Seville oranges are the marmalade maker’s fruit of choice, and La Vieja Fábrica makes its marmalade close to where they grow. The name means “the old factory”, a nod to the traditional recipes and methods the family-run company has kept over the years. Its marmalades are still made in its own factory, about 45 minutes south of Seville.

The thick cut is made to a recipe the brand says is more than 170 years old, using uncooked fruit and just a handful of ingredients: Seville oranges, sugar, citrus pectin to set it and a little citric acid. There are no artificial colours. In the jar it has the deep amber glow of a proper Seville marmalade, packed with generous, chunky shreds of peel.

The texture is spot on. The consistency is good, soft enough to spread easily but set enough to sit on toast without sliding off, and the thick-cut shreds give it plenty of bite. The flavour is bittersweet in the true Seville style: the sharp, slightly bitter orange comes through first, balanced by enough sweetness to round it off. There’s no bitter aftertaste, so it should win over people who usually find marmalade too harsh as well as dedicated fans.

We started simply, spreading it on hot buttered toast, which is where it shines. Then we took it into the kitchen and made it the star of a festive bake. Set with agar into a jelly layer between a light clementine sponge and a dark chocolate top, it sliced into clean layers, the chewy peel stayed intact, and its bittersweet edge cut through the richness of the chocolate.

We tried the brand’s St Clements marmalade alongside it too. It has a slightly looser set and, surprisingly, even more peel than the thick cut, and on toast it was the favourite. For baking, we stuck with the firmer thick cut.

Turn a jar into a Christmas party treat with our  Jaffa cake traybake recipe with marmalade, a light clementine sponge, a bittersweet layer of thick-cut marmalade jelly and a snap of dark chocolate, cut into squares.

As well as the thick cut and St Clements, the La Vieja Fábrica range includes a Seville orange fine cut, with thinner shreds for a smoother spread, and a Seville orange no peel for anyone who’d rather skip the shreds altogether.

Our verdict: A well-made Seville marmalade with a pleasing set, generous peel and a bittersweet flavour that doesn’t linger bitterly. The thick cut is an easy everyday choice for breakfast and comes into its own in bakes. If toast is your main use and you like plenty of peel, the St Clements is well worth a try too.

La Vieja Fábrica Seville Orange Thick Cut Marmalade and St Clements Marmalade are available in selected supermarkets, RRP around £2.50 for 365g.