How to make candied orange peels

Isn’t baking your forte? Have you tried a lot of times but the result has been frustrating? Don’t worry! Here at LDV we always have the answer.

Ideal to decorate your mousses, your cakes (homemade or bought), custard or to eat them plain, candied orange peels add a touch of color and a nice citrus scent to your desserts.

We owe this deliciousness to the method that Arabs introduced in Sicily in the 16th century to preserve fruit. They used to make the fruit absorb a solution of water and sugar, and, being this latter a natural preservative, it preserved the extra fruit they had.

Nowadays, they are used in cannoli, in the well-known Sicilian Cassata, and reached northern Italy too: you can find candied fruit pieces in the Lombard panettone eaten in Christmas time.

What can be candied?

Citrus peels, like orange’s, lemon’s and citrus’s. Or even whole fruit, like cherry, papaya, mango, apricot, peach, and even chestnuts (hence, the tempting marrons glacés), and a root like ginger. You can also make candied flowers, like rose, violet, and mimosa, but know that they won’t be edible, but still wonderful to decorate!

Ingredients for candied orange peels

By following our recipe, you will realize how easy making them from scratch is.

Here’s what you need:

• 1 kg oranges (better if organic, as we are going to use their skin);
• 600 gr sugar, brown or white to taste;
• 1 liter water.

Preparation of candied orange peels

First of all, let’s rinse carefully our oranges.

Cut the top and the bottom off them, and then score their skin. Remove and cut it into strips about 1 cm wide. Now, plunge them into cold water and let them stay there for 3 days, but changing the water once a day.

After that, pour the water into a medium saucepan, add the sugar and bring it to a simmer. Let this solution cook for 5 minutes, after which put the peels into and let them cook at constant simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, making sure that all the peels are covered with the syrup. After this time, the peels should look translucent and glossy.

Now, spoon them with a slotted spoon and place them on a rack to dry and cool. Before that, you can also roll them in sugar crystals…you’ll see, they will look so beautiful!

If you are not going to eat or use them immediately, then store them in a jar and pick at them when you most want!

Sources

it.wikipedia.org - Canditura
worldrecipes.expo2015.org - Scorze di arancia candite
All images released under Creative Commons license.