Floral and brilliant, the scent of yuzu, a small citrus fruit with fragrant pores and skin and little juice, is exclusive. For those who may inhale the uplifting aroma launched by an opened jar of the yuzu syrup that I make each winter, you would possibly agree that preserving this seasonal citrus to get pleasure from by the yr is a means of bottling optimism. A spoonful of yuzu syrup stirred into chilled seltzer or right into a cup of steaming-hot water releases that blissful aroma and means that you can pause for the couple of minutes it takes to sip your drink. The approach for making it’s straightforward. It’s simply yuzu, sugar, and time.

The advanced result’s known as yuzu marmalade (transliterated as yuja-cheong in Korean), and when it’s steeped in sizzling water it turns into yuzu tea (yuja-cha, or yuzu cha, in Japanese), whose status is as a therapeutic tonic (however that doesn’t imply you may’t drizzle it over ice cream…).

Right here’s the best way to make it.

Pictures by Marie Viljoen.

Above: Ripe yuzu and clementines.

Above: Yuzu fruit with a jar of yuzu syrup.

No water is added on this syrup-making approach: Sugar attracts out the moisture from no matter it’s mixed with, and the result’s a taste that’s intense and concentrated. I don’t view these giant portions of sugar (equal volumes of sugar and fruit) with alarm. Sugar is an impressive pure preservative, and the completed syrup with fruit is deployed carefully, round a tablespoonful at a time. My very own yuzu syrup approach has developed so as to add time to the traditional fermentation interval of some days; I depart it on a countertop for as much as two weeks, so there are extra probiotic advantages to it, too. Or so I inform myself.

Above: Fermentation causes small bubbles to rise within the golden syrup.

Within the golden-hued syrup, the slices of yuzu flip regularly translucent, like candied citrus peel. They’re a delicacy in their very own proper. I add them to truffles and cookies, drape them over the frosting for seasonal baked treats, chop and stir them into savory sauces, whisk them into vinaigrettes, and add the items of fruit to trays of roasting root greens. Nothing goes to waste. Even the tops and tails of the citrus are used: slivered into matchsticks they make their very own syrup, barely much less juicy (as a result of they comprise no fruit segments), however powerfully flavored.

Above: Three yuzu syrup batches (the center jar is flavored with fir needles).

This system (fruit layered with sugar) can be utilized for any fragrant citrus, akin to Meyer lemons and clementines, in addition to some other fruit. As soon as your fruit of selection has been cleaned and sliced, and mixed with sugar, all you must do is shake the jar, and wait. Quickly, you will have that scented syrup. It’s greater than slightly magical.

For a late spring model of this syrup technique, see our Floor Ivy and Strawberry Cordial recipe.