Bargain

Times and tastes change; UK marmalade consumption is falling. No matter; it remains first equal with honey on my breakfast table. We make our own, but trying out alternatives makes life interesting, so we have been on the lookout. If there is one fact I knew about Scottish culture, it is that this is the nation of marmalade - I've even seen the documentary about the accidental purchase of unsaleable oranges that led James Keller to create the product in desperation in the 18th century (which may or may not be true)

I'm not sure if Mull is ahead of the curve or behind it, but we have not had much success in finding anything other than bland, national, mass-produced jelly-with-bits, or novelty jars with added whisky and spices, aimed at tourists.

Yesterday, however, we struck gold - at a grocery store a mere 2 and a bit hours drive away. If you could bottle authenticity, this is what it would look like. Authenticity is not the only value it encapsulates: it is made and sold not for profit, but for the benefit of Oban Hospice. Furthermore, the pillar of the community who makes it acts as a voluntary carer to the rather infirm shopkeeper, in honour of a promise made to his wife who died last year. I'm guessing that all but the least empathetic of purchasers leaves the shop with full knowledge that they are buying more than fruit and sugar

My bread was never so graced