Growing up in an Italian household we never had a ritual for making jam and marmalade. That’s not to say Italians don’t make it, they do. But in my experience not altogether successfully; the jams my family members have given me have been little more than sour fruit sludge (it’s OK to say this as not a single family member reads this column, as I frequently discover when they ask me if I’ve heard of *insert name of really well known chocolate brand here*).
I treasure jam from my non-Italian friends, because they seem to understand that sugar is a necessary requirement, and so is ‘setting’. Anyway, I really have little idea of when marmalade season is, because I don’t make it, all I know is that it reminds me of this time of year and settling down, settling in and doing housey things wearing an apron and, maybe, lighting a fire (too early?)
Thus I pounced on Hotel Chocolat’s new orange marmalade chocolates (£5.45 for a box of six, £15 for three boxes – yes it wasn’t that long ago it was £10 for three, see below), from their chocolate selector wall. A delicious mouthful of 70% dark chocolate, hazelnut praline and a super sharp bitter orange compote middle ready to ooze out on your fingers. But, I do wish HC would find an alternative to all the plastic they use for these boxes.
While I tend to stay on the positive side for this column, it would be remiss not to mention that droughts in west Africa (where most of the world’s cocoa comes from) have led to a global shortage of cocoa, which means that costs have sky rocketed (roughly quadrupling). You’ll see this price hike in end products – and that’s why.
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