The Date Jar

 Dear reader,

 

Marmalade originated from ancient Greek and Roman quince pastes, with the name deriving from the Portuguese 'marmelada.'  In the 16th and 17th centuries this firm, sugary, fruit paste formula evolved in Britain into a citrus preserve using imported Seville oranges, becoming a popular quintessential British breakfast staple by the 18th/19th centuries, largely popularized by Scottish commercial production.

The tale that Mary Queen of Scots ate it when sick, supposingly sparking the name "Marie Malade", is generally considered a myth.  Modern marmalade has existed since the 1700s when the Scots added water to marmalade to male it less solid than before.

James Keiller founded the first marmalade factory in 1997, so the story of the Keiller Dundeed marmalade is difficult to avoid.  The myth goes that marmalade was invented in Dundee by the wife of a grocer named James Keiller after he bought a loaf of discounted and unsalable oranges from a storm blasted cargo ship. 

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Toast, butter and marmalade make for me, a perfect breakfast or supper.

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From Dorothy Wordsworth    April 6th   1798   in Somerset

'Walked a short distance up the lesser Coombe, with an intention of going to the source of the brook, but the evening closing in, cold prevented us. The Spring still advancing very slowly.  The horse-chestnuts budding, and the hedgerows beginning to look green, but nothing fully expanded.'

From Gilbert White    April 8th    1770 in Hampshire

'No birds sing. and no insects appear during this wintry sharp season. '

From Gilbert White   April 11th  1790 in Oxford

'Thames very full and beautiful, after so much dry weather wheat looks well; meadows dry, and scorched; roads very dusty.'

 

                                                                               

The Date Jar

(after cancer operation)

 

On the breakfast table I noticed

the date jar, 

hiding a little behind the cereals,

the milk, the marmalade, the sugar bowl,

and a small jug full of early daffodils.

 

The date jar?

 

My throat constricted.

It was the thought he had had,

laying things out,

that I might like a date,

that touched the chord.

 

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With very best wishes, Patricia