Citrus and Honey Tea Jelly

Ingredients

• 2 Lemons (Juice and Zest peeled)
• 1 Orange (Juice and Zest peeled)
• 2 Orange Pekoe Tea Bags
• 100ml Honey
• 400ml Water
• 10g Gelatin Powder

Instructions

1. Bring the water to the boil, and add your tea bags, honey and your orange juice and peeled orange and lemons zest.  Let steep for 20mins.
2. Add a splash of water to the gelatin powder, to allow it to re-hydrate and “bloom”.
3. Strain your citrus tea mixture and reheat in a pan under medium high heat.  When simmering, add your gelatin mixture and lemon juice.  Whisk till the gelatin is dissolved and fully incorporated.  Pour onto molds and chill in the refrigerator for 4-6hrs, or preferably overnight.
4. To unmold, dip your mold in a bowl of hot water for 10-15secs and invert onto a plate.

Orange Syrup and Segmented Oranges

Ingredients

• 4 Oranges
• 100ml Honey
• 100g Sugar
• 50ml Grand Manier

Instructions

1. Cut the top and bottom of your oranges, and than use a vegetable peeler to peel off strips of the zest with the cut edges as a pivot for the peeler.  With a knife, cut the zest into thin strips (julienne).
2. Cut off the remaining white pith around the oranges and than segment them by cutting in between each of the membranes.  Reserve the segmented oranges for garnish.
3. Juice the remaining core of the peeled and segmented oranges, and pass the juice through a strainer.  The total volume or weight should be 200ml roughly 200g or so.
4. Place the fresh orange juice, julienne orange zest, honey and sugar into a pan and cook over medium high heat until the mixture is boiling and reduced by approximately half.  The consistency should be thick and syrupy.
5. Strain the julienne orange strips and reserve.
6. Allow the orange syrup to cool, once cool add the Grand Manier to finish.

To assemble

1. Unmold you Citrus and Honey Jelly onto a plate.
2. Flood the plate with orange syrup and decorate with your reserved orange segments and candied julienne orange strips.

Notes

• The general rule of thumb is 1g of gelatin for every 100ml of liquid.  However due to the lemon juice acting as a destabilizer, a little additional gelatin is added to the recipe to compensate for this fact.
• The lemon juice is added towards the end of the recipe in order to help maintain the “freshness” of the dish.  If added right at the beginning with all the other ingredients, the overall flavour would dull and become slightly muddy.
• The Grand Manier is added at the end of the orange syrup in order to help retain the raw alcohol flavour.  The bite from the alcohol will help balance the syrup and prevent the taste from being too sickly and sweet on the palette.  Alternatively, Cointreau, Triple Sec or Limoncello will be good alternative to use. 
• Depending on the size and type of your oranges, the volume of juice produced will vary.  If your volume of juice doesn’t match the recipe, adjust the recipe to a 1:1 ratio of fresh orange juice to honey and sugar.  For example, if you have 250ml of fresh orange juice, you should weigh out a equal quantity of sugar and honey (250g total of both combined).
• When picking and choosing oranges, try to seek out oranges that have a deep orange hue, feel heavy and are very aromatic.  The colour will help determine ripeness, the weight will help determine juiciness, and finally aroma will help determine flavour and sweetness.