Paddington is going to have to take out a mortgage — the price of marmalade has shot up to £5,000 a jar.
In what would be the treat of a lifetime for the sandwich-loving bear, the jam maker F Duerr & Son has marked its 125th anniversary by producing the world's most expensive marmalade.
The Fine Cut Seville Orange Marmalade with Whisky, Champagne and Gold mixes the finest Seville fruit with vintage Dalmore 62 whisky from Whyte & Mackay (valued at £32,000 per bottle), topped off with a splash of Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 1996 vintage champagne and garnished with flakes of 24-carat gold leaf.
The resulting spread, encased in a custom-made crystal jar valued at £1,100, would cost £76 to cover a single slice of toast.
Mark Duerr, managing director of the Manchester firm said: "It's unbelievably good – we tasted it at a board meeting last week for the first time, and were amazed. The whisky comes through immediately. The champagne's more subtle."
The choice of the champagne was made because Churchill was passionate about both marmalade spread and marmalade cats. His favourite tabby, Jock, was orange, and his will stipulated that there should always be a similarly coloured successor at his Chartwell estate.
He would also wash down his full English breakfast with a glass of Pol Roger, on the grounds that: "In victory, I deserve it; in defeat, I need it."
The initial plan was to make the exclusive preserve a one-off production, with the one-kilo jar being auctioned on eBay in a month's time to raise money for the Manchester Kids charity.
However, Duerr's has been so impressed by the taste that it is considering turning it into a normal product, albeit with rather less rarefied ingredients.
The Daily Telegraph conducted an impromptu taste test, pitting a small tasting jar of the world's most expensive marmalade, valued at between £300 and £400, against competitors from Fortnum & Mason (Pale Navy Orange Marmalade with Rum, £5.90 for 340g), Wilkin & Son ('Tiptree' Orange Medium Cut Marmalade, £1.55 for 454g) and Tesco (Finest Fresh Fruit Orange Marmalade, £1 for 340g).
The consensus was that the Tesco's was the worst of the bunch, with the Seville oranges providing a slightly too bitter taste.
The Tiptree was a decent, solid, fruity spread, while the Fortnum & Mason offering divided opinion, being one taster's favourite but seen by the rest as too honey-sweet.
That left the Duerr's, with its strong whisky taste, as the clear winner – even the smell was enough to send some into raptures.
However, the tasters were unanimous that the price put it far beyond their price range.
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