Mandarin jam with lemon thyme and gin

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 600 g organic mandarin oranges
• 160 ml orange juice, freshly squeezed
• 60 ml lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 675 g sugar, approx., see instructions
• 5 g lemon thyme leaves, fresh
• 6 g apple pectin powder
• 50 ml gin

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest time approx. 12 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 13 hours 10 minutes

Weigh the empty pot you’re going to cook in and note the weight. Pluck the leaves from the lemon thyme stalks, chop them slightly smaller, and set aside. Wash and dry the mandarins thoroughly. Remove the stems and slice the fruit, including the peel, into slices about 0.5 cm thick. Collect any juice that runs out and remove any seeds. Bring the mandarins and orange juice to a boil in the pot and simmer for a good 20 minutes with the lid tilted. Remove the pot from the heat and chop the mandarins, not too finely, using a hand blender. You may still see some peel. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon thyme. Weigh the pot again to determine the required amount of sugar. I always make jams at a 1:1 ratio and had 675 g of the mixture in the pot, so I needed a total of 675 g of sugar. Add 500 g of this to the mixture in the pot, mix thoroughly, and let stand in the pot with the lid on overnight. The next day, mix the remaining 175g of sugar with the apple pectin, add to the mixture in the pot, stir in, and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally. Let the jam boil for about 3 minutes, then add the gin. Caution: It will foam! Mix the jam thoroughly. Remove the pot from the heat and pour the boiling-hot jam into twist-off jars. Notes: I deliberately wanted some of the alcohol in the jam, so I didn’t cook it any further after adding the gin. For children or people who don’t like alcohol, simply omit it altogether. When I make jam with herbs, I always like to let it steep for longer, hence the resting time overnight. The juice was from 1 lemon and 2 oranges. The amount of lemon thyme leaves corresponds to about 5 bushy stems.