Marmite Lovers - Everything you need for a Marmite Lover - Love it or Hate it !!

At JB Silverware we sell Marmite with solid silver lids 125g and 250g to make a perfect gift. It's nice to start a collection of silver lid condiments. Silver lids are also available for HP sauce, Heinz ketchup, Colman's mustard, Rowse Honey Lid and Nutella 400g.

Marmite has been in the news after it was reported that it was banned in Denmark in 2011.

The is the fact it can be actually be sold but only if a license is granted by the "Danish Veterinary and Food Administration".

This is 10 things you did not know about the "love it or hate it" marmite spread.

1. It was invented by mistake. In the late 19th Century by a German scientist, Justus Liebig, discovered at the brewer'&yeast that it could be concentrated, they bottled and also eaten. In 1902 the Marmite Food Company was founded in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, United Kingdom, where the raw material was readily available from the town's brewers. The original recipe contained salt, spices & celery. Later added folic acid, vitamin B12, thiamin and riboflavin - these vitamins which occur naturally in some foods today - were added in high concentrations.

2. It is quoted that Marmite won two world wars. That's not strictly true. Marmite was included in the soldiers' rations in World War I and, with bully beef, Spam and condensed milk, it was popular with civilians and the military between 1939 and 1945. In 1999 the Marmite company did send extra supplies of Marmite to the homesick British peacekeeping troops in Kosovo.

3. Marmite is a French word. Well, the name came from the name of a French casserole dish called a marmite (pronounced Marmeet). In the Normandy port of Dieppe, a popular fish stew is known as a Marmite Dieppoise. Ever since the 1920s, the red and yellow label on the jar has had a picture of marmite on it.

4. Jail staff were not keen on it. There was an urban myth that it is banned in British prisons because it can be used to make hooch. In 2002 it was reported that inmates at Featherstone jail, near Wolverhampton, were using it, along with fermented fruit and vegetables, to make moonshine. In 2009 it was reported that inmates at Dartmoor prison were cooking up a brew called a Marmite Mule. But a Prison Service spokesman said on Wednesday it was not banned as it could not be used to make any alcoholic drinks.

5. There is now more than one Marmite. In New Zealand and Australia, the Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing company sells Marmite but it has added caramel and sugar to its version, which obviously gives it a sweeter taste. Sanitarium bought the rights to use the brand name back in 1908. in 2019 Marmite combined Peanut Butter in one jar and it's available in the supermarkets. 

6. Marmite does not just come in jars. Other products in the range which you might also hate are Marmite Mini Cheddar Bites, Marmite crisps, Marmite jumbo rice cakes and Marmite flavoured oven-baked cashew nuts. In 2019 you can now by Marmite crakers. 

7. Marmite used to be made in London (United Kingdom). The product became so popular that the company's factory in Burton-on-Trent could not keep up so they converted a former brewery in Vauxhall, south London to create a second factory. One resident of the area recalls on a local history blog: "When I was a kid we lived near the Marmite factory at Vauxhall. The smell from the factory was disgusting! People living close by applied to have their rates reduced because of the stench (this did fail of course)." The factory closed, probably forced to close in 1967.

Since 2010 the good folk of Burton-on-Trent have been living with this Marmite jar sculpture

 

8. A sculpture was built in 2010 Marmite's honour. Unilever brand, the conglomerate which owns the brand, spent £15,000 on a sculpture of a Marmite jar. The sculpture, nicknamed "Monumite", now takes pride of place next to the main library in Burton-on-Trent.

9. Marmite may keep away mosquitoes. Several newspapers, including The Guardian, the Sun and the Daily Telegraph, have claimed the yeasty spread to be the perfect defence against mosquitoes.

10. Marmite says "It's good for you". Despite the Danish doubts about the effects on people's health, Marmite could actually be good for you. Nutritionist Melanie Brown says: "Marmite plays such a useful part in many people's diet, and it's incredibly useful for older people who are short in vitamin B-12. It's full of folic acid, and there's lots of evidence that many women, young women of child-bearing age are deficient in folic acid."

Thank you to the BBC for some of this information.