Candied Citrus Peel
- Peel of 3 oranges, 2 grapefruits, or 6 lemons, removed in large strips
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup (I used honey)
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
Wash the oranges, then peel them (I used the meat of the oranges for marmalade).
Add water to cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain, cover with fresh cold water, and simmer until tender.
Drain, refresh under cold water, and remove any remaining pulp or pith by scraping it away with a spoon (now, I tried this with one of our "good" spoons and the edge wasn't sharp enough. So, I pulled out one of the spoons I set aside for my husband to put in his lunch box).
Cut the peel into 2 X 1/4-inch strips. Combine 1 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons light corn syrup (honey) and 3/4 cup water. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the fruit peel and cook very gently over low heat until most of the syrup is absorbed (if your stock pot isn't the best, like mine, place it on top of a cast iron griddle. This works great and have never had any scorching).
After about 12 hours the orange peels absorbed most of the sugar/water mixture. I drained the peels into another pot, thinking I could use the orange syrup for something (not sure what though).
To dry the peels, I propped up an old window screen I use for drying. I lined the screen with wax paper, poured the second 1 cup of sugar on the paper, scattered the drained orange peels on the sugar, and tossed them to ensure even coverage.
I put more wax paper over the top and weighed it down. It took about a week for them to get dry enough (the recipe says to let dry one hour then place in the refrigerator. I didn't like that, so let them completely dry).
