• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Published Articles
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

An afternoon with the Jam Mistress, Vivien Lloyd

October 10, 2014 3 Comments Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Uncategorized

Vivien Lloyd
The flake method of determining if there is a ‘set’
Straining jam
In my recent sojourn to Somerset and Bath, I met Vivien Lloyd and her husband Nigel at her home in Midsomer Norton. Vivien produced a book, First Preserves, about jam making, preserves, chutney and pickles a couple of years ago. I didn’t realise that this very glossy and professional-looking book was self-published until I visited her.

Vivien Lloyd comes across as rather angry about jam but this intensity is a product of her passion. The natural authority with which she talks, glasses perched upon her nose; she reminds me of an Anne Robinson of the preserves. She can be blunt, even harsh, about the woolly amateurish recipe developing of less trained jam makers. No wonder, as Vivien trained as a Women’s Institute judge 21 years ago when the regime was rigorous.

 “You had to make 5 preserves a day, one day a week for between 18 months and 2 years, you had homework, a working notebook, an exam, you had to regularly enter competitions and shows”. 

The repertoire you had to master commenced at the start of the preserving season, September to March; split into Autumn preserves and after Christmas marmalades (to coincide with the citrus season).
There are 12 different disciplines in which you must be proficient or even expert.

  1. Jam 
  2. Marmalade
  3. Jelly
  4. Pickles} fruit, mustard, vegetables
  5. Chutney
  6. Vinegar} fruit, herb
  7. Sauces} ketchups (plum, tomato, mushroom)
  8. Candied fruits
  9. Mincemeat and Curds (not strictly preserves)
  10. Bottling
  11. Squashes and syrups
  12. Liqueurs

As a W.I. judge you were expected to make all of the above at least once each calendar year. Vivien remarked that the hardest thing as a judge is the comments. You must not only tell the competitor what is wrong with their entry but also how to put it right.
I use the past tense here because according to Viv, standards at the W.I. have slipped. Vivien says the training isn’t worth doing anymore. W.I. judges no longer have the same rigorous standards, they do not know how to steer competitors to improve and celebrity culture has taken over in the rigid world of preserves.

 “There are only three women judges who know what they are doing in the W.I., two are in their 80s and one is pushing 70. They come from the great preserving areas, with a strong tradition in jam making, a culture from which the great judges have emerged, are Yorkshire, Cheshire and Shropshire.”
Why is that?
“They are traditional fruit growing areas.”

Vivien complains, with a voice trembling with feeling and disappointment, that:

 “The W.I. has dumbed down the judging, there is poor feedback and lower standards.
A true preserver, you’ve either just made something, are making something or thinking about making something. It lives within me, I’m not someone who dips in and out of it. I am the jam mistress.”

Woe betide any jam making pretender who is not doing it by the book.  This is her scrupulous analysis and testing of the recipes on the Great British Allotment Challenge.
For the last ten years the Marmalade Awards, has had 2000 jars enter. Vivien won best in show in 2008. She holds up a jar of Korean marmalade ‘Yuzu and Tangerine’, which was a double gold winner at the Marmalade Awards this year, and wrinkles her nose:

 “32% sugar? It’s not marmalade, it’s a fruit spread. Legally, it must have 60% sugar to be a marmalade. Why is Fortnum’s, who were one of the judges, not  promoting real marmalade? It’s part of our cultural heritage.”

The 60% figure was set by British scientists at Long Ashton, Bristol, in the 1920s and was based on scientific principles.

“At 60% with any fruit, your jam is stable with a natural set and will last at least a year. It means that your jam will have a bright colour, it will set as a gel, it will be preserved properly and will have the proper balance of flavour.” 

 Low sugar alternatives have a looser quality and often resort to preservatives (Potassium Sorbate) to lengthen shelf life. Clippy Mckenna is campaigning for jams with less sugar to be allowed. Vivien, although she considers Clippy to be a worthy opponent, thinks that the trend towards less sugar is based on the fact that as a commodity, sugar has gone up in price. Sugar has been demonised, regarded as poison, but as Vivien explains, “I don’t sit and eat a jar at a time”.

“If they reduce sugar in jam”, she points out, “it won’t make any difference to the obesity crisis.”

Defra put out a proposal to amend the legislation to reduce sugar to 55% or 50% with apple, which has gone through in Scotland (ever the unfortunate guinea pig territory for experimental legislation, e.g. the poll tax). The consultants for this kind of food legislation are big businesses like Pizza Hut, who obviously know nothing about jam. So Vivien decided to visit her local MP for Wells, Tessa Munt, to resist this change. Tessa Munt immediately saw the seriousness of the situation – “I’m going to get a debate on this in parliament” – and even asked Vivien Lloyd to help write the speech. Vivien is mentioned in Hansard. For the time being, the Defra amendment has not been implemented, but the reduction in % of total sugar content is still a possibility. 
Tessa Munt told Vivien that this is one of the most popular issues she has ever tackled, everywhere she gets stopped and people say, “Well done about the jam, Tessa”.
One of the things that Vivien prides herself on is that her recipes give an accurate yield. Most of them are for four jars of 250g. Doing preserves in small batches means that you can make them more quickly, get a set. Before the 1920s no jam or marmalade recipes gave yields.

Vivien has plans to teach jamming boot camps, some at the Seville Orange farm, Ave Maria, in Spain, and in the USA, France and Australia.

One year, Vivien sent a jar to the Queen and is very proud of her letter back. The Queen is a marmalade fan.

Vivien Lloyds preserve making tips:

  • Damsons are her favourite fruit. 
  • Jellies: people make them too liquid.
  • Jelly is harder than jam. Only make small quantities at a time. You get a quicker set, 4 minutes. The longer you boil, the quicker you are boiling the flavour away. Yield in recipes is often wrong. Amount of sugar depends on pectin and acidity of fruit. She doesn’t macerate.
  • She does the added check of weighing after she has reduced her fruit then adding the correct amount of sugar. Marmalade has double the sugar to fruit.
  • Do a pectin test: to a tablespoon of cooked fruit, add a tablespoon of white spirit or meths. It will immediately form a jelly if there is enough pectin.
  • Don’t use jam sugar. It makes a rubbery set. Make your own pectin if the fruit you are using doesn’t have enough.
  • Marmalade is a citrus fruit jam.
  • The muslin bag should contain all the trimmings, peel and pips, which contains the pectin.
  • Grapefruit pith will ‘go clear’, translucent, just like Seville oranges.
  • Always lid marmalade.
  • Marmalade requires slow, gentle, cooking. Don’t rush, otherwise the peel won’t be tender.
  • Men tend to like a thick macho rind in their marmalade, but the finer you can slice the peel, the more pectin and acid.
  • Reduce marmalade liquid by a 1/3rd, warm the sugar, which helps it to dissolve, and you are less likely to get crystallisation, peel should disintegrate between your fingers. 
  • Relishes and chutneys are not to be confused with each other: chutney is slow cooked and takes a couple of months to mature. Relish is a quick cook, is sharper and can be eaten immediately.
  • Use a plastic spoon for tasting chutney.
Find out more at VivienLloyd.com

Recent posts

Discovering fairytale Saxony in Germany

January 25, 2023

Fake meat taste test for Veganuary

January 8, 2023

A round-up of my favourite travel destinations of 2022

January 1, 2023

Previous Post: « How to make a wedding cake
Next Post: Squid ink marbled bread with Richard Bertinet in Bath »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Magnolia Verandah

    October 11, 2014 at 11:55 am

    I am such a jam, mostly marmalade, and jelly person. I just love the letter from the Queen and welcome her boot camps down here in Australia.

    Reply
  2. Aj

    October 11, 2014 at 3:53 pm

    Another timely posting K, as I eating a lot cauliflower raw and thinking preserves might be the thing to do, so will investigate the links you've provided. Still recovering from Wedding Cake Blitz…. a piece of work on both sides. Good stuff.

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      October 11, 2014 at 8:51 pm

      I love raw cauliflower…let me know what preserves you make!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

Subscribe to my mailing list

msmarmitelover

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuv Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuvio,the Christmas 🍅, which lasts up to a year fresh. It’s given boxed as gifts around Christmas being the only local fresh tomato available. It dresses all the Christmas pizzas and pastas. It’s grown on volcanic Vesuvius soil and sparsely watered. As a result it has thick skins, and a sweet intense flavour. #tomatoes #italy #naples
Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick laye Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick layer of dust over my kitchen. This will be my dining room/photography studio. Done on a whim.#unplanneddemolition
Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a n Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a nest of apricot tulle (found at portobello market). Isn’t she lovely? #granfluencer
Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is defin Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is definitely a week for soups. My friend @jimfrommanc is staying & needs his hot lunch.
Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Ven Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Venice the fresh food market sells bouquets of colourful chillies. I’ve still got mine, drying in an enamel jug. #travelandfood
The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read all about it: https://msmarmitelover.com/2022/12/christmas-in-naples.html  Got a couple of bunches hanging in my kitchen. #naples #campania #tomatoes🍅 #travelphotography
Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Italian outfit I bought in Naples on a William Morris playmat which looks great and is practical for tummy time. So many things are different about parenting now. Parents use apps to track feeding, pooing, weeing etc. You don’t bathe them anymore for the first few weeks because you want to leave the vernix ( the white waxy stuff they are covered in at birth) on their skin as long as possible. Nappies now have a line on them that turns blue if they’ve done a pee. White noise apps to help them sleep. New technology guides new parents. As well as ancient probably prehistoric customs being rediscovered. #granfluencer #grandaughter I’ve tagged in @siennamarla and @jamescalmus as the authors of this baby.
I made two dishes from one pack of white beans las I made two dishes from one pack of white beans last night. Soak, then cook with 2 stock cubes, water & a fan of bay leaves. When soft & cooked, scoop some into a soup bowl with plenty of stock, add white wine, fresh basil and or a scoop of pesto and a squeeze of lemon for soupe au pistou. Garnish with Parmesan. Today I cooked the pot until the liquid had almost disappeared and added a block of feta. I baked this in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, added @pomoragoodfood new olive oil, salt and pepper for a gigantes plaki (but with smaller beans). Eat more beans!
What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yo What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yolks after making a pavlova? Zabaglione, that classic Italian trattoria dessert made from egg yolks, sugar & tons of masala sweet wine. Whisk it up over a bain-marie or be a bit cheaty & add a teaspoon of cornflour. Strong wrists needed. #italianfood #christmasdesserts #leftovers #cooksmart
The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from c The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from carnivore, to recent vegetarian, to long-time vegetarian to never eaten meat (my daughter)) tasted 18. It was quite a bushtucker trial. Carnivores & vegetarians liked very different things. Full report in next weeks @hamandhigh #veganuary #vegan #vegetarian #tastetest #fakemeat #plantbasedmeat
Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuar Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuary column for @hamandhigh So many companies doing this now. As a longtime vegetarian I don’t want anything that tastes too much like meat. But new vegetarians and vegans may want something that tastes close as damnit to meat in order to stave off cravings? Which category are you in? Have you any favourites or dislikes? Is this just another example of ultra-processed food? Let me know in the comments #vegan #vegetarian #meatfree #veganuary
Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragr Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragrant citrus & one of the founding citrus (along with pomelo and mandarin) that created all the other citrus fruits you know about. Usually candied, it is also used in this unusual neopolitan recipe in which you soak the zest in the pasta water overnight before cooking. Post up on the blog later today. Board a Xmas present from @siennamarla #pasta #naples #cedro #citrus
My london garden ce matin My london garden ce matin
My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- bergamot marmalade in the middle. In the @hamandhigh this week. It’s bloody delicious. #chocolatecake #feelaustria #untoldstories #vienna #sachertorte
These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ in Neapolitan dialect. They are a Christmas apple, in season now. I bought this little model basket of apples in San Gregorio di Armenia street in Naples where every year neopolitans buy something to add to their ‘presepe’ or nativity scene. Often scenes from markets to add to the expensive, anything from 500 euros to 5000 euros nativity crèches. Around Christmas this street is packed (watch out for pickpockets) with locals and tourist picking out their addition to the scene. Melanurca apples are picked in September then laid on the ground to ripen, turning them every day by hand, to ensure all sides transform from a yellow green into a Wicked Witch red. They are very healthy, particularly for your hair, according to scientists at the university of Naples. #naples #neopolitanchristmas #melanurca  #food #travel #sangregorioarmeno #presepenapoletano #nativityscenes
The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, a local tomato that is sold around Christmas in Naples. It is grown with very little irrigation and lasts fresh up to a year. Hence it is used for tomato based Christmas dishes. This tomato has a thick skin and is really intense in flavour. It hangs outside grocers, on balconies, in kitchens, having been braided by ladies into bunches of 1.5 kilos. Each costs 15 euros. I went to visit the farmers and the ladies skilfully tying the tomatoes into clusters, using the vines to fasten them, like cherries. Boxed, these are given as gifts. Reel on the way! #naples #christmas #tomatoes #travel #food
Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as black and white and stick to that palette. For Sicily & Naples I’m doing red, white & black. I’ve bought @coti_vision red glasses chain, a red beret & a black one, a pair of red @snagtights & a black pair, a red hair clasp, a red & white pair of shoes (25 euros, leather from Naples), a red & white dress, a black & white striped dress, and so on. Do you roll? Do you flatten & spread? Do you fold? How do you pack? A few days before I leave I leave my suitcase open in my bedroom and every time I think of something I need to take I sling it in there. ( like adaptors) Last thing is wash bag ( I have a hanging one which is useful) and coat (red for this trip). Basically I colour code my life. When I did the Camino everything was blue & yellow, the colours of the Camino. When I went to Ireland I took all my green clothes ( I don’t have many). If I go on a boat trip I pack blue and white. #packing #colourcoding #travel #mysuitcase
Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicili Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicilian fish dish, baked on onions, studded with garlic cloves wrapped in mint leaves, then more onions, capers, olives, oregano & rosemary. Use a thick central slice of swordfish (where can I get that in london?). I’m tasting grillo & Nero d’avola wines @tenutorapitala about an hour inland from Palermo. The owner is the last count Bernard de La gatinais. He has 3 daughters. He’s French (Brittany) and Sicilian. He spoke about how difficult it has been for wine growers since lockdown- so many restaurants closed. Now they are grappling with high energy & fuel costs. ##winesofsicilia #siciliaDOC #wine #travel #sicily
I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I lo I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I love boats and water. #biennalearte2022
London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield wit London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield with mikawa citrus (cross between mandarin & pomelo) and home pickled green peppercorns on a plate I bought in minori Italy. #londonfood #citrus #sundaylunch
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2023 msmarmitelover