam Setting sugar. And of course we’ll run the very best in the magazine and – hopefully – that might enthuse those who are currently ignorant of this bittersweet delight.

It may seem a small thing to do, but it is something. And we must do something. Because marmalade is at risk, my friends. And it is we, the gardeners of New Zealand, who must preserve it.