The Christmas Season – Making Candied Citrus Peel

There are two kinds of candied fruit.  The fancy kind that takes a long time and is eaten as a sweetmeat, and the basic kind that is quite fast to make and is used for baking and cooking.  This post is about making the basic kind.

It is very important that one obtains fruit that have not been subjected to herbicides, pesticides, or waxing, since the peel itself will be eaten.  Organic is ideal.  I ran all over Oxford looking for them, and after three days finally found them at Waitrose in Headington.  The more different types of citrus fruit one can get the better, grapefruit for example are really nice.  I only found oranges and lemons, which I will have to make do with until I find a greater variety of fruit.

I bought six lemons and six oranges.

 

First, wash the fruit in hot water and scrub a bit with a brush.  If you have not been able to buy untreated fruit, scrub especially hard!  Now dry fruit on a clean towel, cut in half and remove the juice.  You can drink it or use it to cook the fruit in (later! not at first!)  Then cut each half one or two more times.  You need to remove the inside of the fruit, until only the peel (including the white bit) remains, and this is easier when the pieces are not too large.

After having removed the inside, cut the peel into pieces.  I usually cut pieces of about an inch long and a quarter inch wide (3cm by ½ cm), but suit yourself.  Weigh the cut peel (I had a bit over 500gr).  You need the same weight in sugar (castor sugar is best, I ran out and added some brown sugar).

Put peel into pot, cover with water.  Bring to a boil.  Throw water away.  Cover peel with fresh water, bring to a boil, boil for 15 minutes, discard water.  Now you can use the juice, if you want to!  Heat it up with some water, and slowly add the sugar until it is all dissolved.  Bring to a boil.  Add the peel, bring to a boil.  Turn off heat, leave peel to soak in the sugary liquid overnight.  The next evening, bring to a boil and simmer on a low flame for two or three hours until the liquid is pretty much gone.
 

 

That’s the basic recipe.  If you want to add a special touch, pour some orange liqueur over the candied peels when they have cooled a little, stir well and leave overnight to cool down.  The next day fill into glasses.  This peel will be quite moist, a bit like orange marmalade, depending how long you boil it. 

I mainly use this peel for my Christmas baking, like Dresdner Christstollen.  I crank it through my old hand-grinder, usually well mixed with almonds, so that the grinder has a better grip – also it makes the proceedings a bit less sticky.  However, it is also very nice in sauces and – if you still make such things – steamed puddings.

Happy candying!