How to make Candied Orange Peel
Today I want to show you how to make Candied Orange Peel.
It’s an authentic French recipe that I have been making for all of my carriers.
It takes time to make, but it worth trying.
To tell you the truth, I have tried to skip the process, but it didn’t work at all.
This recipe makes soft and aromatic candied orange peel that can be use for bakings, or covered with melted chocolate, or simply as it is!
Let’s start a journey with me!
How to choose the orange
Because we eat the peel, you want to purchase organic orange.
In Japan, all the oranges are imported from United States or Australia, and these are all covered with antifungal agent.
I don’t want to take that kind of agent, I always choose safe product from our local farm.
Please find yourself a proper orange.
Choose a heavy for its size. And choose one that firm to touch and has a shiny skin.
If you are not sure it’s safe
Scrub the skin of the orange well with good amount of salt, and rinse.
This step will remove 39~79% of anti-fungal agents.
In addition to that, the boiling process would remove about 61~90% of anti-fungal agent.
I don’t think we should worry about it, if you are too sensitive.
It’s your choice which product to choose!
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Preparation
Score the orange peel to the white pith, making 4 cuts lengthwise.
Do not cut through the orange flesh at this stage.
Carefully peel off the peel and remove the orange flesh.
Eat the orange as it is, or top it with salad, or add to your dessert.
We are using the peel only.
I recommend storing orange peel in the freezer each time you have a chance.
Because it’s much easier and tastier, if you make candied orange peel in a rather big batch.
Pre-boil
Orange peel can be bitter, we should remove the bitternes by boiling and releasing in water.
But remember, we should leave some bitterness to it, because that’s the beauty of the orange peel.
1)Put your orange peel into a pot and cover with water.
Turn on the heat to medium, and bring it to a boil.
2)Drain and the peels back to the pot, cover with water one more time.
3)Turn on the heat to medium, when it reaches the boil, turn the heat to low.
4)Cover and cook for 30 to 40 mins, until very soft.
The peels should be very soft before put into the syrup.
The syrup would penetrate the soft peels effectively.
5)Drain and release in cold water for about 1 to 2 hours.
6)Scrape the pith with a tablespoon.
Give it a taste and adjust the water-soaking-time to the bitterness of your orange.
How to Cook
1)Put 1 part sugar and 2 parts water into a pot.
(The amount of sugar and water depends on your orange peels.)
2)Bring it to a boil on medium-high heat.
Orange peels go into the pot and cook until the mixture back to a boil.
3)Turn the heat off and cover with a parchment paper directly on top of the orange peels.
4)Let it sit overnight at room temperature.
The room temperature shouldn’t be higher than 30 ℃（86℉）.
In that case, you can store in a fridge.
At this stage, the orange peels are so soft to touch.
Take care to handle it.
5) In the next day…
Take out the orange peels onto a strainer, drip off excess syrup.
Bring the syrup to a boil and cook for 1 mins.
Bring back the peels into the pot, and let it sit overnight at the room temperature.
Soaking in the syrup that is gradually increasing the sugar content, keeps your orange peel soft and chewy, perfect in sugar content.
If you cook in the high-sugar-content-syrup, the moisture in the peels are all drawn out and make hard candied orange peels.
Repeat the process for a week.
How to store
You can freeze it with the aromatic syrup.
Add the syrup to your ice tea, it’s just wonderful!
Take out from the freezer anytime you want, chop into the desired size to your baking.
You can make, Orange Shokupan, Orange pound cake or anything you want put in!
If you want to use as dried Orange peel, cut into strips and line them on a wire lack.
Pop them into the preheated 150℃（302℉）oven, turn the heat off and leave it in the remaining heat for 6 hours to overnight.
You can coat with granulated sugar of melted semi-sweet chocolate.
I hope you will give this a try!
