preserved mandarin sorbet

preserved mandarin sorbet

If you are familiar with Chinese sweets, you may know about preserved mandarin/tangerine peel. It's similar to what some call crack seed snacks. This sweet and salty preserved fruit candy is a childhood favourite of mine. For November's salt-themed International Incident Party hosted by Jeroxie, I decided to go with this preserved mandarin peel idea. I thought about just making the sweet itself, but midway through, changed my mind, skipped the drying process and made a sorbet instead!

The brand of preserved mandarin peel I grew up with is Jiabao, so I had a look at their list of ingredients first to check what I would need to reproduce a similar flavour. I then came up with the following recipe(s)...

mandarin peels in salt solution. this was before the addition of sugar and licorice root powder.

Note: If mandarins aren't in season, oranges should be a serviceable substitute.

preserved mandarin peel

- thin pieces of peel from one big mandarin/tangerine
- 1/2 tablespoon coarse salt (I used coarse sea salt with no additives)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3 to 4 tablespoons mandarin juice
- 1 teaspoon licorice root powder

Pack mandarin peel in a small jar. (take care to use jars that won't corrode with acid and salt. I used a glass jar with a plastic lid.)

Add salt to the peels, then mandarin juice. The peels should be all submerged in the liquid. Shake to dissolve some of the salt.

Leave in a cool dark place at room temperature and shake the jar a couple times a day (or more often if you like!).

After a few days, retrieve peel from jar, still leaving the salt solution in the jar.

Bring to boil then simmer the peel in 1/2 cup water, 1 teaspoon licorice root powder and 1 tablespoon sugar until the liquid is reduced to approximately a quarter, i.e. 1/8 cup or 2 tablespoons of thick syrup.

Add the peel and licorice sugar syrup back to the jar with the salt solution. I let it cool before putting the lid back on and then stored it for several more days in the fridge, letting the flavours seep in.

So that's my very small portion of preserved mandarin peel. You can probably even use the syrup like a cordial and make iced drinks with it. Or, continue on like I did, and make the sorbet!

this refreshing mandarin sorbet will even replenish your electrolytes!

salted mandarin sorbet with preserved mandarin peel

1 + 1/2 cups mandarin juice
1/4 cup caster sugar
the salty-sweet peels and syrup from the recipe above
1 tablespoon triple sec (optional)

In a saucepan combine 1/2 cup mandarin juice and all the sugar and simmer, stirring until all dissolved, and remove from heat. Add to the rest of the mandarin juice.

Blend/process/chop the salty-sweet peels until they are tiny pieces. Add into the sugary mandarin juice.
Add 1 tablespoon triple sec as well, if using.

Slowly add in the salty-sweet preserving syrup, stirring, until the balance of sweet and salty flavours are to your liking - you can use just some of it, or you can use it all.

Freeze the concoction in an ice cream maker, if you have one. I didn't, so went the old-fashion route by beating the mixture up every few hours. I'm yet to perfect the art of making a smooth sorbet without an ice cream maker, as you can see from the pictures. However, I'm still patting myself on the back for this creation. The sorbet does have that preserved mandarin peel flavour to it and it was sweet, salty and refreshing. Mission accomplished!

salted mandarin sorbet with preserved mandarin peel

my fellow salt partiers!