Halve the mandarins and squeeze out the juice. At the end there should be at least 700 ml of juice available.
Cut a large piece of the peel very thinly from the orange. As little as possible of the white layer should be on the cut peel. Alternatively, a zester can be used for this.
Halve the vanilla pod and cut lengthways.
Pour the squeezed fruit juice through a sieve into a saucepan, add the sugar and add the star anise, the orange peel and the halved vanilla pod. Stir everything, bring to the boil briefly and then simmer on a low heat for about 15 minutes. Then take it off the stove and let it cool down.
Pour the cooled mandarin syrup first through a coarse and then through a finer sieve.
Now add the vodka, stir everything thoroughly and then fill into one or more bottles.
A great advantage of this liqueur is that it does not have to mature for weeks, but can be enjoyed straight away. And so it is also suitable as a last-minute gift.