For lovers of a tangy breakfast treat, the quest for the perfect jar of marmalade is a serious pursuit. A recent comprehensive taste test has put a range of UK supermarket offerings under the microscope to separate the truly brilliant from the merely acceptable.
The Art of a Perfect Marmalade
For guidance, the test turned to an authority: Pam "the Jam" Corbin, a respected author and former River Cottage colleague. Corbin defines a brilliant marmalade as one where the peel, gel, texture, and flavour exist in perfect harmony.
She highlights the magical variability of the preserve, noting that even with the same recipe, subtle differences in ingredients and technique create unique results. While commercial producers often use additives like extra pectin and acidity regulators, the best examples often keep it simple.
The Top Picks from the Supermarket Shelves
The tasting panel crowned a clear winner for overall excellence. Tiptree 'Tawny' Orange Marmalade, priced at £2.95 for a 340g jar at Waitrose, earned top honours. Praised for its classic dark profile, it boasts a rich caramel-orange flavour and generous, thick-cut chewy peel. With a 47% fruit content and a beautifully simple ingredients list of just sugar and Seville oranges, its quality was deemed incredible.
For those seeking outstanding value, the Best Bargain title went to Asda Extra Special Thick Cut Dark Seville Orange Marmalade. At just £1.86 for 370g, it offers an invitingly deep aroma, plenty of medium-cut rind, and a satisfyingly dark, flavourful taste from its 30% fruit content.
How Other Supermarket Brands Fared
The test also rated several other notable jars. M&S Fairtrade Dark Seville Orange Marmalade (£2.25/340g) delivered a complex, satisfying taste with extra-thick rind and 40% fruit.
Waitrose No 1 Vintage Marmalade (£3/320g) stood out for its aromatic, deeply bitter flavour enhanced by molasses, and a high 45% fruit content.
St Dalfour Orange Fruit Spread, labelled as such due to lower sugar, impressed with an intense, sour-forward orangey taste and the highest fruit proportion at 51%.
Some familiar names scored lower. The nostalgic Robertson's Golden Shred, a brand dating to 1864, received three stars. While aromatically pleasing, it was marked down for its very fine shreds of peel and a relatively low 20% fruit content.
Other three-star contenders included Tesco Finest Coarse Cut Dark Seville Orange, Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Bitter Orange (noted for its "classic citric-forward twang"), La Vieja Fabrica Seville Orange Fine Cut, and Frank Cooper's Fine Cut Oxford Marmalade.
The results prove that for a truly harmonious marmalade experience, seeking out products with higher fruit content and simpler recipes often leads to the most rewarding taste.
