National Marmalade Day -- Feb 15th

Today has been designated National Marmalade Day, so this post is about my marmalades!

After 3 weeks hard work, all the marmalade oranges were finally processed! (Chopping oranges can get soooo boring!! lol ) Most are in the freezer for use throughout the year, but I also made 150 lbs of marmalade of various sorts.

I am trying out 2 new varieties -- Golden Marmalade which is a mixture of oranges, lemons and carrots and also an Orange marmalade with Earl Grey Tea -- inspired by seeing a marmalade-flavoured tea!

Also this year, I have jazzed up my marmalade names -- hoping that an eye-catching name will inspire people to pick up a jar --and result in a sale! It has been fun & also brain-taxing during the last few weeks to think of appropriate names for all my varieties -- or new marmalades if I come up with a name that doesn fit any of my existing ones!

Today, I have re-vamped the marmalades in my etsy shop -- I have added a section for Marmalades ( rather than have them in with other preserves) and added several new varieties. I have also taken some new photos, and edited the listings to include the new names

As good as Rick Stein's!

Last month, another stall-holder at Marple Farmer's Market bought a jar of my Three Fruit Marmalade. She said she loved Rick Stein's version, but could not buy it very often because the postage made it rather expensive. She had tried many other Three Fruit Marmalades but so far none had been a patch on Rick Stein's. Well, today she gave me her verdict -- mine was "as good as Rick Stein's !!" So that is quite a feather in my cap!

The next stall to mine was Penny from The Jolly Brewer . She did very good trade, and I treated my husband to a bottle of her Taid's Garden Ale, while I had Lucinda's Lager. Both were most delicious and much enjoyed with our late lunch on my return home. I will definitely be buying more next time! Anyone from the North Wales & Cheshire area should look out for her products!

Get Folksy!

I have now signed up for the new UK-based site for hand-made craft items, Folksy. It is only a few days old as yet so there are still many bugs and glitches to be ironed out but the people who run it are quick to answer any queries that may arise. When it is up and running properly it will be great to be able to sell my items in pounds sterling - something my UK friends cannot understand about Etsy is the need for me to list in dollars.

I did cause confusion by asking them if I can sell my foodstuffs, and for the moment the answer is "no" while they consider all the legal implications and come up with a well-thought out decision. So in the meantime I am just putting some of my crafts on there. I have only got a couple up so far but will be adding more over the next few days. Check out my shop here.



I haven't got any markets this week so am taking the opportunity to get stocked up on preserves -- yesterday I made over 60 lb of marmalade ( 3 different varieties of seville). As my lavender is about ready for picking, I think today I will get some lemons to make Lemon & Lavender Marmalade -- and possibly some apples for Apple & Lavender Jelly too.









Today is St Swithen's Day --and by tradition if it rains today it will rain for the next 40 days & nights! So far it is fine and reasonably sunny so fingers crossed we have a good summer! Apparently he got to be patron saint of the weather because his burial in Winchester Cathedral was delayed by extensive rain.

Marmalade Making

I have just found this wonderfull witty blog article about making marmalade ! It manages to combine bugs bunny, french "adult toys" , and marmalade !
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/02/seville_orange.html
I would have loved to have left a comment but couldn't find a link to do it, so i've sent the author an email instead !
I have been making Rhubarb & Ginger Jam the last few days -- but my writing skills are not good enough to make it sound as good as David's marmalade! Just walking to the bottom of the garden to pick rhubarb does not match upto wandering through french markets! I am hoping there is still enough rhubarb left to make up a batch of chutney, but i think i might have to wait a little while for that.