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In March 2021, my inspirational, joyous mother passed away suddenly of a rare stroke. We used to dabble in orangey experiments together, and The Marmalade Project is part tribute to her; part fundraiser for the wonderful Stroke Association; part celebration of how much love and joy can be packed into one small jar.

I hope this jar provides you with a spoonful of joy on a cosy Sunday morning.

Spread some joy. Pass it on.

Belinda x

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behind the scenes at the marmalade project

🧡🥹Incredibly special to share The Marmalade Project with Ballymaloe🍊~ An overwhelming and emotional evening at last night’s summer pop-up event, where each of the guests took home a miniature jar of J🍊Y 💕

🪐As ever, it still feels completely surreal and an out of body experience telling anyone what the Marmalade Project is for and how it came about; in my head I feel like I’m just talking about something that happened to someone else, someone else’s mum; in my head I’m thinking about how I will call her later on and tell her about it all.
Every day here at Ballymaloe I want to call her and tell her about the wild salmon that we filleted today or the 4 I got for my green soda bread😳

🤍I am also acutely aware that I am by no means the only person to have lost someone, and therefore it sometimes feels almost self indulgent to keep ‘banging on’ about the Marmalade Project, why should everyone care about ‘my mum’.

💫But then when people come up to me and tell me about their loss, their loved one, their experience, and feel able to talk about it - it’s not just about ‘my mum’. Unfortunately it is the worst ‘club’ to be a member of and clearly I wish things were different, but they’re not, and I have found so much comfort in sharing with other people and them sharing with me. It all sounds like such a cliché, but these are all things that make us human, and these connections are what make it that little bit more bearable✨

@ballymaloecookeryschool

😳Phwoar…. Here’s a pudding which will put a kerbosh on any postprandial activities 😅🥵🫠

🐣🪺💐🐰The most Eastery of puddings from a recipe by my long time idol @philippadavis_food; 𝙃𝘾𝘽𝘽&𝘽𝙋 - or, Hot Cross Bun Bread & Butter Pudding WITH BRANDY AND MARMALADE 🔥🔥🔥

💪Not for the faint-hearted perhaps, but if you can’t be a bit decadent at Easter, when can you… serve well hydrated with plenty of cream, and make sure you have a sofa to hand for afterwards… 😴

Great way to use up any excess marmalade 🍊🍊🍊

#easter #eastercooking #hotcrossbuns #breadandbutterpudding #easterpudding #marmalade

‼️📣 LAST JARS REMAINING 📣‼️

When it’s gone it’s gone… Last chance to get your hands on some J🍊Y 🌟 - final 30 jars remaining 🔜😳🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️🛒

💫And remember that every single penny that you pay for your order (whichever size contribution you choose to make - and that’s not just profits, that’s ALL of your money) is going to @thestrokeassociation in memory of my darling mum and to help fund invaluable research 🙏

🙏Thank you so much to everyone who has helped me on this joyful journey, you know who you are; the support and response has been totally overwhelming🥹

🛒The shop went live just over a week ago and has sold over 270 of the 300 jars that I have made over the last 6 weeks, raising just over £2600 for the Stroke Association so far 💜

🇮🇪👋Now for the final push before heading to Ireland in 3 weeks time👩🏼‍🍳, so if you haven’t ordered your dose of joy yet don’t delay! Spread some joy this Easter! 🍊🐣🐰🥚🌸🌼

🙏Special mention and thank you to my very patient and tolerant stepfather Edward who has endured 2 months of hobs being on 24/7 🎛️🔥; sticky floors; jars and oranges absolutely EVERYWHERE; entire rooms given over to marmalade storage; pans steeping with peel and precariously balanced sieves with muslins attached ⚖️; and more latterly boxes and packing stations on every surface…. Total and utter marmaladey carnage 🫠🍊👩🏼‍🍳📦🫙

🍊🌳🇪🇸 And thank you to Jose and Amadora and all at @gospacitrus for the BEST quality oranges 🧡 and to @vivienlloyd for the invaluable guidance and support✨

📣📣📣Ladies and gentlemen…. The Marmalade Shop is officially OPEN!!!! 🛍️🛒🍊🎉💃🏻

💻Visit www.themarmaladeproject.com (link in bio)

(𝘈𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘱 / 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘬𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘪𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘳 😊)

👩‍🏫A few rules…

1. Orders are limited to a maximum of 2 per customer. If you try and order more than this I will have to cancel and refund you 🙁

2. Please be patient… this is a very amateur fundraising mission and I am not a qualified online retailer!!!

3. Quantities are extremely limited due to very low yields and small batch quantities, so do not delay…

Any questions / issues please message me…

Spread some J🍊Y. Pass it on.🧡

Belinda xxx

🍊Seville oranges… they’re not just for marmalade 🍊

💫Absolutely delicious Bitter Orange Tart recipe from @nigellalawson with a crunchy buttery biscuit base and a Seville Orange curd in the middle, topped with a drizzle of honey to offset the sharpness💫

👌Pretty stunning drowned in lashings of cream🥛 the perfect winter pudding🔥 #sevilleoranges #marmalade #nigellalawson

Ever wondered how you actually make marmalade? 🤔🍊👩🏼‍🍳

🎬Behind the scenes at The Marmalade Project… the best part of 2 days work goes into producing just 24 jars (working to roughly 3 batches a day; 3 x phase 1 for 3 new batches and 3 x phase 2 for 3 batches on their second day)🌛🌗

🌳Factor in the fact that the season for Seville oranges is very short means production quantities when doing it all by hand are very limited… and it just ISN’T the same when mass produced 😞

So, whilst I have done literally nothing but make marmalade for the best part of 4 weeks, there is still only very limited quantities available… so you will need to be quick! Shop opening next week… stay tuned for details 👀🛒

#themarmaladeproject #spreadsomejoy

🌪️A hive of activity last weekend with 3 of my oldest friends who came down for the weekend, bringing buckets of great energy, ideas and enthusiasm as always and helping me with the final push with production, branding and packaging before The Marmalade Project goes live! 🚀 Thanks so much gals I couldn’t have done this without you 😘 @c__ritchie @kitty_gilbert @emmalouiserees #themarmaladeproject #spreadsomejoy

🤸‍♂️S P R E A D S O M E J🍊Y ! 💃🏻

📣It’s been a quiet week or so on here as I have really had my head down and been all hands (well, all 2 of them, minus a few fingers 🥴🩹) to the pump in production; and truth be told I also got a bit overwhelmed and completely exhausted by the relentless scale of it all and the 4th week of 14 hours a day on my feet in the kitchen juicing, chopping, stirring, potting, washing up, scrubbing, lugging, cleaning, on repeat ♻️😵‍💫🫠 it is physical work and a lot to do on your own! Serious Sisyphus syndrome at times… 🪨

💪BUT here we are I finally feel like I have just come over the peak of the hill and I can see the end in sight 🥳 not to mention a serious morale boost from a visit from some of my oldest pals who came down to muck in 🥰

👩‍💻🛒The website will be ready and live in the next couple of weeks and then the shop will be open for orders! Still a few tweaks to be made in terms of the labels / packaging etc but we had a bit of a play this weekend and mocked up a few ideas💃🏻💃🏻…. Watch this space for final design and the story behind it 🙃🧡

#themarmaladeproject #spreadsomejoy

☀️🍊Sundays are for sunshine and Seville orange curd 🍊☀️

💫Absolutely delicious on Greek yoghurt, toast, crumpets, as a pudding, breakfast or snack - it’s a welcome respite from marmalade production, super easy to make and got a lovely buttery but tangy but sweet but salty texture, literally a dollop of sunshine💫

📮A few of you have messaged enquiring about ordering some and I’m afraid due to its short shelf life and refrigerating requirements it’s not something I’m going to be officially selling / shipping but I will do my best to get jars to the few special requests! 😉 #sevilleorange #marmaladeseason

🔪🔪🔪Shredding the peel…. There is no shortcut🥵😴😵‍💫

For every batch (equivalent to 8 jars), 8 oranges must be shredded, as finely as is humanly possible, by hand. 👩‍⚕️Definitely going to need to see a physio for RSI by the end of this! 🫳 I still have most of my fingers in tact… not all… ✊🥴

⏱️⏳My PB has improved from 22 mins to 15 mins per batch…🤓
🍸Hence why there is usually a sherry / G&T / wine within reach during this part, to preserve sanity 🙃

🧘‍♀️Although I actually do find this part of the process very mindful and quite therapeutic, finding the rhythm of the rolling chop (thanks Leiths @leithscooking @montyfirtree 😏)

PS. Found this epic orange jumper in a charity shop🤩🍊 @emmaimogenpowell feel like you would approve…

A special corner💫 with my loyal friend who never leaves my side all day long while I chop 💫
~ I think she’s just disappointed that the odd dropped bit of Seville orange peel isn’t as tasty she’d imagined😔😿

✨There are many, many reasons behind this ‘marmalade project’, not least that it is a very personal thing for me. There is something very comforting in the knowledge that I am standing exactly as my mum stood, feet planted squarely in that corner, with a hopeful Norfolk terrier below me, bottom planted squarely on my foot (or with her bottom half way up the side board, as pictured) 🙃

💫Flora🐶 used to spend a large proportion of her day sitting patiently, hopefully, in this corner; where my mum could often be found, whipping up a casual 6 meals ahead plus a couple of batches of ice cream for good measure💖

Kind words from the kindest people 🧡🥹
Sometimes you meet people who you then come away from resolving to be a better person. Jose and Amadora of @gospacitrus are 2 such people💫

✨I was completely blown away, humbled and inspired by their kindness, passion, knowledge and not to mention generosity with their time during the absolute craziest busiest peak of a very short season🥵🔥

🛻Jose took a whole full day out of his time to host me - a complete stranger - to show me around and give me a full tour of the business and the farm, as well as the entire surrounding local area and its history; every single fact, date and detail, and not just telling me, showing me, and driving me to every far flung corner of the region, to help me understand. I learnt so much and the quality of the fruit was totally superior to anything I have seen💯

@gospacitrus is an incredible setup, run by a small family business: Amadora, husband @josemanuelbautista_ and team, who are setting the standard in citrus 🔥🍋 I can’t wait to see what the impact on this year’s marmalade quality is going to be…🤞 Shop and website coming soon…🛍️🍊

🔎🧐….And a peek inside the warehouse and packing facility, within whose walls lies a military operation where it’s all hands to the pump, decanting the oranges from their crates, fresh from the tree, and sorting them by variety, weight, and quality, ready for onwards shipping 📝🤓⚖️🚚 - took me right back to my Tesco grape buying days!🍇🏭📦

👨‍👩‍👧‍👧Gospa is a relatively small family run operation, but the passion and the quality were plain to see 🤌💪💯

✈️I have overtaken 100kg of these plump prime beauties in the air and they will be landing on my doorstep this week….. VAMOS 💪💪💪

🤩🔪🍊🫙👩🏼‍🍳

#themarmaladeproject #marmalade #sevilleoranges #citrusseason #preserving #gospacitrus

And so… The Marmalade Project is a go! 🚀🍊☄️

🔥Kicked off with an incredible few days spent visiting Seville, the home of the Marmalade Orange (𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘫𝘢 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢 / 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘶𝘮) and specifically the beautiful and fragrant orange groves of @gospacitrus based in Mairena del Alcor 🌳🏞️

😎Jose incredibly generously hosted me and showed me the amazing set up that is the Gospa operation - never again will I be wasting my time with inferior oranges! (Waitrose I’m looking at you… 🧐🤨 unless @waitrose switch their supplier to Gospa 🙃… more musings on this in pending blog post📝)

🤓I learnt an enormous amount about the cultivation, the organic practice, the history and geography of the area and all the resulting environmental factors which contribute to such outstanding quality in their citrus fruits 🥇💯🏆

🗝️💦The key is in the ancient waterways and reservoirs (and 𝘓𝘰𝘴 𝘊𝘢ñ𝘰𝘴 𝘥𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘢 [a Roman aqueduct] which was built in the first century BC) established hundreds and thousands of years ago which made the area such a key focus for growing crops, agriculture and pomology / pomiculture 🍋🍊🫒 ~ 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 9 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢 400 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦’𝘴 50𝘊 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴!

🪜Even the ladders they use to pick the oranges are immovably heavy and take skill and knowledge to manoeuvre and to use safely, it is no mean feat - and the tree in pic 5 is over 20 feet tall 🤯 imagine climbing up there and filling your 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘢 with oranges! (Pic 10)

🧡All in all a fascinating and extremely educational trip; a delight to meet the lovely Jose and his wife Amadora, and I am now more inspired than ever to take on the mammoth mission which is the marmalade marathon!💪👩🏼‍🍳 Stay tuned for updates…📲👂

#marmalade #sevilleoranges #preserving #oranges #citrusseason #seville #preserves

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THE MARMALADE PROJECT

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behind the scenes at the marmalade project

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behind the scenes at the marmalade project