Orange marmalade is an excellent ingredient in cocktails, it provides the sweet and sour part to balance a drink, and it adds the orange flavor, a classic complement, in different form and levels, in a huge amount of the most popular cocktails, like margaritas, cosmopolitans, corpse revivers, sidecars...

And that is exactly how Urban Marmalade Is born, as a cocktail ingredient.

I used this orange marmalade in a cocktail called Paesano, which is a mix of gin, sweet vermouth, Campari and this orange marmalade, all this shaken, poured in a mason jar and topped with a candied orange dipped in dark chocolate.

Except for the measurements, which are adjusted and the presentation and garnish, this is roughly a Negroni shaken with orange marmalade. What the marmalade does to the cocktail is to add texture, balance with some sourness, and complement the flavors.


Just as with the Negroni, marmalades and jams, when made with a low amount of sugar and a little higher amount of sour (lemon juice and peel) can complement a number of classic stirred cocktail, from Manhattans that can be shaken with cherry preserve, to spritzes in which the base spirit (Aperol, St. Germain, Campari) can be shaken with a marmalade or preserve and then topped with prosecco