I always maintained that the purpose of this blog was to be somewhere I could write about what I love. And yes you may argue that white wine, Sunday roasts and the Backstreet Boys feature heavily. How is it I’ve made it to ten years without a post dedicated to my first ever love; Marmite.
Of course, I’ve largely found it true that people either love it or hate it. People who love it love it, like would smear it on anything and bathe in it if they could. People who hate it despise it; Dave can’t even stand to think about it, let alone touch, smell or taste it. Apart from Carrie of course, who. after trying a bit that I left at her house, decides that she doesn’t mind it but has no strong feelings either way. There’s always on awkward one.
I’ve loved Marmite since I was a child and let me tell you, living on Dutch and Belgian Army bases meant a jar of the brown elixir wasn’t all that easy to come by so I dread to think the lengths my parents had to go to. Suffice to say I had to have it rationed to 1 portion day when I was younger, otherwise I would have genuinely had I for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even today, whilst I wouldn’t say I have it daily, I certainly have it at least three times a week. I used to take my own jar away with me when I travelled to work as one of the two hotels I regularly stayed in in Eastbourne didn’t serve it, and I crave it if I’ve been abroad without out it for a week or two. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s an obsession, but certainly an enthusiasm.
I’ve gone about collecting all the limited edition jars as they are released over the years and have a crack team of helpers always on the lookout for anything I may not have. I was never much of a collector of things, but as 4 empty jars grew into 8, grew into 16 grew into 32 (at last count – with one jar currently on the way to me) I guess you could say I now have quite the collection!
The whole point of this post, I’ll be honest isn’t just for me to be self indulgent about my love of Marmite. It’s to provide a quick handy list of all the limited edition jars that have been available over the years. I list I tried to find myself, and failed, so figured I may as well create one myself, since I’m pretty sure I have almost all of them collected anyway #smugface.
Without a comprehensive list to go off its hard to know what was released when and for exactly what purpose or charity but done my best to pull together what I believe to be a definitive list based on what I already have or can find online:
2002 – Zippy from Rainbow
2002 – Centenary jar
2007 – Guinness
2008 – Champagne
2009 – Marsden Pedigree (cricket ball shaped and coloured)
2009 – Horrid Henry/Perfect Peter collaboration
2010 – Marmite XO (extra strong)
2010 – Goodwood Revival (Limited run of 750 only sold at the Goodwood Revival festival’s 1960s ‘convenience store experience’)
2012 – Ma’amite for Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee
2012 – Marmite Gold (infused with gold flakes)
2013 – No Noise blank jar exclusive to Selfridges
2015 – Summer of Love/Summer of Hate
2015 – Christmas naughty/nice campaign
2016 – ‘Ma mite’ and ‘Pa mite’ for mother’s/father’s day
2016 – ‘Marmighty’ superhero campaign
2016 – 1920s Heritage jar
2017 – The Gene Project
2018 – Reduced salt
2018 – Rainbow jar for Pride
2018 – Trick or Treat jars for Halloween for lover and haters
2018 – Fight hunger with the Trussell Trust
2019 – 100 years of British Airways (a smaller 70g jar to make it travel friendly!)
2021 – Marmite Dynamite (chilli infused)
2021 – Hypnotic Spiral – turning haters into lovers
2022 – Marmite Truffle
2022 – Special edition for Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee
2022 – Marmite ‘Spread the Love’ in collaboration with Elton John
2023 – King Charles coronation