Candied Orange Peels: A Simple and Delicious Snack and Dessert Ingredient

I never heard of candied orange peels until I saw them in a retail package from Germany for sale at the Germany Deli store website where I frequently browse and purchase German foods. As you may well know, foods, even packaged foods, can vary substantially between countries. I enjoy seeing the different products available in other countries. Since my family is from Germany, I especially like seeing what's available there.

The candied orange peels I saw are called Schwartau Orangeat cubed, which are sold in plastic containers with a thin plastic film that is peeled off. The container is very light weight at only 3.5 ounces. I really couldn't see much of what was inside except for orange squares. I thought maybe they were orange flavored candy like marzipan, a type of candy made mostly of sugar and almonds, until I looked at the ingredients and read that they do in fact contain orange peels and sugar. This item was sold out so I couldn't see the price but I see them on Amazon.com with 8 to 16 ounce packages starting at near $10 with shipping which is a little steep in my opinion.

I didn't feel like placing an order at the time because I would need to place a large order for it to be cost effective and I didn't want to wait. So, I Googled candied orange peels to find recipes and make it myself as an experiment, the mad scientist cook that I am! First, I want to give a little background about the history of candied fruit.

I did a little research on candied fruit and found a ton of information that I never knew before. Candied fruit is also known as crystallized fruit or Glacé fruit and has been made since the 14th century as a way to preserve fruit, vegetables and herbs. The process is done on Whole fruit, pieces of fruit or pieces of fruit peels and generally takes several days to several months. It is a quite simple but lengthy process of cooking the fruit in sugar water, which gets as thick as syrup, repeatedly until most of the moisture is removed from the fruit and it is saturated with sugar that prevents microorganisms from growing on the fruit and spoiling it. It can then be stored for extensive periods of time.

More specifically for this article, the candied peel of citrus fruit is called succade. Common fruits that are candied (fruit or peel) include oranges, dates, cherries, pineapple, plums, peaches, apricots, pears, starfruit, apples, oranges, lemons, limes, clementines, ginger and watermelon rinds.

Besides eating the candied fruit peel as they are, what else can you use them for you might ask? Good question because I wasn't sure myself but, after reading up on it, it makes perfect sense. They can be used in cake (such as fruitcake), cake filling, pudding, breads, cannoli or just plain old coated with chocolate. The Food Network says that it can be stuffed inside of a date with an almond and coated with chocolate.

Making candied fruit is very simple. As I stated previously, the process is simply to repeatedly boil the fruit, in my case peel, in sugar water. It generally takes weeks or months to complete the process if you want to do it the way it was done for centuries. Today, we don't need to preserve it for a long period of time; we just want to make it right away or within a few days. The good news is that it can be done in about an hour to an hour and a half with a drying time of a few hours.

I started with a small quantity because I wasn't sure how good it would turn out and I didn't know what to do with the inside of the fruit because we are only using the peels. The recipe that follows will only make a small quantity but you can double or triple it as needed. Start small, especially if you don't know what you are going to do with the peels or fruit.

We cut the orange peels in long thin strips but you can cut them into small squares, like the type I found at the German Deli, before cooking them. You might even try cutting them into fancy shapes for a very decorative and eye-pleasing candy for guests during the holidays or any time of year.

The candied orange peel turned out great and my whole family really loved them. We want to try it again in larger quantities and with different kinds of fruit peels, such as lemons and limes. Now, on with the recipe!

Ingredients

3 Valencia or navel oranges (with very thick peels)
2 cups sugar
1 cups water

Peel the skin and pith (white part) of the orange in large pieces and cut into about 1/4-inch strips. Use the meat of the oranges for other recipes or just eat them.

In a pot or saucepan, cover the orange peel strips with water and bring to a boil and drain. Repeat a few times to decrease the bitter strength of the peels. Remove from the water once they are at the desired strength. (We did it 3 times and the orange strength is still pretty strong but a lot less than it was before the process. You might want to try 4 times if it's still too strong for you.)

In a clean pot, mix the sugar into 1 cup water and simmer for 8 minutes (230° F to 234° F on a candy thermometer).

Add the orange peels to the sugar water and simmer without stirring (you can shake the pot around so the peels are evenly coated) for 45 minutes until they are somewhat translucent. The sugar water will be a thick syrup by now so be careful not to leave it simmer too long or it will burn.

Drain the orange peels and save the sugar water for ice tea or something else.

Roll the orange peels in more sugar and dry on a rack for several hours.

Store the peels in a container of sugar.

Source: Wikipedia, Food Network, German Deli