Total game changer: housemade candied peels

R

richard-in-cincy

Well-known member
This year I made the candied peels for our baking. Fruitcake, Lebkuchen, etc. What a difference it has made in the finished product! The intensity of the candied orange peel in the Lebkuchen is out of this world.

The juicy candied grapefruit peel is just out of control. LOL I love it plain in the fat strips I made, or dipped in bittersweet chocolate as part of the cookie tray, but diced up in the fruitcake it is a total star.

I make some candied fruits and peels each year for the sugarplums after dinner. The candied pineapple minced and stirred into buttercream is very nice. This is the first time I've made it early and in large quantities to use in the christmas baking. I don't think I can go back to commercial product now after tasting these results.

 
Congratulations! Making candied peels has been on my TTD for years!

Thank so much for sharing your success, Richard! Wonderful! Colleen

 
Recipe please. I just made some for panforte and studiously scrapped away ALL the pith

then boiled it 3 times, then simmered it in heavy simple syrup. It worked out well (panforte is wonderful) but left me wanting more.

Most candied orange peel is thick and HAS the pith, so why did this recipe tell me to scrap it all away?

 
That's basically it.

I don't scrape the pith either. After the repeated blanching and boiling in sugar syrup, it becomes one with the peel and lends to the wonderful juicieness of the candied peel.

Gourmet Cookbook has 5 blanchings for the candied grapefruit peel, but I couldn't bring myself to do that because I thought of all the flavor that would be blanched away (they do it for the bitterness). So I did my usual 3 blanchings, always draining and rinsing well in cold water, and starting up the blanch with cold water. Bring to a boil for 1 minute. Repeat 2x.

Then as you said, simple sugar syrup to cover. Trick is not using too much because you want to cook it down to have the sugar go into the fruit and the water evaporate. But don't cook dry or it will crystalize. It should be thick and syrupy when you take it off the heat.

Then, arrange on racks to air dry for 8 hours, roll in granulated sugar, and pack into containers. For Christmas Eve cookie tray, I dip some in bittersweet chocolate and decorate the cookie tray with them.

 
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