Marco Colzani - Sicilian Mandarin Marmalade (260g)

Marco Colzani's marmalade is built from mandarins grown and harvested in Sicily, at a 1:1 fruit ratio - 100g of fruit per 100g of finished product, with only sugar added alongside it. No pectin is used at all; it sets from the natural pectin already present in the citrus pith and peel.

Ingredients: Mandarins, sugar. Two ingredients, no pectin, preservatives, or added colouring.

Colzani, an enologist by training who moved from wine into fruit processing when he founded his Carate Brianza workshop in 2014, applies the same low-temperature, vacuum-processed method across his whole range - a technique chosen specifically to protect volatile aromatics that a fast, high-heat boil would drive off. For a citrus product, where the essential oils in the peel carry most of the actual mandarin character, that gentler process matters more than it does for most other fruit.

The result carries real bitterness alongside the sweetness - a marker of genuine peel and pith content rather than a marmalade built mostly from juice and sugar.

Best for: Spreading on toast or brioche, glazing roast duck or pork, stirring into a vinaigrette, or serving with aged cheese.