Clementine sorbet

Thoroughly scrub and dry 5 lb + 8.0 oz clementines (use organic ones if possible).

Scrape the edges of 9.5 oz lump sugar over the skin of the clementines.

Prepare all the sugar lumps like this.

Squeeze the juice from the clementines, you should get about 750 grams or millilitres of juice.

Put the clementine-flavoured sugar lumps in a saucepan with 1.1 oz jam sugar, 0.7 oz vanilla sugar and 1/3 of the clementine juice.

Dissolve the sugar lumps over medium heat, while stirring. Take off the heat as soon as the sugar has dissolved.

Be careful not to let the mixture boil, or the flavour will be lost. Ideally, use an electronic thermometer, if you have one, and do not let the temperature rise above 140°F (60°C).

Pour the mixture onto the rest of the clementine juice.

Add the juice of 1 lemon.

Put into a sealed container (such as a bottle) and leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Transfer to an ice-cream maker and churn.

The jam sugar contains a natural gelling agent: fruit pectin.

This is not essential, but it does make a smoother sorbet which does not go as hard when you put it in the freezer.

Without jam sugar, your sorbet will tend to "clump", like in this photo. This is simply a matter of texture and does not affect the flavour at all.

As with any sorbet, you need to take great care over the quality of fruit you use; use the best you can get. The very best will give you an excellent sorbet.

In France, the best clementines, in my opinion, are the ones from Corsica. They are easy to recognise in their boxes with their leaves and bottoms that are still green. Their slightly sharp flavour is utterly delicious.

Beware of poor imitations, those "clementines with leaves", which look similar, but there the resemblance ends, as the taste is nowhere near as good.