Candied Orange Peel
Our Thoughts:
We made this in preparation for our Oatbread recipe, but it became a fast favorite at The Inn.
It’s such an easy recipe, with impressive results. The delicious candy bites burst with orange flavor, and can be used as a garnish, or added to a wide variety of recipes including breads, desserts, and many others. Perfect for the coming fall and holiday seasons!
Candied Orange Peel Recipe
Ingredients
- 2-3 large oranges, 1/4 inch of top and bottom cut off
- 2 cups sugar, divided in half
- 1 cup water
Cut peel on each orange into 4 vertical segments. Remove each segment (including white pith) in 1 piece. Cut either into 1/4-inch-wide strips, squares, or punch decorative shapes out of it. Cook in large pot of boiling water for around 15 minutes, then drain and rinse. We did this twice to be sure all the bitterness was leached out of the peel.
Bring 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water to boil in medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add peel. Return to boil. Reduce heat; simmer until peel is very soft and starting to turn translucent, about a half hour. Fish out the pieces of peel with a slotted spoon and set on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to tack up.
Toss peel and 1 cup sugar on rimmed baking sheet, separating strips. Lift peel from sugar; transfer to sheet of foil. Let stand until coating is dry, 1 to 2 days.
This recipe can also be used with great success to candy other citrus, such as lemons, limes, and kumquats (SO good!).
These look better and sound easier to make than a recipe I tried in the past. Just one big sticky mess with no edible results. I’ll give these a go for the holidays. Thanks!
I am SO making this for people for Christmas. :P
I’m trying this out with Ruby Red Grapefruit!
YUM! Be sure to let us know how it turns out!
The Candied ruby red grapefruit peels turned out fantastic. I used 2 large grapefruits peels. And I dried them on a baking rack over a rimmed baking sheet with wax paper under the backing rack. When they “tacked up” or the syrupy peels hardened a little after a day, I lighty sprinkled sugar over half of them. Then turned them over and repeated the process. I let them sit for another 3 days. They take a little longer to dry as they are thick peels. These are perfect sweet palate cleansers at the end of a meal. They are just the right amount of sweet, bitter and that unique grapefruit zing!
I took the half of the candied peels I didn’t sprinkle with sugar and dipped them in melted dark chocolate!
I will also be making some other citrus!
Could you clarify “tack up”. And for how long. Cool down? Harden?
Of course! Ideally, the candied peel will harden after being taken out and sugared. As far as tacking up, the peel in the sugar solution is very sticky. Covering it with sugar helps to un-stickify, and it becomes more manageable as it hardens. It cools down fairly fast, maybe around 15-30 minutes. The hardening takes a bit longer, and is subject to factors like humidity. The more humid the atmosphere, the less well the peel will harden, so if possible it’s best to put the peel somewhere dry to harden. Hope that helps!
Oh my! I’m so doin this next week!
First of all, I just have to say how much I love this blog. The recipes all look fantastic, and what a wonderful fan culture! You guys rock :)
I’ve just had a go with two yellow grapefruit rinds – looking great so far! I cheated and ate a bit before it had a chance to dry, it was super yummy. To speed up the drying process for the rest, I’ve left the sugared peel strips in a warm oven. (The oven just so happened to be warm because of a previous batch of Crusty Fresh-Baked Bread! That recipe is amazing too!)
Now I’m wondering if I can find a use for the grapefruit-flavoured sugar syrup left over from the peels? If anyone’s made this recipe with lemons, perhaps a leftover lemon syrup be used to top Lemon Cakes or something yummy like that? :3
I LOVE the syrup that’s left from candying citrus. I’ve been known to keep the syrup from making candied kumquats (OMGsogood) just to have on toast like marmalade in the morning. However, the fantastic sugary goodness is essentially a simple syrup, so my first inclination would be a grapefruit spritzer or cocktail. A little carbonation, a bit of candied peel garnish on a sugared rim… Decadent. :)
I could also see adding a bunch of fresh fruit back into the pot with the syrup- grapefruit, oranges, figs, etc.- and stewing it into a sort of compote. Noms.
Ooh, cocktails! Great idea! :D I just tried this recipe for the first time and couldn’t bring myself to waste the syrup, but what wondering what I could do with it.
The compote idea is great as well. And I’ve got persimmons sitting in the fridge — perfect!
We’ll let you know in a month or so how our persimmon wine has turned out- it could be just the thing for next year’s persimmons!
I’m making this for the Oatbread, and I have to say, it’s a bit of a struggle! Trying to get all the pith off is a nightmare and I shredded a couple of my skins. But it’s bubbling away in the sugar syrup now. I may do it in larger amounts next time to justify the bother it causes! ( I can’t source any bought).
I find that the pith isn’t usually a big concern unless it is very thick. I certainly wouldn’t fret over it if that keeps you from making it in the future! :) I do believe Amazon also sells some premade…
Do you have a preferred variety of orange? I tend to buy navel oranges so my kids don’t have to deal with seeds, but they seem to have a very thick pith. I will buy seeded oranges if need be and worry about the seeds later if it works better.
I don’t have a go-to orange, actually. I find that most orange peels candy very well, despite the pith. If it’s very thick, you might try scraping it down a bit, but don’t make yourself crazy. The boiling process eliminates most of the bitterness, although you may have to boil it a few extra times before adding sugar to really cut the bitterness from the pith. Let us know how it turns out!
I love this so much! I used clementines the second time I made it. The peels are so thin that they don’t really make pieces big enough to be “candy”, but they’re great for baking! I saved the syrup, and used it along with the finely chopped candied peels, to make wonderfully fragrant muffins. I’m going to try with lemons next! ^_^
I have been drooling over orange peel recipes for the last 6 months. Now is the season for oranges and I intend on making plenty and storing it.
That peel looks really inviting and delicious.
Chiming in because I discovered something interesting. If you add about 3 drops of cinnamon oil to the syrup, the candies orange peal comes out even more nummy. Also, if you add about 3 drops of vanilla to the syrup when candying lemon peal, you get something totally awesome. And if you add 1 tsp of salt when candying grapefruit peal, it’s a lot less tart and comes out fantastic and it holds that lovely red color better. Sadly, I have yet to make lime peals taste like anything but nasty, leathery, unappetizing strips of green ear wax.
Note: I added the salt to the first boil of the grapefruit, not the syrup. Sorry.
Holy crap! My late grandfather used to make these all the time when I was young and I always loved to have a couple when he let me. I was browsing through this website for a friend of mine who loves to cook and loves R.R. Martin’s books. However, thank you so much for this recipe!
Thanks for posting the recipe! I made some candied tangerine peel tonight, and added some cocoa powder/powdered sugar mix (left over from another project) to the granulated sugar I tossed them in, and mmmmmm…. Now to find something productive to do with the leftover syrup before I just drink it down…