Mandarin jam

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1.2 kg mandarin orange(s), organic, untreated
• 1 lemon(s), organic
• 500 g gelling sugar 2:1
• 200 g sugar
• 1 star anise
• 5 cardamom pods

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 5 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 5 minutes

First, wash and dry the mandarins and lemon thoroughly. Peel 5 mandarins with a vegetable peeler, cut the peel into thin strips, and set aside. Then peel all the other mandarins completely. Cut all the mandarins into small pieces. Be sure to remove the seeds, as they make the mixture bitter. Puree the mandarin pieces until you have a relatively fine mixture with a few pieces remaining. Add the lemon juice, gelling sugar, sugar, and finely chopped mandarin peel to the fruit in the pot. Mix everything well. Put the spices in a tea bag and add it to the end of the pot. Lightly press on the cardamom pods. Then heat the mixture while stirring and simmer according to the instructions on the gelling sugar package (about 5 minutes). I then did the setting test, and the jam set well. After boiling, remove the tea bag with the spices and fill the hot jam into clean jars (fill to the brim), sealing them immediately. Tips: If you prefer a more bitter taste, you can use more mandarin oranges with the peel. I’ve even made this recipe entirely with unpeeled mandarin oranges. In this case, the mandarin oranges are cut into the smallest possible pieces and not pureed. If you use mandarin oranges with the peel, you can also use regular sugar and cook it a little longer. The white skin of the mandarin oranges contains enough pectin to create a gel. The amount of spices can be increased to taste. Cinnamon might also work. From this amount, I got three large jars (300 to 400 ml), one small one (200 ml), and half a large one.