By 10am it starts to get busy as the press and the other judges arrive.The jars have been laid out, with one table set aside for the gold-winning @yawatahama_marmalade_festival homemade entries as they’ve selected. It’s getting very crowded and very exciting, with Michael Perry @watercurtaincave working with the organisers and volunteers to make sure everything is set out clearly.
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This is such a special moment because there has been so many entries and the quality is amazing. Most will be made with citrus fruits we’ve never tasted before so the guiding by the Japanese local judges and experts will be hugely helpful.
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Also, because citrus fruit grows easily in many parts of Japan it can be picked and combined in different ways. So you might get a marmalade that combines early unripened green fruit that’s high in pectin with late-picked fully ripened fruit that’s low in pectin but full of natural sweetness and fragrance. So many possibilities.
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The brilliant ball of energy that is Mayor Ichirō Ōshiro opens the judging, Ueki Imaoka from Japan’s Ministry of Finance (and key to establishing this extraordinary series of events) is there, as well as the director of the festival Mayumi Ninomiya, assisted by Mayuki Kobuko, and Syouji Tokuda, Hisaki, Tomoko and the volunteers; I say a few words about how the judging will be organised. And then we’re off on our judging way. What will we find, what winners will we discover?
