The £77 slice of marmalade on toast

13 April 2012

To call this luxurious concoction marmalade is a bit like describing the finest caviar as fish paste.

It contains more than £4,000 worth of vintage whisky, champagne and edible gold leaf.

That works out at £77 for every slice of toast on which it is spread, or £11 for a dainty mouthful.

And I have been invited to try it - a daunting prospect for someone who has hated marmalade all her life.

Created by jam and marmalade maker Duerr's to mark its 125th birthday, the orange concoction in its commemorative crystal glass decanter, complete with silver lid, has been valued at £5,000.

While waiting for the lightlytoasted white bread to arrive, I discover that the 1kg jar contains 82ml of Dalmore 62-year-old malt whisky worth £3,450, 500ml of vintage Pol Roger champagne (£348) and £120 worth of gold leaf.

More importantly, but considerably less pricey, 500g of Seville oranges shipped from Spain to the Duerr's factory in Manchester went into the one-off creation. The rest is 40 per cent liquid sugar.

Surprisingly, it took just half an hour to make the marmalade, a process of heating the mixture to 105c in a steam-surrounded pot to allow the water to evaporate.

The booze and gold leaf were added only at the end to avoid the risk of the alcohol going the same way as the water.

This all happened last Thursday and the first samplings occurred at Duerr's board meeting the following morning. And then along came me.

As advised I spread a thick layer of butter on a slice of toast and spooned a healthy dollop of marmalade on top. And then I took a bite. And it was good, really, very good.

The alcohol was probably not unconnected to my enjoyment, but I could taste the oranges too. And even though there were bits of peel in it, which I have never enjoyed before, actually it was rather nice. I think I might grow to appreciate that bitter bite.

I even went back for a second slice. What further proof is needed of its worth?

Sadly, I think I might have ruined my chances of ever appreciating the bog-standard jar of fine-cut marmalade having now tasted the best.

The commemorative jar is to be auctioned for charity, so someone with sizeable pockets will get to enjoy many a fine breakfast.

As for Duerr's, the family are considering whether there is a market for a more exclusive breed of marmalade.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in