A world first is taking place in the town of Yawatahama, Japan on 12th May – a Marmalade Festival, hosted under the umbrella of the famous Dalemain World Marmalade Awards & Festival, held annually in Cumbria.
The Dalemain Marmalade Festival has been championing the power of marmalade for 14 years, celebrating homemade cooking, friendship, citrus fruits and local communities. Each year Dalemain Mansion receives around 3,000 entries from over 40 countries, with huge numbers arriving from Japan. Owing to this enthusiasm, organisers extended an invitation in 2017 to the Japanese Ambassador, who visited the Festival as the guest of honour.
Since then the Embassy of Japan in the UK have been working tirelessly with Dalemain and the local government of Yawatahama to launch a sister Festival in Ehime, one of the most famous citrus regions of Japan.
Jane Hasell-McCosh, founder of the World Marmalade Awards said: “I have always been proud and astonished by the way in which the Festival at Dalemain has encouraged a global community of marmalade lovers, with people attending the Festival every year from all over the world to discuss and taste delicious marmalades and enjoy the Cumbrian landscape.
“The Japanese have always had a special affinity for marmalade and the huge popularity of the Festival led to us thinking that it would be wonderful to hold a similar event in Japan, where they grow such delicious citrus fruits.
“I am so delighted that this will finally be happening in Yawatahama, an extraordinarily beautiful part of Japan, from 12th – 19th May, and I look forward to tasting the best marmalades that Japan has to offer!”
Jane Hasell-McCosh will be visiting Japan this week to assist with the judging of the Awards. She will be joined by Marmalade Awards Head Judge, chef and writer Dan Lepard and long-standing Marmalade Awards judge and patron Michael Perry, who will be assisting a panel of chefs and citrus experts in Japan to select the first ever winners of the Japanese Marmalade Awards.
The Awards in Japan are being sponsored by Fortnum & Mason, who have been sponsors of the Dalemain Marmalade Awards for over a decade, selling the Double Gold winner each year in their Piccadilly store. They will be producing the winning Japanese marmalade, which will be sold both in the UK and across Japan, with proceeds from each jar going to the Yawatahama relief fund, which is helping to restore livelihoods after the devastating flooding in 2018.
The judging will be taking place this week, with the Festival launching in Yawatahama on 12th May. There will be a series of marmalade celebrations including marmalade tasting, cookery demonstrations, train tours, marmalade cocktails, a girl band performance and much more! The winners of the Artisan Awards will be announced on 18th May, with the Best in Show winner unveiled at the Homemade Awards on 19th May. Organisers hope that the Festival will be a celebration of both British and Japanese marmalade, citrus fruits and culture.
This Cumbrian Festival has already previously launched a sister event in Adelaide, Australia, and organisers are delighted to see the Awards spreading to Japan in what they hope will be the second of many marmalade celebrations to take place around the globe.
For more information about the Dalemain Marmalade Awards visit: www.marmaladeawards.com
For more information about the Japanese Marmalade Awards visit: http://marmalade-festival.jp/en/
