Photograph: Tim Platt/Getty ImagesWhen my son makes marmalade, he never warms the jars or uses circles of baking paper and cellophane – he just puts the lids on. It never goes mouldy, so am I wasting my time doing it the “proper” way? Dagna, Berkhamsted, HertsYou can’t get much sweeter than marmalade, and this is most likely the reason for both Dagna and her son’s success, despite their differing strategies. “Mould needs water to do its thing, and sugar binds to water.” She recalls a former student who, like Dagna’s son, simply ladled her marmalade into jars and closed the lids. “He’s more right than she is,” says Pam Corbin, author of Pam the Jam: The Book of Preserves.

Source: The Guardian January 20, 2026 13:54 UTC