I started off making Limoncello, then some Arancello and was so happy with the results I decided to get creative. Following the same process, I made this delicious Mandarin Liqueur. I think it is my favourite out of the three.
Clemencello
makes about 1.3 litres
1 litre jar
500ml Polish Spirit*
peel of about 5 clementines/mandarins
350g white sugar
350ml water, plus another cup of water
Wash the mandarins and dry them. You’re using the peel, so want it nice and clean. Peel the mandarins. Trim the white pith off the inside of the peel by slicing along the inside of the skin, so you have nice orange strips of the zest without too much white pith on them. Take your time with this as the pith will make your liqueur bitter.
Put the strips into the jar and pour in the spirit. Store the jar in a dark place and give it a shake every other day. Check after 7 days to see if it’s ready. You will know that it’s ready when the peels have gone hard and crispy and you can snap them in half. It takes 1 – 2 weeks.
Now make up the sugar syrup. Put the 350g sugar and 350ml water into a saucepan and put over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature.
While the mixture is cooling, put a sieve over a jug (at least 2 litres) and pour in the alcohol, straining out the peel. The peel can be stored in the freezer in a ziploc bag and chopped finely and put into cakes. Pour the sugar syrup in an give it a stir. The mixture should go all lovely and cloudy. Have a little taste and if you find it a bit too strong, add some more water until you’re happy with the flavour. The flavour will mellow over time, so keep this in mind. I added about an extra cup of water to mine.
Bottle it up and put it into the freezer, ready to sip on a warm afternoon in the sun.
*Polish Spirit is a very high alcohol content grain spirit. I made this with an 80% strength spirit. You could make this with vodka, but then it’s not technically ‘fruit-cello’ and you would want to use sugar on its own, rather than sugar syrup, to produce the same strength result.
mick says
Looking for a recipe which uses the fruit rather than the skin. Also would prefer to ferment a liqueur rather than add alcohol to it. That’s like a dodgy America recipe.
Abby says
that sounds nice, but is not how authentic limoncello (and it’s other citrus friends) are made
Stephen says
Thank you for the recipe.
I like the name Clemencello. I’ve made great limoncello, and versions with lime or oranges or combinations. Unfortunately I’ve had varying success with mandarins, with the final taste depending greatly on the type of mandarin used. Sometimes even the oils come out of solution to float on the surface. Limoncello is also affected by the type of lemon used, my suggestion is to use the large older varieties with seeds, since they tend to have the sweetest, most flavourful zest.
I typically start with 90% ABV, and use a similar sugar syrup to yours (mine is 1:1 by volume, so less sweet). I echo your advice to leave as little pith as possible on the “skins”, preferring to use a vegetable peeler, and washing the lemons is very important.
Thanks again.
Abby says
I used Imperial mandarins for this. Thanks for commenting!