Lemon and Orange Mixed Peel
Lemon and orange mixed peel is a DIY recipe for homemade candied citrus peel. These fruit treats are blanched, steeped, and cooked in a simple syrup, then dried out and dusted with sugar. Use in cookies, cakes, sweet breads, and other desserts like French orangettes. This Christmas, make some for holiday gifts and your kitchen will smell heavenly—just like Grandmother’s.
Servings: 16 ¼-cup servings
Calories: 173kcal
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.
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.
- This recipe makes 4 cups or 543g of peel.
Nutrition
Serving: 1¼-cup serving | Calories: 173kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 0.3g | Saturated Fat: 0.02g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.04g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 121mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 42g | Vitamin A: 100IU | Vitamin C: 40mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 0.3mg
