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Delicious organic foods from Aracena
Marmalades
Sierra Rica's marmalades are made with the excellent oranges and lemons that grow in Andalucia, southern Spain. These are cooked in small batches following traditional, slow cook recipes – a method which does justice to the exceptionally good citrus fruit and guarantees a deep flavour and satisfying aroma in the finished marmalade.
The Seville Oranges we use in this marmalade grow on a beautiful old estate called Ave Maria , 15km from the historic city of Seville. And, although the estate is run on traditional lines by Amadora Fraga and her family, they have been pioneers in organic farming and have used no chemical pesticdes or fungicides for over 15 years.
By combining the best ingredients with careful cooking the result is a great marmalade – achieved without the use of any artificial additives typical of mass-produced conserves.
Glass Jar 340g.
In the course of its history, marmalade has generated at least a couple of myths for which the Scots must accept some responsibility. One involves the belief that it gets its name from Mary Queen of Scots, as below. Another is that it was an invention of Janet Keiller, whose Dundee family built the first marmalade factory in 1797. In fact, marmalade made its first appearance in both England and Scotland in wooden boxes. It was a solid sugary mass of marmelos (quinces), exported from Portugal, and first mentioned as marmelada in port records at the end of the fifteenth century. This is what travelled with Mary Queen of Scots when she became seasick on the crossing from Calais to Scotland in 1561. This may, or may not, have helped restore her equilibrium. Quinces were regarded at the time as healing fruits. Her request for "Marmelade pour Marie malade", was no more than a medicinal pun. Certainly, the medicinal properties of oranges were highly regarded. Candied orange peel was eaten during a fast, so it was a natural thing to pulp and sweeten oranges into a marmalade. It first appears in English cookery books in the seventeenth century when it was promoted as a sweetmeat to aid digestion.
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