Oh Lord, swalty
M&S has launched a Marmite Caramel Sauce. They have, alongside it, launched a Marmite Pecan and Salted Caramel Blondie. They have decided that this whole package is part of a flavour trend they are calling “swalty”, which is sweet-and-salty for people who could not quite be bothered to say sweet-and-salty.
Anyway. The sauce comes in a small glass jar, costs roughly the same as a good chutney, and is designed to be drizzled on ice cream or, more ambitiously, stirred into a baking mix. The blondie is a tray bake with pecan and a Marmite-tinged caramel running through it. Both are M&S exclusive, both are Christmas 2025 only, and both, by all accounts, sold rapidly enough that M&S have already had to restock twice.
The trend, such as it is
Sweet-savoury has been the fastest-growing flavour combination in UK retail for about three years now. Salted caramel was the gateway drug. Miso caramel followed in 2023. Marmite caramel is the inevitable next move, given that Marmite produces a deeper, more umami-rich note than miso, at a fraction of the cost.
What is mildly surprising is that the sauce is not a one-off novelty. M&S have clearly designed it to be used: it is thick enough to drizzle without running, sweet enough that the Marmite reads as a savoury kicker rather than the main event, and pitched at a price point that suggests they expect repeat purchase rather than novelty single use.
Whether anyone actually keeps buying it after January is the question. Most Marmite collaborations launch in a flurry, sell out the first run, get retired, and never come back. The peanut butter took several attempts to stick. The popcorn took a decade. If swalty caramel is back for Christmas 2026, we will know M&S have something durable.
Does it actually work
Yes, mostly. I tried the sauce on vanilla ice cream and on a warm chocolate brownie. On the ice cream it is, frankly, a triumph: the cold sweet base lets the Marmite character come through without overwhelming, and the salt note balances neatly. On the brownie it works less well, because the chocolate fights the Marmite for the same flavour register and they both lose slightly.
The blondie I have not tested under controlled conditions, by which I mean I have not bought a second one to verify the first one. It tasted, in the moment, like a perfectly good blondie with a savoury undertone that you noticed about three seconds after the sweet hit. Whether that undertone added or distracted depends, predictably, on whether you are in the Love camp or the Hate camp.
A small note on the marketing
“Swalty” is a coinage that nobody asked for. It is the kind of word that comes out of an agency brainstorm and that no actual human being has ever said out loud unprompted. If it survives past January 2026, I will be both surprised and impressed.
But the products themselves are well-judged. The sauce especially is a good idea: it gives Marmite a route into ice cream and pudding territory without the brand having to launch its own dessert line. M&S, for their part, get a credible Christmas exclusive and a small media moment.
Both sides win. The word “swalty” loses. Possibly we all lose, slightly, on the word “swalty”.
Where to find it
M&S Food stores only, both sauce and blondie, while stocks last. The sauce is also showing on M&S online with a small delivery markup. Neither product is, as far as I can tell, available outside the UK. If you are an expat reading this, sorry.
