About Us

Making marmalade is a love of labor.

Tim and I both grew up in berry-picking, jam-making households, where both parents worked together, preserving summer. My family picked berries out in Sebastopol every July, one of my favorite family traditions as a kid. My brother and I were always sent to bed before the kettle was turned on; no children were allowed underfoot with hot jam on the stove. I remember listening down the hall to my parents in the kitchen, talking and laughing while the jam boiled, and I knew I was missing out on a good time.

Tim’s family has their own jam stories and they still lament the lost batch of elderberry jelly back in 1981. Elderberries are teeny, tiny, bush-borne fruit, and quite a bore to pick. Making elderberry jelly is a time consuming project, particularly on a summer day with the kitchen thermometer pushing 90. While waiting for the jam to boil, Tim’s dad thought he’d dash up the ladder and give the chimney a quick scrub. (Theirs is a wood-fire heated home, and soot build up is no laughing matter.)

We all know this story ends in tears.

The jam came to a boil just as the ladder became disengaged from my father-in-law’s legs, leaving my mother-in-law no choice but to turn off the stove and help her husband, thereby ruining the set and creating elderberry syrup. But I give her credit. She thought a moment about letting him dangle up there in order to salvage a few jars.

The story of Kensington Marmalade Company begins with a box of grapefruit.

We’ve lived in Kensington for 11 years, and every year, we’ve received a box of grapefruit the first week of December, with no card or indication of origin. The fruit was glorious; giant ruby red grapefruit from Texas that we couldn’t eat fast enough before mold bloomed. Tim thought, next year why don’t we make marmalade out of it before it goes bad? So the following December, when the mystery box arrived, and we did just that: we made marmalade and gave it away as gifts.

Everyone clamored for more. And different varieties.

So we branched out to Meyer lemon, found in every backyard in the neighborhood. And Seville orange, when they came into season that year. Slowly but surely, we got the hang of it. Tim and I knew we were hooked on marmalade when we found ourselves jarring up a batch just as our guests were arriving for Christmas dinner. Really, who makes a batch of jam the same day they are throwing a dinner party for 17? (Apparently crazy marmalade people do.) To my credit, not only did we eat on time, every family member received a hand-made Christmas gift that year.

We use local fruit, often from our neighbor’s trees, always California-grown. We pick the moment the fruit is ripe and start making marmalade within minutes, guaranteeing the most intense flavor. While none of this backyard fruit is certified organic, it was grown with love, not petrochemicals.

And the mystery box of grapefruit? Yes, it still appears and we know who sends it. You’ll have to email us to find out…