Tangerine Marmalade – Tangerine Jam

Sicilian Ciaculli Mandarin Marmalade

Scyavuru's mandarin marmalade is a Sicilian fruit spread made from the rare, late-ripening Ciaculli mandarin. Sweet, aromatic, and with fine zest, it comes from a variety that Slow Food has included in its Ark of Taste – a piece of preserved diversity in a jar.

Mandarin marmalade from Scyavuru is cooked from the late-ripening Ciaculli mandarin, an almost forgotten variety from near Palermo. With a 65% fruit content and a hint of fine mandarin zest, it tastes intensely of ripe citrus, sweet yet fresh. It's a way to capture the scent of a Sicilian winter garden in a jar.

Sweet, aromatic, and full of zest

As soon as you open the jar, an intense mandarin scent rises up—sweet and floral, a fragrance that instantly brings sunny citrus groves to mind.

Spread on bread, the marmellata di mandarino tastes juicy, fruity, and zesty, with the full sweetness of late-ripening fruit and a subtle zest that provides a fresh note. It is rounder and sweeter than a tart orange marmalade, never overpowering, and lets the mandarin speak for itself.

The little secret of this recipe is the added mandarin zest, which gives the spread even more fragrance. Spread it on fresh white bread or sourdough, stir it into yogurt or quark, or spoon it over your fruit salad. Served with pancakes or on warm semolina pudding, it becomes a little Sunday treat.

The Ciaculli mandarin and the Ark of Taste

The Mandarino Tardivo di Ciaculli is a late-ripening, rare mandarin variety, with less than 100 hectares currently under cultivation. This makes it one of the rarest citrus fruits in Sicily.

Its home is Ciaculli, a small town on the outskirts of Palermo, located in the Conca d'Oro—the "Golden Basin"—which was once completely covered with citrus trees that glowed gold from a distance. Because the mandarin ripens on the tree for so long—harvested between January and February—it carries extra sweetness and a deep aroma. Its skin is thin, and there are few seeds in the flesh.

Cultivation and processing are strictly regulated and reserved for the Consorzio il Tardivo di Ciaculli. Because the variety is rare and threatened, Slow Food has included it in the Ark of Taste, a catalogue that preserves endangered foods and their diversity. Every jar is thus a small contribution to saving this fruit.

From Ribera to the wide world

The mandarins are cooked into marmalade at Scyavuru, the workshop run by brothers-in-law Rosario Tortorici and Nino Tornambè in Ribera on Sicily's south coast. They source the late-ripening mandarins specifically from the groves of Ciaculli near Palermo.

The two started in 2005 with a 16-liter pot and oranges from their own garden. In the Sicilian dialect, "Scyavuru" means something like "scent," and scent is the watchword for this mandarin marmalade. Today, their spreads travel to over 60 countries, and those who love the island's citrus groves also enjoy our fruity orange marmalade from the same producer or browse through our jams and preserves.

This jar holds a whole story: a rare fruit, a golden landscape, and two brothers-in-law with a love for their island. You can find more from them among our Scyavuru specialties. One spoonful, and suddenly winter tastes like the Sicilian sun.