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Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tokyo woman wins at World Marmalade Festival with pear and yuzu preserve
A TOKYO woman has claimed the top prize with her entry into the Dalemain World Marmalade Awards in Cumbria with a pear and yuzu preserve. The awards, which were celebrating the 20th anniversary of the festival, took place in Dalemain, near Penrith, attracting thousands of entries from around the world. The Japanese native became the first international winner of the competition in its history. 2025 Homemade Double Gold Winner, Hitomi Wakamura (Image: Hermione McCosh) Director of the awards, Beatrice Hasell-McCosh said: 'It is a brilliant win for an overseas competitor in this competition which upholds the ideal in British standard marmalade making. 'It is a well deserved win for Hitomi Wakamura and special that it comes as we mark our 20th anniversary year and that she was able to travel all the way from Japan to be with us for the festival and to receive her prize in person.' Hitomi Wakamura, the victor, said it was a "great honour" to be chosen as winner in the homemade category. The winning marmalade will now go on sale at Fortnum & Mason in London, with a percentage of the proceeds going to the charity Hospice at Home. More than 3200 jars were submitted for judging. (Image: Hermione McCosh)Ms Wakamura said: 'It's a great honour that my yuzu and pear marmalade was chosen in the Homemade Competition this year. "I would like to thank all those involved for giving me this opportunity." A yuzu is a yellow citrus fruit akin to a mandarin orange. The awards saw more than 3,200 entries from around the globe, with places such as Argentina, Jordan, South Africa, Slovakia, Japan, Canada, Austria and beyond all represented. Since the competition started in 2005, the festival has raised almost £350,000 for Hospice, whilst 100 per cent of the Homemade entry fee goes to charity. This year's edition of the festival saw the record for most foreign visitors being broken, with visitors such as minister-counsellor for cultural and scientific affairs from the Spanish Embassy in London, Jose Robles, and the deputy high commissioner for Australia Elisabeth Bowes in attendance. Deputy High Commissioner for Australia Elisabeth Bowes (Image: Hermione McCosh) This international intrigue culminated in the formation of a sister festival in 2019 in Yawatahama City, Japan - a prime citrus growing area. The 2025 celebration also saw Karen Jankel, daughter of Paddington author Michael Bond, attend the festival.
The Guardian
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Preserving English eccentricity: 20 years of the World Marmalade Awards
What could unite octogenarian Cumbrian farmers; diplomats from Japan, Spain and Australia; and Paddington Bear? The answer, of course, is marmalade. Or, more specifically, the World Marmalade Awards. With a flock of spray-painted orange sheep, a giant red squirrel and Paddington wandering among the marmalade aficionados (many of whom are also dressed in orange), and a choir of schoolchildren performing a specially commissioned marmalade song, the event held at Dalemain Mansion, near Penrith is something of a showcase of English eccentricity. Founder Jane Hasell-McCosh set up the awards back in 2005, 'mainly because we'd had foot and mouth, and the whole county had really suffered from it,' she said, but also because 'I love marmalade, and I was trying to think a way of getting people to come to Cumbria.' It began as a local competition, with Hasell-McCosh, who lives in Dalemain, convincing people to hand over jars of their marmalade. The next year, she says, 'we thought, well, maybe we should try a festival. Somebody who was involved in tourism said: 'Well, that's a very silly idea, it will never work'.' Hasell-McCosh said she originally 'gave it five years,' but two decades on, the awards have drawn in more than 3,200 entries from as far afield as Portugal, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and South Korea. Among the entrants were a Taiwanese Orphanage, the British embassy in Jordan, and the director of a London Museum. This year's preserves were flavoured with everything from Scotland's famous Irn-Bru, to Belgian blue beer, to Taiwanese orchids, but the overall victor was Hitomi Wakamura from Tokyo, with her Yuzu and Pear Marmalade. It is the first time in the competition's 20-year history that an overseas winner has been crowned the overall champion. Wakamura flew 14 hours to London, then took a three-hour train to Penrith to collect her winner's cup from Chris Bishop, past master of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers, in the presence of Masaki Ikegami, deputy chief of mission for the Japanese embassy. Australian deputy high commissioner Elisabeth Bowes had also travelled to Cumbria for the event, with Jose Robles, Spanish minister counsellor for cultural and scientific affairs due to make an appearance later. Wakamura's marmalade, which won in the 'any citrus excluding Seville' category, will be stocked in London department store Fortnum & Mason for the next year, raising money for charity Hospice at Home. 'I'm extremely happy to be here,' Wakamura said. 'I'm so honoured to be able to receive this.' Tomorrow, she said, she'll go to see her marmalade for sale in Fortnum & Mason, but, she added, 'this is the main event'. Other categories include 'savoury marmalade', 'interesting additions,' and 'prison marmalade' – this year won by prisoners from HMP Styal in Cheshire, with a Seville and black treacle marmalade. Entrants to the competition are overwhelmingly female, but in the 'man made' category, the winner was 72-year-old baker Simon Bowden, who shipped his entry of Amalfi lemon and Seville orange marmalade from New York, where he lives. Sign up to Feast Recipes from all our star cooks, seasonal eating ideas and restaurant reviews. Get our best food writing every week after newsletter promotion 'I'm absolutely astonished, actually, but thrilled at the same time,' he said. 'I flew just last night to come here.' 'The British are pretty eccentric in some ways anyway,' Bowden, who is originally from Sussex, said, 'but this is the cream on top of the cake, crazy people who make marmalade, I love it.' Paddington author Michael Bond's daughter Karen Jankel presented a prize to children's marmalade winner, 12-year-old Liberty Brooks, who was wearing a bright orange dress. 'It's orange and bay marmalade,' Brooks said, 'I grew the bay myself.' 'Last year I added jalapeno to the marmalade, so I wanted to do something a bit more interesting than just a plain marmalade,' she added. 'I was interested in stuff I could use locally, because I'm interested in foraging, so I used the bay.' 'I'm very happy,' she said. 'I wasn't expecting it because personally, I prefer the one I did last year.' Susan Aglionby, an 80-year-old farmer, whose ancestors have lived in Cumbria for almost 900 years, won in the 'local flavours' category. She used honey from bees on the farm, and herbs grown in her garden. 'I've entered right from the beginning, because I just thought it was such a brilliant idea to bring people to Cumbria, to bring them to Dalemain, and it's such a lovely place,' she said. 'I've got bronze and silvers before, but I've never got a gold, so it's really exciting.' With the judging taking place over just a matter of weeks, the panel of about 60 judges can end up tasting dozens of jars of marmalade in a day to find their winners. Jane Maggs, the head judge in the artisan category, said this year's entries were 'amazing.' 'And they're equally amazing from England and from south east Asia, particularly from Japan and Taiwan,' she said. But which is Hasell-McCosh's favourite? 'I'm often asked that,' she said. 'I always say it's probably mine.'
BBC News
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
World Mamalade title won by Japanese yuzu and pear preserve
A yuzu and pear preserve has taken the top title at the World Marmalade in it's 20th year, the festival at Dalemain, near Penrith in Cumbria, attracts thousands of entries from around the Wakamura, from Tokyo, said it was a "great honour" to be chosen as winner in the homemade champion marmalade will now go on sale at Fortnum & Mason in London, with a percentage of the proceeds going to the charity Hospice at Home. Beatrice Hasell-McCosh, director of awards, said: 'It is a brilliant win for an overseas competitor in this competition which upholds the ideal in British standard marmalade making. "Yuzu has become more and more popular in the past decade with many entries using this gorgeous, perfumed citrus in their recipes. "It is a well deserved win for Hitomi Wakamura and special that it comes as we mark our 20th anniversary year and that she was able to travel all the way from Japan to be with us and receive her prize in person."Hitomi Wakamura said: "It's a great honour that my Yuzu and Pear marmalade was chosen in the Homemade Competition this year. "I would like to thank all those involved for giving me this opportunity. " The 3,200 entries this year came from as far afield as Hawaii, New Zealand, South Korea, Botswana and Georgia, along with many from around the well as the citrus-based offerings, some contained more unusual ingredients such as caterpillars, capers and Irn Bru. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Caterpillars and Irn Bru in Cumbria World Marmalade Award entries
More than 3,000 jars of marmalade, made with ingredients such as caterpillars, capers and Irn Bru, have been submitted to the annual World Marmalade have been sent from as far away as Taiwan and Australia to the festival at Dalemain, near Penrith in Cumbria, along with samples from closer to them is a jar from the British embassy in Jordan and a recipe from a woman in her 80s, which won a school prize in director Beatrice Hasell-McCosh said the marmalade community was "an orange thread that draws countless people together around the world". She said jars had arrived decorated with witches' hats, crochet lids, cloaks and newest category for the 20th year of the awards is A Taste From Home, especially for refugees, expats and people living far from are also sections for merry marmalade - with alcohol - man made, prisons, octogenarians, children's and "interesting additions". Ingredients have been "more inventive" than ever, with red caterpillars, orchid, dragon fruit and Irn Bru listed on some of the jars, Ms Hasell-McCosh year's winner, Stephen Snead, won with his Seville orange and lime with red chilli, and lime and crème de cacao have "sold well" at Fortnum & Mason and at Dalemain raising more than £6,000, which will be donated to Hospice at Home and his chosen charity Kyrebrooke Daycare have now closed and the winner of this year's competition will be announced on 26 April.
