Marmalade

The 'invention' of modern citrus marmalade is generally credited to the Scots. The legend says that a Dundee woman made the first marmalade in the 1790s. When faced with a pile of bitter oranges, she set about finding a use for them. Whether that story bears part of truth or not, it's true that the the first marmalade factory was built in 1797 in Dundee and since then the city was considered to be the 'home of marmalade'.

In the 15th century, quince "marmelada" was imported to England from Portugal. Marmelada was quite solid, so it was cut with a knife and served in slices as part of the final course of a feast. Orange marmalade was also imported from Portugal. Marmalade was an excellent way of providing vitamins when fresh fruit was not available and the British used it to help prevent scurvy and other illnesses on board merchant and navy vessels.

The history of marmalade is traced back to the Roman Age. The Romans discovered the process of making a jelly by heating and then cooling a combination of fruit acids and sugars, which is used in all modern jams and marmalades. They traditionally preserved fruits in honey, but found that quinces weren't suitable for being preserved in this way, so they precooked the quinces in wine before adding the honey. This caused pectin to be released and the mixture set to form a quince jelly. From Romans the art of marmalade cooking spread all over the Mediterranean

Marmalade is a fruit preserve made of fruits combined with sugar, water and pectin or other gelling agents. Although marmalade is often confused with jam, they may be differed by the fact that the marmalade contains fruit peel. Due to British influence, only citrus products may be sold as "marmalade" in the European Union, and this has led to considerable complaints from other countries. The thing is that in the most countries of continental Europe the word "marmalade" refers to all gelled fruit conserves, and those derived from citrus fruits have no special word of their own. By the way, the word "marmalade" is derived from the Portuguese term for preserved quince, or ?marmelo?.

Marmalade

Marmalade is a fruit preserve made of fruits combined with sugar, water and pectin or other gelling agents.