Lemon and orange mixed peel is one of those recipes you will be really glad you made from scratch. This recipe is easy to do; it just requires patience, as the process covers two days.
If you love mixed peel, make sure to check out our stollen and panettone recipes. Be sure to try our 9 British Christmas recipes as well.
About
If you have purchased store bought mixed peel in the past, and didn't like the taste, give this recipe a try. The taste comparison is like day and night! We will guarantee that your children will be sneaking pieces for snacks.
If you like British baking, you'll find yourself making this lemon and orange mixed peel at least twice a year for your Christmas and Easter baking. And as an added bonus, when you make this recipe, delightful citrus smells waft through the house--a total stress reducer.
If you're looking for other candied fruit recipes, make sure to check out our recipes for candied grapefruit peel, candied orange slices, candied ginger, and candied lemon slices.
Why This Recipe Works
- Score the fruit to make the peel easier to remove from the lemon and oranges.
- Leave the pith on, it makes the peel thicker. Blanching the peel three times will remove the bitterness.
- Let the blanched peel, steep in a simple syrup overnight then make another simple syrup and let the peel simmer for 1 hour or until it's jewel-like and translucent. This process will replace the moisture in the peel with sugar.
- Bake at a low heat 170°F or 77°C for 2 hours to speed up the drying process. To test for doneness, you should hear a clink sound when it hits the plate.
Ingredients
It only takes a few ingredients to make lemon and orange mixed peel, which are easy to find any time of the year.
- Fresh Citrus: Select medium to large sized lemons, oranges, limes, and/or grapefruit. For this post, only lemons and oranges were used.
- Granulated Sugar: White cane sugar works best. Don't substitute with brown sugar or liquid sweetener because they won't candy the fruit.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Mixed Peel
- Scrub and dry the citrus, then remove the peels from the fruit. Cut each piece into ¼ to ⅛ inch strips, leaving the pith on. (image 1)
- Put the peel into a pot and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes and drain. Repeat two more times, reserving ½ cup of the citrus liquid on the last time. This process is called blanching, which reduces the bitterness. (image 2)
- Make a sugar syrup by combining 1 cup of water with 1 cup of sugar. Stir over medium high heat until the sugar is dissolved, then bring it to a boil. Remove from heat. (image 3)
- Add the peel to the simple syrup. Press it down with a large spoon, so the it is submerged into the sugar syrup. Cover and let it steep in the sugar syrup for at least 10 hours or overnight, then drain. (image 4)
- Make another simple syrup and simmer the peel in it for 1 hour, or until it's jewel-like and translucent. Drain and place on two wire cooling racks set over baking trays to catch any drips. Bake for 45 minutes at 170F. (image 5)
- Once it has dried out for a while, but is still tacky, toss it in a bowl or on a baking tray with white granulated sugar. (image 6)
- Let it finish drying out on the wire cooling rack. If you want to speed up the drying process, bake in a 170°F oven for 1 hour 15 minutes. (image 7)
- To test for doneness, drop a piece onto a plate. You should hear a clink when it hits the plate. If not, bake it longer, and when it is sufficiently dried, take it out of the oven to cool. (image 8)
- Enjoy the lemon and orange mixed peel as candy or in your favorite holiday recipe. (image 9)
Recipe FAQs
If you can't find it at the grocery store or haven't the time to make mixed peel, fresh citrus zest can be a substitute in yeast breads, or for certain recipes, use good quality marmalade.
Mixed peel is another word for candied citrus peel, usually made from lemons and oranges, and is commonly found as an ingredient in British baking for Christmas cake, hot cross buns, and Dundee cake.
Historically, it was made to preserve the citrus peels, giving them a longer shelf life and eliminating waste. The citrus peel is blanched, steeped, and cooked in a sugar syrup until the sugar replaces the moisture in the peel. It is then dried out and tossed in sugar.
The main reason orange peels are bitter is they haven't been boiled enough times to remove the bitterness. As a rule of thumb, grapefruit and citron are boiled 5 times, lemon and lime peels 3 times, and oranges twice. The pith is the part of the citrus peel that makes it bitter, so you could use a sharp Y-shaped peeler to remove only the orange peel, but it would result in thinner mixed peel.
Mixed peel can be frozen for up to 1 year in an airtight freezer container or a plastic freezer bag.
Serve
There's lots of delicious ways to enjoy mixed peel! We love putting it in hot cross buns, granola, cookies, or our Christmas fruitcake. Check out our post on how to decorate a British Christmas cake!
Want to make other types of candied fruit? Try our recipes for candied orange slices, candied lemon slices, candied ginger, and candied grapefruit peels.
Expert Tips
- Buy organic citrus, if possible. If not, scrub the citrus well to take off chemicals and wax.
- Score the rind before peeling it to make it easier to remove.
- Leave on the pith; it yields a thicker piece of fruit. Blanching removes the bitterness.
- Blanch orange peels twice, lemon and lime peels three times, and grapefruit and citron five times. These other fruit peels are more bitter than orange peels, and need more blanching time.
- Keep the leftover orange and lemon simple syrup for drinks, a poke cake, or a citrus curd.
- High humidity or short on time? Bake for two hours, or until dry, at a low temperature (170°F).
- Test for doneness by dropping the dried fruit on a plate. It should make a clinking sound when it is dropped.
This recipe has been inspired by New Zealander Tricia Curtis' recipe on her blog Naturally by Trisha.
Other Candied Fruit Recipes
Recipe
Lemon and Orange Mixed Peel
Ingredients
- 5 medium to large lemons
- 5 medium to large oranges, navel
- 3 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Scrub the lemon and orange rinds to remove wax and chemicals. Score the peels with a sharp knife into eight pieces, then peel. Cut the peel into strips about ¼ to ⅛ inch wide.
- Blanch #1: Put it in a saucepan and cover with water. Boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Drain off the water. This is the blanching part.
- Repeat step #2 two more times. Put the peel in a bowl. The each time you blanch it some of the bitterness is removed. This is why you need to blanch grapefruit and citron more than oranges or lemons.
- Simple Syrup #1: Stir together 1 cup of filtered water, and 1 cup of sugar in the saucepan. Stir the mixture to dissolve the sugar, then bring it to a boil. Dump the peel into the boiling syrup, remove from the heat, and leave it to steep with the lid on for a minimum of 10 hours. Drain. Some of the sugar syrup will have been absorbed into the outer skin, but you will still have most of the liquid in the pot to drain off.
- Simple Syrup #2: Make another simple syrup by adding 1 cup sugar to 1 cup filtered water. Gently stir the mixture over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and put the steeped peel back into the pot. Simmer for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. You want it to be jewel-like and translucent.
- Drain the fruit and spread it out on two wire cooling racks that are placed over parchment - lined cookie sheets. Cook for 45 minutes at 170°F or 77°C. When it is still tacky, toss the peel in a bowl with 1 cup of granulated sugar.
- Bake for another 1 hour 15 minutes to dry it out. Allow to cool; it will harden up as it cools. The finished product should be hard enough to make a sharp plink sound when it's dropped on a plate.
Video
Notes
- To make the rind easier to remove, score it before peeling.
- To have a thicker piece of fruit leave on the pith. The blanching process will remove the bitterness.
- Blanch grapefruit and citron five times, lemon and lime peels three times, and oranges two times.
- Use the leftover simple syrup for drinks, a poke cake, or a citrus curd.
- Keep the peel in an airtight container with extra sugar and keep in a cool, dry environment for a few days, in the fridge for up to a month, or in the freezer for up to 1 year.
Nutrition
Serving sizes and nutritional information are only an estimate and may vary from your results.
Jill McMaster
I first made this candied peel a few years ago, then lost the recipe and have once again found it. In between years I made other candied peel recipes but this one is the best. I personally don't leave as much pith as in the picture but that's just because that's the way I like it. I have given this peel to friends who have said they don't like peel but once they try this they have been converted. I eat it like sweets!
Emma Fajcz
That's wonderful to hear, Jill! We're so happy that you and your friends enjoy the peel.
Cay
In the video it says bake for 2 hours at 170. In the written recipe it says to bake for 45 minutes then sugar and put back in oven. Which is correct
Emma Fajcz
Cay, The written recipe in the recipe card and the instructions with the step by step photos in the recipe blog post are more accurate, because the video leaves out putting on the extra sugar, but either way will work. It's up to you and how much sugar you want on them. Please let us know how they turned out.
Denise
Hi Emma! Really looking forward to putting this in my Christmas cake! Can I use a dehydrator instead of the oven to dry the peel? Thanks
Emma
Denise, We have never used a dehydrator for this recipe, but I don't see why you couldn't. Please, let us know how it turned out!
Denise
Sorry I left this a while, but yes it did work perfectly, so we’ll I did it again this year! Great recipe, thank you!
Emma Fajcz
You're welcome. That's wonderful to hear, Denise! So happy that you've enjoyed this recipe more than once.
Beth
This is the perfect addition to Christmas baking! The sugary peels are zesty, and they're crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Emma
Thank you, Beth! We're glad you enjoy this mixed peel!
Alex
The lemon peel is tart, and the clumps of sugar balance out the tartness. The orange peel is my favorite, it is citrusy, and love the chewiness of the peel, it's yummy!
🍊🍋 ❤️
Emma
Thank you, Alex! We are glad that you enjoyed the mixed peel so much!
Mauricio
This was incredibly delicious, I’m making a British recipe soon and I needed this in purée so I decided to embark on this project. My experience was better with the oven, baking them 30 min at a time at 170F. Perfect results! It clinked! Very grateful for this recipe!
Emma
You are very welcome, Mauricio! So glad you enjoyed the peel.
Megan Burmester
Very easy recipe! Thank you!
Emma
Thank you, Megan! Thanks for making our recipe.