bergamot marmalade

bergamot marmalade

marmalade is the beloved preserve of my favourite childhood storybook character. i am of course talking about paddington bear. it is also my father’s favourite. as a child i preferred sweet jam. the pale emerald mitchell’s rose’s lime marmalade was marginally bitter. i loved its citrus fragrance but did not care for it on toast. two years ago mama sent me a jar of her kinnow marmalade. kinnow is an easy peel citrus cultivated in the sub-continent’s punjab. i loved eating dollops of it with strained yoghurt and a scatter of flaked toasted almonds. it was what piqued my interest in marmalade making. since then, i have made the classic seville orange marmalade as well as experimenting with different citrus with herb and tea infusions. this year’s flavours include seville bay leaf, screwdriver marmalade (blood orange and vodka) and treacle marmalade. i loved making all of them but the real treat was a pale amber bergamot marmalade. 

the peel of bergamot has the fragrance of earl grey. it comes in two denominations; a large globe like shape with thick peel the colour of bleached lime and a small one that resembles lemon but with a smoother skin and a deeper yellow tone. it yields less juice than regular citrus with the flavour concentrated in the peel.

this is an excerpt from a guest post for natoora who specialise in sourcing quality vegetables, fruit and meat. you can find the full post and the recipe for bergamot marmalade on their blog.