Candied Citrus Peels Made Easy
Sweet Citrus Peels
After one bite of this delicious treat, you’ll never throw away another citrus peel! You only need four ingredients and saucepan to create candied citrus peels at home. Get your stovetop and sweet tooth ready to start creating this fun recipe.
Four Scores
To begin, you will need 1 pink grapefruit, 2 oranges, and 2 lemons, as well as 3 1/2 cups of sugar. First, you will need to score each of the citrus fruits in 6 sections for the grapefruit and 4 sections for the oranges and lemons, top to bottom.
Removing The Excess
Pull off the strips with your fingers and slide a small, sharp knife along the inside of the peels to remove the excess membrane. Peels will need to be about 1/4 of an inch thick.
Divide and Taper
Cut the peels lengthwise into long strips that are about a 1/2 inch wide and tapered on the ends.
Blanching The Peels
Next, put the peels in a 4-quart saucepan with cold water that covers the peels. Bring the water to a boil, then drain and repeat this process twice more. This step ensures that the bitterness will be removed from the peels.
The Peels Start Cooking
Remove the peels from the saucepan then add 2 1/2 cups of water and 2 1/2 cups of sugar to the pan. Bring this mixture to a boil and make sure that the sugar has all dissolved, then add the peels.
Simmer To Perfection
Once it has reached a boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and stir occasionally. Keep this heat until the peels have become translucent and syrup has started to form bigger bubbles. This process takes about 90 minutes.
Drying Out
Next, drain the peels and discard the syrup (or save for other delicious uses). Spread the peels over a nonreactive cool rack on top of a parchment-lined baking sheet. The peels will need to dry for 2-3 hours.
Time For The Sweet Stuff
Toss the peels in 1 cup of sugar, shake off the excess and store airtight at room temperature.
Bet You Can’t Eat Just One
Now it’s time to enjoy, serve them plain or dipped in chocolate!
Check out the step-by-step directions in this video!