Making your own sweets at home has never been simpler than with this candied orange peel, at once sugary and gently bitter. The technique is a classic, tried and tested, and it adapts very easily to whichever citrus fruit you happen to have on hand. Just set aside a little time: between the cooking and the air-drying, the recipe takes its own pace.
Candied Orange Peel
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Ingredients
- 10 ripe oranges
- 2.5 cups organic sugar (raw sugar such as turbinado is ideal)
- 5 cups water
Preparation
- Score each orange with 9 cuts running from top to bottom, like the segments of a ball. Gently peel off each section and cut it into thin strips. Set aside.
- Place the strips in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Boil for about 10 minutes, then remove from the heat and drain.
- In a saucepan, bring 5 cups of water and 2.5 cups of sugar to the boil, stirring now and then so the sugar dissolves completely. Add the strips of peel to the boiling syrup, lower the heat and let them simmer gently until translucent, about 1 hour.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the strips to a rack lined with baking paper.
- Optional: roll the strips in a little extra sugar.
- Lay them out in a single layer on the rack and leave to air-dry for about 24 hours.
Tip
This technique works just as well with other citrus fruits — lemons, grapefruit, even limes — for a change of flavour.
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FAQ: your questions about candied orange peel
How long can candied orange peel be kept?
Properly dried and stored in an airtight jar, away from light and moisture, it keeps for two to three months without difficulty: the sugar acts as a preservative here. If you roll the strips in extra sugar, let them dry completely first, because the slightest residual moisture will make them stick together. In the fridge, in a sealed box, they last even longer but soften a little.
How do you make candied orange zest?
The principle is the same as for the peel, only finer. Take off just the coloured part of the zest, leaving the white pith behind, cut it into thin threads, blanch it for about ten minutes in boiling water and drain. Then poach it in a syrup of water and sugar over very low heat until it turns translucent — expect considerably less than an hour with fine zest. Drain on a rack and leave to dry in the open air.
What are the benefits of candied orange peel?
Let us be honest: this is first and foremost a treat. Candying replaces the water in the peel with sugar, so the recipe contains a good deal of it. The real interest lies elsewhere: you are making use of a part of the fruit that usually gets thrown away, and you know exactly what has gone into it, which is not always the case with shop-bought candied peel. Choose untreated oranges, since the skin is the part you are eating.
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