Candied Orange Peel - Pub Peels

 

My candied orange peel came out all wrong.  You see, I wanted the candied orange peel to be smooth and shiny, like little sticks of orange covered in glass.  I envisioned my candied orange peel served in crystal and daintily eaten one at a time by ladies and gentlemen in cocktail attire. 

I ended up with pub peels (a term that I am proudly coining).  My pub peels are candied orange peels that are rough around the edges and more likely to be eaten by someone like me, someone who would do this while making them:

My good Twitter friend, Garrick_S says that this photo
makes me look like Homer Simpson.

What Does Candied Orange Peel Taste Like?

If you've never had a candied peel before, the whole concept of eating a peel may seem rebellious.  But like those who love to suck the marrow out of beef bones will tell you, sometimes food parts that you think should be tossed should actually be tossed into your mouth!  To make the candied citrus peel, you need to first blanche the peel four times (don't worry, I'll tell you how to do this below).  It's somewhat time-consuming (I did mine while watching an episode of Glee so the time flew) but necessary because it removes a lot of the bitterness from the peels. They don't taste anything like they would if you just took a bite into them.  Then, you essentially make caramel and let it stick to the peels.  You end up with a chewy, crunchy citrus caramel candy that still has a slight bitterness to it to cut the sweet. 

Candied Orange Peel (and Grapefruit Peel) Recipe 

I got the original recipe for candied orange peels from VeganBaking.net.   As I said above, I ended up messing up the recipe in a way that made me happy to have made the mistake.  Instead of the traditional smooth candied peel that the VeganBaking recipe makes, I ended up making crusty caramel coated peels.  Here's my adaptation of the recipe.

• 5 navel oranges
• 1 grapefruit (you could use all oranges or all grapefruit if you prefer.  You could also try this with other citrus fruit like tangerines or pomelos.)
• 6 C sugar

1. Cut the fruit in half and juice it. (You won't need the juice so save it to drink!)
2. Scrape out the pulp but leave the white pith.  It should look like the fruit in the crazy photo of me, above.  
3. Cut the ends of the oranges off to remove the rough parts of the peel. 
4. Cut the peel into slices that look like French fries.
5. Place the orange peel slices into a large sauce pan and fill it with water so the peels are covered.
6. On high heat, bring the peels to a boil, then use a colander to drain the water off. 
7. Boil and drain three more times. 
8. Place the sugar, two cups of water, and the orange peels back into the sauce pan on medium heat.
9. Bring the mixture up to 250 F, stirring occasionally (if you don't have a candy thermometer, just watch for the sugar to get thick and caramel-like) - about thirty minutes. 
10. Keep the peels on the stove until the only thing in the pot is thick caramel and peel - no liquidy syrup. 
11. Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat. 
12. Remove the peels from the heat using tongs and place them onto the prepared baking sheet or Silpat.  
13. Allow to cool and serve as a snack or cut the peels up to use in stollen (coming soon) or panettone.