Tangerine Jam
Ingredients
3 × 0.5 l jars
- Tangerines and clementines 1.5 kg
- Sugar 1 kg
- Water 1 cup (200 ml)
- Lemon (small) 1
- Pectin optional
Step-by-step recipe
Preparing the tangerines
Use only ripe fruit for tangerine jam: bright orange, with no yellow patches. It’s best to pick fruit with a noticeable air gap between the peel and the segments, as it is much easier to peel. To boost the aroma, the fruit is often blanched in boiling water before cooking. That’s up to you: the jam has an intense, distinctive aroma even without this step.
Wash the fruit thoroughly and pat dry.
Pick out 4–5 small tangerines, remove the stem and the hard, pea-sized remnant of the stalk. Cut each of these fruits, peel and all, into 6–8 wedges.
Grate 2 heaped tbsp of zest (18 g) from the remaining fruit.
Most recipes cook strips of peel with the white pith removed in the syrup. I didn’t do that, and limited myself to a few sliced fruits and the zest.
Peel all the remaining tangerines and clementines and remove as much of the white strings as possible. Separate the fruit into individual segments.
Syrup and cooking
In a saucepan of suitable size, combine 1 cup (200 ml) of water, 1 kg of white granulated sugar and all the grated zest. Squeeze in the juice of one small lemon. Stir and put over the heat. Heat the syrup, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula.
The sugar won’t dissolve completely because there is too little liquid, but that doesn’t matter: the citrus segments will release their juice and add moisture.
Add all the segments to the boiling syrup at once and stir. Bring the syrup and segments to a boil, stirring constantly. It’s important that the sugar doesn’t stick to the bottom.
As it heats up, the juice from the segments will thin the syrup and all the sugar will dissolve without a trace. At first the syrup will be clearly cloudy and white, and a little foam will appear.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 20–25 mins, no more.
Once it boils, the syrup will gradually turn clear and take on a lovely yellow-orange colour. In that time the citrus segments will cook through, release their juice and soak up the syrup.
A separate word about thickness. Without pectin, the jam will be fairly runny. You can cook it down like a jam, but then all the pieces will lose their shape. Adding pectin makes it much easier to get a thick or even jelly-like preserve. Pectin is sold in shops as a powder or mixed with sugar and citric acid. The package tells you how to use it.
Into the jars
Wash the preserving jars. The given amount of fruit, water and sugar makes about 1.5 l of tangerine jam, so plan your jars for that volume. Screw-top jars are very convenient. Sterilize the jars and lids with steam or boiling water.
Pour the boiling tangerine jam into the jars, close with the lids and turn them upside down for a short while.
The jars can be stored in the pantry. Sweet tangerine jam is great for desserts and as a topping for pancakes and crêpes. It also makes wonderful toast for breakfast. A denser, jelly-like version, like confiture, spreads beautifully on bread or works as a filling for baking.
Calories and macros
171 kcal
100 g
- Protein0.5 g1% of kcal
- Fat0.2 g1% of kcal
- Carbs42.9 g98% of kcal
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.
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To Get It Right
Tangerines or clementines
Clementines for jam are less juicy, and their segments hold their shape better. A mix of tangerines and clementines makes the jam less dense but more fragrant.
Storage
The jam goes boiling into jars sterilized with steam or boiling water and is sealed right away; jars like these can be kept in the pantry. Once opened, keep the jar in the fridge.
Small jars as gifts
Pour the jam into small screw-top jars and you have New Year gifts for anyone with a sweet tooth.
Have your own trick for this recipe?
Questions and answers
How much sugar do I need per 1 kg of tangerines?
This recipe uses 1 kg of sugar for 1.5 kg of tangerines and clementines, which is about 670 g per 1 kg of fruit. Plus a cup of water (200 ml) and the juice of one lemon.
How long do you cook tangerine jam?
20–25 minutes after it comes to a boil, over medium heat, stirring constantly. No longer: in that time the segments cook through and soak up the syrup.
How do I keep the tangerine segments whole?
Cook for no longer than 20–25 minutes. If you boil it down further, all the pieces will lose their shape.
Do you cook the tangerines with the peel or without?
Most of the fruit goes in as peeled segments. Peel is used only on 4–5 small tangerines cut into 6–8 wedges, plus 2 heaped tbsp of grated zest (18 g), for aroma.
How do I make tangerine jam thicker?
Add pectin, as a powder or mixed with sugar and citric acid, following the instructions on the package. With it the jam can be thick and jelly-like, close to marmalade.