Clementine marmalade with star anise and black pepper

Makes 2 medium-sized jars

• 500g clementines

• seeds from 2 lemons

• 1 tsp black peppercorns, pounded just enough to break open

• 3 whole star anise

• salt flakes

• 600g castor sugar (about)

• a small piece of muslin

1. Slice your clementines in half and then slice across the fruit into two-millimetre slices. Go a little thicker if you prefer a chunkier marmalade. As you cut your fruit, remove and reserve all the seeds. 2. Place your fruit into a bowl and add enough water to just cover it (about

550 millilitres). Gather the seeds you collected from the clementines, the seeds from the lemons, and the peppercorns, and use the muslin to make a little pouch for them. Tie this up and add to the bowl of soaking fruit along with the star anise and a generous pinch of salt. Leave this to sit out overnight, covered or not.

3. Measure the fruit, along with the soaking water and spices, into a large heavy-based saucepan. You want quite high sides as it will boil up. Add in the appropriate amount of sugar (120 grams for each cup of fruit and liquid), stir to disperse the sugar and place over a high heat.

4. Once the mix has come to a rapid boil, turn the heat down just a little and cook vigorously for 25-30 minutes.

5. Keep a close eye on your cooking marmalade as you don’t want it to boil over (I tend to give the saucepan an occasional jiggle in the beginning to make sure it’s cooking evenly). As the marmalade gets closer to being ready the mix will look more viscous, the fruit shiny and glassy and the bubbles from boiling will have an oily looking sheen to them and will start to slow a little.

6. The marmalade is ready once it reaches setting point.

7. The traditional way to measure this is to have a small saucer sitting in your freezer. When you feel the marmalade is coming close, add a dollop to the plate, put it back in the freezer for a minute to cool completely and then have a look at the texture. If it holds its shape and is jammy then it’s good to go; but you can take it a little further if you want a thicker marmalade.

8. The other way to test setting point is to use a thermometer. Apparently 104°C is optimal but I have had varying results with this.

9. Once ready, transfer your marmalade to sterilised jars, add the lid and allow to cool before serving.