Candied Orange and Grapefruit Peel Two Ways

 

My sister and I have been cooking together for many years. Put us in the kitchen together with our mother and we seem to have our own dance. We know where one another is going and what each other needs. One person  will get out an onion, someone else will cut it, and yet another one of us will clean it up; all without saying a word (except for rapid talk of movies, books, and life in general). There are occasions when this backfires and one of us throws away half of a tomato before its been cut because we are so deep in conversation.

None of us can ever seem to follow a recipe either. We have always found a recipe, combined it with another, and added in a few other things that just sound good.

In high school my sister and I saw a cooking show where they made candied orange peel. Without having a recipe we decided to make our own and immediately jumped up and got cooking. They turned out pretty good.

I was thinking of that story recently and decided that I should try and make candied orange peel again. Except I would try it a little differently and use cuties and grapefruit. I think this would be great with most any citrus though.

To prepare the candy you start by cutting your peel into sticks. This is best done by cutting the top and bottom off of your fruit and then making thin slices into the peel. Then you can simply peel off each section.

To prevent the bitter taste that orange peels have you will need to blanch the peels in boiling water. Simply drop the peels into water, let boil about three minutes, then drop into ice cold water. Drain and rinse the peels and blanch and rinse one more time.

To candy them you need to combine one cup of sugar and one cup of water in a medium pot. Bring this to a low boil and drop in rinsed peels. Cover and let simmer on low for one hour. When finished remove from pan and place onto wire rack to cool.

You can then finish your candy one of two ways. You can either dip it into melted chocolate or roll it around in sugar. Both ways are good but have a completely different flavor. Give them both a try and see what you think.

This recipe may sound like it has a lot of steps but it is really easy. I think you will enjoy eating these and serving them to your friends. They are very tasty and a great substitute to your typical candies. And now is the time to make them while citrus is in season.

BTW: I’ve had a recent schedule change so I’ve decided to change my posts to every Monday and Thursday. Just thought you might want to know:)

Tagged as: candied citrus peel, candied cuties, candied grapefruit peel, candied orange, candied orange peel, orange peel candy, recipe for candied orange peel