THE Duchess of Northumberland is aiming to spread the love with her sweet and sticky new business venture.

The Duchess, who last year launched a cocktail called the Dirty Jane, has once again shown her daring side by revealing that aphrodisiacs will form part of the recipe for a range of marmalades being made in her name.

She is now hoping that some of the money she makes from the preserves can be ploughed into the final phase of building at her Alnwick Garden project.

As previously reported by The Journal, the Duchess is working on a series of ventures as she prepares to stand down from managing the tourist attraction in 2015, when the site will be turned into a franchise run by an outside management company.

At the same time, she announced she was setting out on a £15m fundraising drive to cover the cost of the final phase of the garden, by installing a children’s play park and lighting scheme.

A company acting for the duchess, DCD Publishing, has now announced that a deal has been reached with The Mercers, an award winning company, for the production of preserves which will carry her name.

The first three products to be created will be a fine cut and a thick cut Seville orange and lemon marmalade, and a clear quince marmalade.

The trio have all been inspired by traditional recipes found at the Duchess’s Alnwick Castle home.

The quince is said to be based on one of the earliest known marmalade recipes in the world and all are being made available to the public for the first time.

The Duchess has now spoken of her hopes for this and her other ventures, revealing that aphrodisiacs will be a key part of her new interests and that she plans to put some of the money they earn into the garden fundraising.