I have a friend who does some canning. From time to time she will share her riches with me. One of my favorites is her Peach Jalapeño Jam, mmmmmm.
Somehow one of her jars got hidden in the cupboard. It is from 2020 and is labeled “Herbed Garden Marmalade”. Now, I could ask her what it is, but that would be embarrassing. I could open and taste it (and I eventually will) but I’d like some input on what it is likely to be and how I can use it.
Put it on crackers? Combine with cream cheese to make a dip?
You don’t have to say you still have it do you ?
Say something like “remember that herbed garden marmalade you made ?
i loved it - what was in it etc etc”
Just going by the photo, the marmalade looks like a kissing cousin of good ol’ salsa – the kind Americans dip tortilla chips into. Am I seeing tomato seeds in there?
Since your friend is a canner, I’d assume she uses certain terms correctly. “Marmalade” is a jam-like substance that contains citrus peel (or at least the zest).
I concur that it looks like it includes tomatoes, but even if it doesn’t it would very likely be excellent with cream cheese and crackers.
“Soft spreads” are products that use pectin as a thickening agent, whether added or naturally occurring in the fruit. Jams, jellies, preserves, marmalades and conserves are all types of soft spreads. They almost always include added sugar. There are a lot of recipes for soft spreads that, while sweet, are also savory – think garlic jelly or onion jam. These are often recommended as an element on a cheese board, but are also commonly used as a glaze for meats. I suspect your Herbed Garden Marmalade would be delicious as a glaze for chicken.
If it was me I’d have done it the moment I found it.
I’m betting a miscellaneous mix of veggies. Some tomatoes but also some peppers and maybe a bit of onion. With herbs of course, likely some tarragon. Savory sweet like onion jam.
Agree wonderful with cheese and crackers or on chicken or pork. Or on a baguette with goat cheese.
Pardon my ignorance, but is the issue here that Marmalade isn’t a thing (at all) in the US?
I make marmalade. It’s a jam made from bitter oranges, so as a person who’s not overly fond of sweet things, it’s right up my alley. The peel of the oranges is shredded into the jam - after it has been boiled for a couple of hours it has a very soft texture. Absolutely delicious, but I cannot for a second imagine that it would go with cheese. Have it on toast for breakfast.
What intrigues me is: what herb goes with bitter oranges?
Probably not as popular as in the UK. We like chutney and have made our own peach chutney, but not marmalade. My wife likes marmalade, but I’m not a fan.
I think it’s more that marmalade is a broader category here. We have orange marmalade, of course, but I’ve also made lemon marmalade and lime marmalade. Any jam that includes more than a little citrus peel is considered marmalade – I’ve made blueberry marmalade (a friend has a standing request for some whenever I make it) and cherry marmalade.
Oh, and that seville orange marmalade you make? Try it on cream cheese on toast or a biscuit; it’s heavenly.
Isn’t it just marmalade? So you spread it on buttered toast and also use it to make marmalade tarts - there aren’t that many other uses for it, but there don’t need to be. It keeps for ages.
I’ve made my own marmalade from calamondin oranges grown on my windowboxes and then in my garden once I had one. They’re supposedly just decorative plants but are actually perfect for extremely delicious marmalade.
Lemon and lime marmalades are a thing in the UK too. The blueberry one wouldn’t be a marmalade here because it doesn’t include a citrus fruit - it would be a preserve. If you’ve added citrus peelings to it then it’s a conserve.
I think it’s a difference in nomenclature. Here any fruit jam that includes citrus peel in any amount is termed a marmalade. The term conserve seems to have fallen out of favor.
The recipe I use for blueberry marmalade has blueberries as the main ingredient, but also orange, lemon, orange rind and lemon rind.
Yep, it’s just different regional terms, really. I mean, like we do have jelly, same as you do, (in the spread sense, not jello, which we also call jelly) it’s just specifically without any seeds or fruit included in it.
I did see that Aldi in Germany are having a British week this week, and there was some mis-translation, because they put marmalade on the scones in the picture. Jam just translates to Marmelade in German, but actual marmalade is not what you have on scones.
I’m not sure it would work well, really, because scones are traditionally served with clotted cream (which was included in the picture) - it might be OK, and I’d be happy to try it.
But this was for a photo illustrating scones as part of British week, therefore typical usage. Marmalade is really really not typical. It’d be like saying illustrating an American hotdog for American week with mayonnaise as the condiment.
I think I might be able to answer this definitively.
One of the many preserves my mother makes (and my personal favorite) is called “garden marmalade”, and it consists primarily of tomatoes, garlic, and basil. It tastes kind of funny if you eat it straight, but it’s amazing on fresh-baked bread with butter, and it also goes very well with cream cheese on crackers.
Oh, and strictly speaking, jelly is made from juice, while jam has bits of solid fruit in it, and marmalade is therefore a subset of jam. But I agree that the distinction is lost on most Americans, who basically use “jelly” and “jam” interchangeably.
So, I decided to open the marmalade when I got home yesterday, but my gf had already tried it. She tasted tomato, garlic, basil, “and other things “. She put some on a ham & cheese sandwich and loved it.
