Britain's marmalade rebranding controversy explained

Ah, marmalade. It's been a staple British breakfast delicacy since the 18th century. Over the years, the citrus-based spread has been credited with everything from aiding digestion to preventing scurvy among sailors. But the country has been rocked this week by news that the traditional preserve so appreciated by Queen Victoria and Paddington Bear may have to be renamed.

'Marmalade rebranding' is a bit of a misnomer since there are obviously various brands of marmalade, and this is an issue that could affect them all. It's more of a marmalade reconceptualisation, if not a full-blown identity crisis.

The marmalade controversy is long and complex. The long story short is that manufacturers may soon have to specify that what the Brits know as marmalade is actually 'citrus marmalade' or 'orange marmalade'. And it's all because of Brexit.

The dispute dates back to a historical linguistic deviance. The word 'marmalade' comes from the Portuguese 'marmelada', which to this day still refers to a thick quince paste often served with jam. For reasons not entirely clear, but probably just to be eccentric, British producers decided to change the meaning of the word to refer to a more liquid jam made with Seville oranges imported from Spain.

Just to confuse things even further, other countries in Europe coined related words in their own languages, like the Spanish 'mermelada', Italian 'marmellata' and German 'Marmelade', to refer to all types of jams, not just citrus ones.

While Britain was a member of the European Union, it was able to influence decision making in Brussels. It lobbied fiercely on the marmalade front during the 1970s and scored a landmark victory for British idiosyncrasy, convincing the EU to grant a special commercial status for marmalade made from Seville oranges.

But other countries never forgot the bitter taste of that defeat. As reported by the BBC, a German MEP complained back in 2017 that the marmalade anomaly was "contrary to German linguistic tradition".

Now the EU nations have taken advantage of Britain's absence from the bloc to relax the legal definition of marmalade, granting European producers freedom to use the term for jams of any flavour from June. By extension that means that traditional British-style marmalade will have to be labelled as 'citrus' or 'orange' marmalade so people know what it is.

In theory, Brexit was supposed to avoid Britain having to kowtow to such cultural domination. The heavy cost to the British economy was deemed a small price to pay for the freedom to eat bent bananas and to measure things using an arcane system that nobody understands.

Alas, like most things around Brexit, that turned out to be a bit of a porky. To trade with the EU, Britain must respect its rules. The new concept of marmalade is already due to take effect in Northern Ireland this summer under the 2023 Windsor framework deal, but it will also apply in England, Wales and Scotland if a broader food deal is agreed, which is expected for around mid-2027.

The organisers of the Dalemain World Marmalade Awards wrote on Instagram this week that they were concerned about the possible expense for artisan producers that may need to change the designs of their labels, but that, ultimately, they see the rule change as positive.

“We get entries from around the world where marmalade can be understood completely differently to our jars here in the UK. American marmalades are always runnier for instance, while Canadian marmalade is much closer to our firm gel set. European marmalades are often absolutely delicious but often more resemble compotes than marmalade. So this name change seems quite positive and hopefully might make it easier for people to understand what we are looking for in this British standard competition.”

What's not clear is whether the UK will see non-citrus preserves being called 'marmalade'. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has previously concluded that a sudden appearance of products like 'strawberry marmalade' on supermarket shelves could cause confusion.