Candied Peel
Even though this takes a bit of time (mostly down time cooling), I have to say it’s way easier than Christmas cookies and the results are stunning - each piece looks like a candied jewel.
This year I’ll be trying my hand at homemade panettone - which is my absolute favorite and Christmas wouldn’t be complete without it. I decided to try my hand at homemade candied peel for the panettone, and this recipe was the one I adapted. The peel turned out such vibrate colors and dipped in sugar (and chocolate if you wish) makes a lovely hostess gift. I have so much candied peel on hand now. It keeps for 4-6 months in the refrigerator so I know I’ll be incorporating into various recipes for pancakes, muffins, topping bowls of ricotta cheese with honey or even some Greek yogurt. If you have guests pop over, a few pieces of candied peel on a cheese board and on the table with dessert offerings is just something a little extra special.
I cannot stress enough how simple this recipe is, but it is helpful if you set aside a bit of time over 2 days. Otherwise, if you’re feeling ambitious this can easily be done in 1 day while you go about wrapping Christmas gifts and such. There’s quite a bit of down time while you wait for the syrup to cool or if you’re like me, cool it roughly 10 minutes and get it back to boiling again.
*adapted from: Sourdough Panettone & Veinnoiserie, by Thomas Teffri-Chambelland
6-8 oranges (or a combination of grapefruit, orange & lemon)
Stockpot 1/2 full of water
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950g sugar
700ml water
*additional sugar (or chocolate) if you wish to dip
Method:
Peel your oranges. It’s easy to cut an ‘x’ into the North Pole of each orange and slide your knife down the ‘x’ to get 4 segments from each. Set aside the peels. You can refrigerate or freeze the peels for another day to boil. I saved the peeled oranges and sliced thinly for breakfast and adding to salads for 2-3 days and they lasted just fine. *It’s important to decide if you’d like to keep the peels in large pieces or slice into thin wedges (this can also be done at the end before storing or keep as they are and slice just before using in a recipe).
Fill a stockpot 1/2 full of water and place the peels in. I used my pasta strainer insert to hold the peels submerged in the water. Boil for 2 hours. Drain and discard the water. Immediately cool the peels in ice water. Drain once cool.
In the same stockpot measure 700g sugar and 700ml water. Bring to a boil and boil until the sugar is fully dissolved. You can use a whisk to help the sugar dissolve.
Place the cooled and drained orange peels in a large, heatproof bowl.
Pour the hot simple syrup over the peels.
Allow to cool completely and strain, pouring the syrup back into your stockpot. (*I was impatient and let the syrup cool about 15 minutes between each boil).
Add 50g more sugar to the syrup and bring back to a boil. Pour over the orange peels again. Do this process of adding 50g more sugar/boiling/pouring/straining for a total of 5 times (steps 5-7).
At the end of 5 times you are looking for your syrup to be similar to the thickness of honey. As the liquid reduces, lower the heat. At this point, let your nose be your guide. Don’t allow the liquid to color beyond a very light amber. For me, I had to strain the peel and boil the syrup for an additional 15 minutes to get it to thicken to be closer to the consistency of honey.
Pour the thickened syrup over the peels and allow to cool completely.
Once cool it’s time to think about storage or rolling sugar. If you haven’t sliced them, you can remove from the syrup one large piece of peel at at time, and slice into thin strips or dice into smaller pieces too. Think about how you might use these in a recipe. I decided to slice into thin strips after cooking and store in sugar syrup in this strips.
Store extra peel in an air-tight container in the fridge, and submerge peels under the extra syrup. OR…decide if you’d like to roll some (or all) into granulated sugar and then dark chocolate if you like.
How to candy in sugar: place the strips of peel onto a wire rack to allow any excess syrup to drain until just warm after which the peel won’t be as sticky and the sugar will not adhere. After the strips of peel have drained excess syrup, roll them in sugar and place back on the wire rack to continue air-drying ideally for 24 hours (otherwise, they will become sticky and gloppy when stored together). Then, you can store in an air-tight container or dip them into dark chocolate and allow them to air-dry a bit more (I placed chocolate dipped in the fridge to set). These look stunning in a jam jar and gifted as a hostess gift or paired with wine or a dessert basket.