Sicilian Memories with my Tangerine Jam
by meike peters
Last year I went to Sicily for the first time in my life. We stayed at a beautiful farm close to Noto located in soft hills between lemon, orange and tangerine trees. Every morning we got the most delicious breakfast served under pine trees with the old city of Noto in the distance. Freshly baked cakes, fruit, white bread fried in olive oil together with oregano (from the farm as well, the best oregano in the world!), it was heaven!
One of my many breakfast discoveries was a jam which looked like the golden sun and tasted so sweet and refreshing, with a hint of sourness and bitterness. Just divine! This jam was made of tangerines and I think I must have emptied jars of it during our holiday. As soon as I got home and tangerines were available I made my own! This year, I have to refill my pantry with my Sicilian jam.
Sicilian Tangerine Jam
For 4 medium sized jam jars you need
organic tangerines, rinsed, 1200g / 2 1/2 pounds
sugar 600g / 1 1/4 pounds
juice and seeds of 2 lemons
spirit to sterilise the rims of the jars
Sterilise the 4 jam jars in boiling water for 5 minutes.
Fill a large pan with water and bring to the boil. Put the tangerines in the water and let them boil for 20 minutes. Take the tangerines out and keep some of the water.
Quarter the cooked tangerines (don’t peel them, you use the whole tangerine!), take out their seeds and put them aside. Cut the lemons in half and keep their seeds as well. Heat up some of the tangerine cooking water in a small pan (it should come up to 2cm / 3/4″), add the lemon and tangerine seeds and let them cook for 5 minutes.
Shred the quartered tangerines in a food processor for a few seconds. Put them in a large pan, add the sugar, the lemon juice and the water used to boil the seeds. Bring to the boil gently (the sugar has to dissolve first) and boil everything for 18-20 minutes.
Dip the rim of your jars in the spirit and wash out the lids of the jars with the alcohol as well. Fill your jars with the jam and close well immediately.
Let the jars cool off and enjoy their amazing color – and the taste after a day or two as the jam has to sit a bit!
one of my favorite cold weather memories of living in japan is sitting with my grandmother at the kotatsu (low height table with a heated futon-covered bottom) and peeling satsuma mandarin, one after another after another. every satsuma since takes me right back to those precious times. i am going to make a jam out of them when the season hits. i will use your recipe. thank you, meike.
Hi Meike, I doubled up your recipe and it turned out so well! I was a bit concerned because the tangerines from my tree are seedless so I only had the lemon seeds to provide thickening but I am happy with consistency. My question is how long will the jam keep in the refrigerator?
Hi Amanada, that’s great! I recently used a jar that was from 2014 (closed, in the pantry) and it tasted fantastic. Once the jar is open I keep it in the fridge (even for a few months, you’ll see when it goes bad). Just make sure that you always use a clean spoon for the jam and that you don’t touch it with a knife with butter. When the jars were clean and well sterilized before you filled them, you can enjoy the jam for a really long time. Always check before you use it (a general rule for jam)!
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Hi,
I am just in the kitchen cooking the tangerine jam before the tangerine season ends. Now I am almost done just bringing to the boil gently the jam for the last 20 minutes. I have two questions. Why do you cook the seeds? I felt like doing something without sense just because strictly following the recipe. 😉
Second, I tasted the jam and my tongue is still suffering and burning because of the unpleasant taste of the peel. Will this go away?
Thank you!
Viele Grüße
Iris
Hi Iris,
You cook the seeds as they release pectin which helps to bind and thicken the jam. Citrus marmalade always has a strong taste of peel, sour and bitter, depending on the fruit it can be more or less bitter. I’m sorry to hear that you don’t like the taste. I’ve been using this recipe for quite a while and with different kinds of citrus fruits and I was always happy with the taste, even when I use bitter oranges which are the most intense of them all.
After the last 20 minutes the fruit and sugar will be combined. Maybe you will like the taste when the marmalade is cool. I would like to know!
All the best,
Meike
Good Morning,
Thank you! Everything worked out fine. I was actually wondering how it came about that it became thick just with normal sugar.
The colour is so amazingly fresh orange and I loved the smell when I was cooking the tangerine and almost fell into the pot. Maybe I was just expecting the taste of a tangerine which I usally dont eat with the peel and it was my first citrus jam. I grew rather up with Erdbeermus, Johannisbeerkonifitüre…
I will let it sit for two days and have it with pancakes and let you know.
Have a lovely weekend!
Iris
Good morning Iris,
I’m very happy it worked out! The pectin also comes from the tangerine’s skin and fibre but the lady who ran the farm where we stayed in Sicily (and who inspired me to make this jam) recommended to cook the seeds and add this liquid as well. I just trusted her so I never tried it without them. Citrus jam has one of these flavours one has to get use to because of the bitterness. I needed some time to get use to it as well, now I love and I empty the jars of my tangerine, blood orange and bitter orange marmalade quicker than the sweeter strawberry and plum jars. Please tell me when you’ve tried it!
I love a thin layer of the marmalade on a warm toast with butter or in muffins! Here is a link to my blood orange muffins, I mixed the jam into the dough (you can replace it with your tangerine marmalade):
https://www.meikepeters.com/wintery-sunday-morning-muffins/
Have a nice Sunday!
Meike
Dear Meike,
Just wanted to let you know that one of the jam jars is almost gone. We really enjoy it, as you said on a toast with butter. Guess what? It is the only jam which my super picky two year old boy eats. I call it Orangina-Jam. Have to try it with muffins.
Thanks for the recipe and your answers.
Liebe Grüße
Iris
Dear Iris,
I’m happy you enjoyed it! It’s so cute that your young ones likes it, especially as he’s just 2!
Enjoy the rest of your Orangina Jam! You should try it in the muffins!
All the best, Meike xx
Is sugar required? If must be sweetened, do you know if honey would work? I’d prefer not to use sugar or sugar-alternative. Thank you for sharing this recipe
Hi Marie, you can use honey yet I have never tried it myself. I would use a little less honey than sugar and keep in mind that the honey will add liquid (and flavor!). Let me know how it worked out 🙂
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