As you may know, marmalade is not a new hobby for me, having made it for many years with my mum and entered the Dalemain World Marmalade Awards multiple times.
This year, however, with a bit more time on my hands to devote to research and procurement - I decided it was time to take the provenance of the orange, the hero ingredient and star of the show, more seriously. Sometimes you can't just rely on a well-known middle class supermarket which is generally acknowledged [and correctly so] to be the best in class, but which also can simultaneously spin you a yarn by fooling you into thinking that by buying your Seville oranges from Waitrose, they are going to be the best. They were not.
And so I reached out to Jose at Gospa Citrus, whose name (Gospa) I had been hearing and seeing a lot, and the general word on the marmalade street was that they were the best. And so I thought I would go and see for myself, to see if they would cut the mustard (or indeed, the marmalade) for the Marmalade Project. And boy, did I find joy.
Despite the fact that it was slap bang in the middle of the absolute craziest busiest peak of the 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; regaling every single fact, date and detail; and not just telling me, showing me, driving me to every far flung corner of the region, to help me understand.
I was completely blown away, humbled and inspired by their generosity, kindness, passion and knowledge.
Gospa is in fact a very small family run operation, based in a small village outside Seville called Carmona, bursting with history and culture. The passion and the quality were plain to see. No more those stubby little small Seville oranges with no juice, which had been sourced specifically to meet a specification that fitted within the confines of the dimensions of the Waitrose blue box; these were Sevilles like I had never seen, plump and healthy and juicy, and much bigger.
We went first to the packing/sorting facility, where there was a hive of activity, sorting oranges, just minutes picked from the trees, which were then poured onto conveyor belts according to weight, quality, destination (Riverford, Sainsburys etc) and variety (mandarins, Sevilles etc), taking me right back to my Tesco grape buying days.
We then went to the groves, a green oasis of grassy organic lushness with over 35 different varieties of citrus sprouting from within, each individual jewel a picture of health and happiness.
There is a lot to understand about the world of citrus, and I barely scratched the surface, despite Jose doing his very best to impart every last ounce of information from his decidedly larger than average cranial capacity. I learnt and appreciated a huge 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 main reason this particular area in Spain [i.e. Seville and the surrounding countryside in Andalusia] is so famous for its bitter oranges is largely due to the infrastructure of ancient Roman waterways and reservoirs, which facilitated the transport of water across a large geographical area and meant the area was prime for agriculture, growing crops and pomology / pomiculture.
Even the ladders they use to pick the oranges are immovably heavy and take skill and knowledge to maneouvre and use safely; it is no mean feat - and the tree pictured here is over 20 feet tall!
I also met the very delightful Amadora, Jose's wife, CEO of Gospa, who [almost] literally has oranges in her blood, and there are definitely no flies on her. Previously a judge (legal, not marmalade) for 10 years, and mother to 6 children, she was clearly a very busy and very intelligent lady - but never too busy for anyone.
It was a trip and an experience which I will never forget, the learnings and inspiration from which will last far beyond my marmalade musings.
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