This week, Value for Money compares four types of marmalade
Grandesa Dark Orange from Aldi.
€1.39 for 370 g. €3.75 per kg.
It may surprise you to learn that Aldi buys a large amount of top quality artisan-style products from small Irish producers which it then sells under its Specially Selected line. Its Irish steaks and yoghurts have fared particularly well on this page in the past and they can be joined by this excellent marmalade from Cork. It has a wonderfully minimalist ingredient list and tastes like real oranges – a surprisingly rare feature of modern marmalade. The peel has been thickly cut and could scarcely be more fresh and citrusy if you had actually peeled the orange yourself.
Verdict: Top notch
*****
Fruitfield Old Time Irish
€2.63 for 454 g. €5.79 per kg.
Well, this must be an Irish-made product, what with the name and everything. What’s that you say? It’s made it the UK and Portugal? Yes, this is one of those brands that goes out of its way to boast of its Irishness when the reality is different. It tastes very sweet although to be fair the sugar content is not overly high. While the coarse peel adds a pleasing crunch to it, we were less pleased by the ingredient list which contained colours and flavourings that would probably not have been found in any old time recipe from Ireland or anywhere else.
Verdict: A little artifical
**
Follain Orange Marmalade
€2.63 for 340g. €7.74 per kg.
Unlike Fruitfield, this is actually made in Ireland – it is part of the Love Irish Food campaign – and has a commendably pure ingredient list: sugar, oranges, the gelling agent pectin and citric acid. It tastes of oranges and has a nice sharpness to it. The thin slivers of peel have a nice flavour. It is, unfortunately the most expensive of the brands reviewed and while it is twice the price of the Aldi option, it is almost certainly not twice as nice. To be fair, however, we did buy it in a local shop so probably paid a tariff for that.
Verdict: Nice but pricey
***
Centra Fruity Marmalade
€1.87 for 454g. €4.12 per kg.
This has a weird jelly-like texture that we weren’t much taken with. While the jar tells us that its “bits of peel are the real deal” (whatever that is supposed to mean) we struggled to find any bits of real substance in our jar.
Some of the competition has a strong and lingering fruitiness but this tastes bland and is almost instantly forgettable. It does have the lowest sugar content although the difference is marginal. And it is also pretty cheap.
Verdict:Jelly-like
***
Is there something you would like us to test?
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