candied orange peels
For many years we rented because we were in grad school, because post-docs are so short-term, because we lived in Southern California… All those years I cooked and produced vegetable and fruit scraps and bemoaned the fact that I didn’t have a compost pile of my own, in a yard of my own, to put on a garden of my own. Now that we’ve been in our own house for 2 years, I’ve been rejoicing in my own compost pile (well, compost bin - otherwise the winds would have my potato peels strewn across the next county) which sits in my own yard. I don’t have my own garden yet, but one day I will figure out what to grow in our 2-week growing season…
So it’s great that I have a composting system because I can reduce the amount of trash we take to the dump by half! Even so, I would prefer not to have to throw things away if possible. Since I was juicing oranges recently, a flash of brilliance hit me smack in the forehead and I decided to make candied orange peels. Mind you, I don’t dig on candied orange peels myself. I mean, I can stomach maybe one, or two - but that’s enough for the year. Jeremy on the other hand… he’ll sit there and eat one after another.
It’s a fairly simple process to make candied orange peels, but I never had a desire. In my pastry course, we did a massive candied orange peel campaign one night in a frenzy of garnishes and decorations. I loved that class, but it was fast-paced and because we divvied up the duties, I wasn’t able to get my hands on everything. All I ended up doing was peeling a dozen oranges and taking a ton of notes.
use almost every bit of the orange
Some recipes tell you to remove the pith, but without the pith you are left with not a lot of orange peel even though it may not technically be part of the peel. I think the concern is that the pith makes the peel bitter. You can remedy the bitterness by blanching the peels.
blanch the strips of peel three times
Simmering the peel in a sugar syrup is the next step. Some suggest 30 minutes, 45 minutes - basically simmering until translucent. I found I had to boil it for 75 minutes before I guessed it was translucent enough, but that could be my elevation (I’m sure it is).
translucent enough for ya?
What you get is a big gooey mess if you dilly dally too long. I set a few cooling racks over cookie sheets and lay the strips down one by one - not touching. Actually, I rolled several in sugar and then set them down to dry, but got tired of doing that and just let the rest dry as they were.
a cookie sheet is great for catching all of the drips
dry 4-5 hours
When the strips were done, I stored the sugar-coated (hell, they are ALL sugar coated - I mean the sugar-rolled) strips in a tupperware. I took the non-rolled strips and dipped them in tempered dark chocolate, which is one of Jeremy’s absolute favorite confections. Those require cooling/drying time on the racks. In hindsight, I probably should have set them directly on the baking sheet because I prefer the flush face to the rack marks. Good to know.
chocolatey
better than compost
Candied Orange (Citrus) Peel
4 oranges, peel of (or any thick skinned orange)
3 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar for rolling
or
8 oz chocolate for dipping
You can harvest the peel in many ways. Here are two I recommend: 1) Cut the oranges in half and juice them. Cut each half in half again and take a spoon to scrape the pulp out, leaving a clean pith. 2) Lop off the top and bottom of each orange (think of removing the polar caps where the stem and opposite end are) just to the fruit. Score the orange peel like lines of longitude every 60 degrees. Peel the orange and clean the inside of the peel with a spoon. (I generally don’t like to remove too much pith.)
Cut peel into 1/4 inch strips. Place peels in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Heat on high until water comes to a boil. Pour off the water. Repeat twice more. Combine sugar and water in the saucepan and bring to boil over high heat until temperature reaches 230F. Add peel and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer until peels are translucent (30 minutes or longer). Remove peels from syrup and roll in sugar if desired, and set on rack to dry for several hours. Once the peel is dry, you can dip in tempered dark chocolate - shake off excess, and place on foil, wax paper, or baking sheet to dry. Store in a tupperware, or if not chocolate dipped, store in sugar.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Wow, Jennifer, those look terrific! They totally remind me of the neighborhood candy shop where I grew up, I loved all the candied fruits. Mmm, and almond bark. Can you make that next!?! Thanks for the comment over at Herbivoracious too.
October 10th, 2007 at 12:22 am
Yes, those do look better than composte.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:11 am
Hey Jen! Wonderful candied orange peels. Wish I could have some… *droolz*
Neways, welcome to the DB club, girl! ;)
October 10th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Awesome! Thank you for the detailed shots of the process. Beautiful photos!
October 10th, 2007 at 9:59 am
okay, so now I’ve read 5 of your previous posts. I’m so glad I found your blog. Love your writing —thank you for keeping it real, sista-friend!
Also, I agree with what you said about not buying a camera/lens just for food shots. While I have a great respect for those who specialize in food photography, I cringe at the thought that as bloggers, our only interest is to take nice pictures of food. ‘kay, my rant is over now.
October 10th, 2007 at 10:34 am
love love LOVE your blog.
and from what i’ve gathered, you seem pretty awesome.
that is all.
(now i’ve got new recipes to try.. thanks for sharing!
October 10th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Haha I love your caption that says “better than compost.” Those look fantastic, and if you were curious, I’d have to go with the chocolate -covered over the sugar-coated.
October 10th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Those look absolutely gorgeous! I cannot wait to try to make them. I was wondering, I have also seen candied orange slices and I wonder if you know if the cooking process is basically the same?
I came accross you site from Tastespotting (which I frequent oh at least 3 times a day) and I happened to notice the other day that gingerbread girl had posted a TON of pictures I thought she was the author and was mildly confused when the links took me to other blogs. I guess that clears THAT up!
This does bring up a question for me though. I also write a food blog. I on a regular basis use recipes that I have found in other places. I do however, actually cook the food myself and take my own pictures. I then post the recipe as I made it (because I often make changes) but I always reference and give the link to the original recipe. In essence I guess I am sort of writing recipe reviews. My question is am I following proper “blogging ettiquette”?
So, I guess what I am asking is may I use your recipe and post it on my blog in this way?
October 10th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Michael - thanks for dropping by and sure, one day i’ll be making almond bark… check back in December ;)
Peabody - ;)
Maria - thanks lady! I love being a DBer and the gang is so nice!
HolyBasil - I really appreciate your comments! Your site is lovely - I like the design (I’m a sucker for simplicity and elegance).
Lindsay - you’re sweet and I hope you’ll post your results.
Hillary - you should see the compost bin now… and yes, both of us prefer the chocolate-covered too :)
Sindy - by all means, you can use the recipes or else there would be no point in my posting them! The motivation of my food blogging is to share with other people who love food, love to cook, or want to give it a try. Half of my ideas come from other bloggers (it’s torture when you see something really good and you haven’t eaten in a while…) I just do my best to credit folks when I can - it’s like science… you reference your sources unless you came up with the original idea or data. I suppose my take on the whole blogging etiquette issue is to give credit where it is due, share with others, play nice, and don’t take things without getting permission (text and images, etc.) As for orange slices… I have never tried it with a whole slice, but I did “candy” some lemon slices for garnish to a cake in this post. I just boiled sugar and water until it reached soft crack stage and boiled 5 or so lemon slices in it until they became a little translucent. Then I took them out - cooled on a rack, and popped them on the cake. I probably didn’t simmer them long enough, but they were consumed rather quickly. Hope that helps and thanks for asking!
October 11th, 2007 at 12:24 am
Perfect, just perfect! I just love your blog at first sight!
October 11th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Anh - thanks so much!
October 14th, 2007 at 8:37 am
[…] real butter: candied orange peels - chocolate covered orange peel is a family favorite back in my neck of the woods… so […]
October 29th, 2007 at 4:29 am
Hi Jen,
I finally made these yesterday (turned out great) but had a little problem: I had a lot of leftover syrup. Did you also? What did you do with it? I came up with the idea to add chocolate to it and it turned out great, too! I have blogged about it (don’t know why it didn’t pingback), if you would like to see.
October 29th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Hande - Oh, you are such a clever girl! I think your idea is wonderful. I actually used the leftover syrup with seltzer water. Just a dash of the syrup with lemon juice and lots of seltzer water for a nice refreshing drink. I think I meant to include that in my post but didn’t get around to it (for some reason - I’m usually blogging late at night and things leak from my brain…) Thanks for your great idea!
November 21st, 2007 at 9:17 am
these look fantastic! i wonder why i spend my money on them when i could actually make them? :)
on my ‘to do’ list they go.
another general questions: i don’t seem to be able to add you to my feed list (rss)? any tips on how to?
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Andreea - um, I don’t have the rss feed working at the moment. I’m not sure why, but haven’t had time to look at it (upgrading my server). Sorry! And the reason you might buy the orange peels instead of making them yourself might be because they are a pain to make? I just made a batch and didn’t temper my chocolate properly (my own fault) and the whole batch bloomed :( Unsightly, but delicious. I suppose we won’t be giving any of those away… (Jeremy is now overjoyed).
November 24th, 2007 at 11:08 am
After many years of using store-bought candied peel for my English plum puddings, I am thinking that this year I might make my own . . . in that case, would you suggest eliminating the dry sugar coating?
November 26th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Nancy - you know, I think you can safely omit the sugar coating. In fact, I don’t like it. I made another batch recently and the glaze alone, when it dries, is just fine. Plum puddings sound marvelous!!
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
mmm, Im gonna makes these in 2 weeks for the holidays and beyond. They remind me of chocolate covered pretzels and peppermint candies :oj
December 2nd, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Theresa - they’re a lot of work, but people are crazy about these!
December 12th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
finally found a recipe for these! but just wondering if you could tell me how many grams in a cup of sugar? thank you
December 13th, 2007 at 7:50 am
Jessy - I googled this since I don’t know it off the top of my head… 200g in one cup for SUGAR. Volume to weight conversions are dependent on density, so beware of that if you switch to something else like… marshmallows ;)
December 21st, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Hi jenyu, what do you do with the juicy oranges? would like to make a lot but too much leftovers to eat. thanks. great photos!
December 27th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Irene - I usually wind up with orange peels because I had to juice a bunch of oranges. But we also eat a lot regularly and so I’ll save the peels and chuck them into a plastic ziploc and refrigerate (if I’m going to candy them soon) until I have enough to make a batch of candied peels.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Thank you so much for this recipe! I tried making these last year, from a different recipe, and they were TERRIBLE! I just tried these tonight, and they were FABULOUS! I made them two times, and I found that when I blanched the peels four times, they candied faster. (I also live at a high altitude, and the first time it took an hour and a half) I absolutely love your site, and will continue to try your wonderful recipes! Thank you so much!
January 5th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Paige - Wow, terrific! Thanks for the tip on the fourth blanching, I will give that a try. The second time I made this recipe the peels were great and all of the chocolate bloomed :( I think tempering is the sticking point for me here.
January 24th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I love this idea and i’m very fond of these treats. I’m about to be given a car load (yes i said a car load, 10 shopping bags!) of fresh grapefruits and am getting nervous. I planned on making marmalade, but this would also be a great way of using the fuit. Have you ever tried this recipe with other citrus fruits? How long do they keep for?
January 25th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Jillian - I haven’t tried it with other fruits, no. Since we live in a dry climate, my orange peels lasted about 3 weeks (well, they were eaten before they went bad…) Don’t forget you can juice the grapefruits and mix the juice with simple syrup and some lemon juice and seltzer water for a delightful cordial.
January 26th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Oh, yum. I have a lot of oranges that are getting a little soft (I was just thinking they would make a wonderful snack, and I should hurry before they are TOO bad…), and since I’m out of cinnamon and can’t make potpourri, I was wondering what on earth to do with the peels. (I hate to waste.)
This recipe is certainly going to be fun to make.
But, I have a question; what type of camera do you use? I’m an aspiring photographer, and these photos are just delicious.
January 26th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Ha, well, now that I’ve taken some more time to look around your site, I saw your rant about cameras and computers and whatnot. x] So, I do hope you won’t be angered by my question in the previous post. ^_^
January 26th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Jennifer, this is exactly what I was looking for!!! Last time I cooked candied orange peel was about 20 years ago when my kids were small. The other day I bought some at Godiva (yum!) but I prefer them without chocolate… so I better make my own. I already pealed the oranges and cut them into strip when I realized that I needed to know how much sugar, water, and for how long…. well!!! THANK YOU!!
January 30th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Blair - No worries on the question. Folks ask all the time, so that is why I put it in the about page :) I hope it was at least helpful. I’ve saved orange peels and put them in a tupperware in the fridge for up to a week… I wonder if you can freeze them? I always get antsy when I have a ton of good fruit on the brink of turning overripe. I hope you were able to use your oranges!
Angela - you’re so welcome! If you don’t plan to dip in chocolate, then these peels are super easy to make. It’s the chocolate dipping that makes me insane :)
February 6th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Wonderful! Thanks for posting this great, straightforward method. My kids and I just made these with clementine orange peels. We ate a 5 lb. box of clementines over about a week, always just putting the peels into a ziplock bag in the refrigerator. A couple edges got a touch brown, but that was not apparent in the finished project. Thanks!
February 8th, 2008 at 10:13 am
David - wow, I never tried it with clementine peels. Glad it worked out!
February 18th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Thank you!! What a great site!!!! You have done a wonderful job explaining things clearly. Do you have any other ideas for chocolate covered ?????????? I wanted to make a gift for a friend that loves chocolate. These will work great. Thank you again for sharing your knowledge!!!
February 20th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Martha - well, I have dipped fresh strawberries, but that’s about it. I imagine you can chocolate dip just about anything :) Go for it!
March 11th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I was wondering, I know that potatoes have poisons while raw…
Is it safe to eat orange peel or do they have enzyme inhibitors and other things that make them inedible?
Just wondering.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Denise - I think orange peels are pretty safe. I try to use organic oranges in general. I use orange zest in a lot of cooking and have no problems with the safety issues. Just be sure to give the orange rind a good wash before you start using.
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:11 pm
For some pastry recipes my mom makes, you have to make a simple syrup whose flavor comes from boiled orange and lemon peels, honey, cinnamon and cloves. The peels aren’t part of the dessert, but they come out soft and sweet!
March 23rd, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Maria - yum! I use a similar syrup to make baklava and I like to nibble on the orange and lemon peel after it is removed from the syrup :)
April 6th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
oh my gosh! This recipe was fantastic! I tried it and my orange peels camr out perfect! I also tried it with lemon peels! So yummy.
April 7th, 2008 at 7:32 am
KayCee - great!
April 9th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Does the orange peel retain its benifical health ORAC points, and all its good phyto chemical etc… after all this cooking? Would love to know. I know the sugar is an off set for sure!
April 10th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Thank you! It sounds better than the one I lost years ago and have been looking for again recently. I also used it on grapefruit peel (with the pith off). Your photos are beautiful.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
I was looking for a recipe just like this. Those look absolutely delicious.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Boni - I doubt it, just because of the heat applied to it - it must destroy a lot of the vitamins and such. That’s my guess, but I don’t know for sure.
Shirley - yum, grapefruit! thanks :)
Harmonia - great, I hope it works for you!
April 16th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Hi Jenyu,
I am so glad I found your website. Last night I was craving candied orange peels and “voila” your web site appeared. I was in Paris just a month ago and bought some of them. Now I know why they are so expensive. It’s a very time consuming but it’s worth it!
I can’t wait to make some more of these yummy candies. Thanks again.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:49 am
I love it. Thanks so much Jennifer for posting this delicious treat!
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Tini - Great! I hope they don’t cause too much headache (they are a pain, but they are delicious!). I guess the large quantity makes it worth the trouble :)
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
[…] it’s not all doom and gloom, friends. Thanks to Jen, I had the inspiration and know-how to make candied citrus peels. Instant sunshine and a little […]
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I love the photo of the ‘drips’ … and the vivid color of the orange plus the smell of oranges….sigh… c’est super bonne!
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:57 pm
What a great tutorial! I’ve always wanted/needed someone to explain this process to me s-l-o-w-l-y. Thanks, I think I’m going to try these as a garnish for a wedding rehearsal dessert I’ve got coming up…
May 24th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Pixen - thank you!
Court - awesome, I hope this recipe works out for you :)
June 4th, 2008 at 4:55 am
Hey,
came accross your blog yesterday (through the link from Fanny’s foodbeam blog). let’s say I didn’t get as much work done as I should have! I’ve put you in my favourites.
I have been doing candied peels all year, ever since I came accross a recipe. I recommand trying it with grapefruit, it’s amazing (although my ultimate favourite is candied lemons, but you need a fair amount of lemons before you get a decent batch!)
Thanks for that blog, it’s really great!!
June 6th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Pomme - thank you :)
June 25th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Hi Jen,
just popping by to say, I’m on my third batch using your recipe. I’m visiting friends at the moment, and they’ve been commenting on how lovely the peels are… much nicer than usual actually! Your recipe seem to help keeping the peels nice and moist, the way I was doing before, they would end up drying up a bit, I brought a huge box a couple of days ago and they’re all gone!!
Still in love with your blog, as you can see :-)
June 30th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Pomme - great! Thanks and I’m happy to hear you are such a pro at the peels now.