Candied Citrus Two Ways: Slices and Peels

Hello Darlings!

It’s winter- a season full snow, cloudy days, and freezing nights. However, it is also the season when citrus is at its peak- and I just can’t get enough! I have a huge sweet tooth, so adding sugar to a grapefruit is pretty much my ideal food! I love candying things (I’ve candied ginger on the blog) for just that reason- anything plus sweetness is a win in my book!

I’ve made candied citrus two ways, one to use up all of that peel left over form making citrus salads, an another for when you have a full on surplus of fruit! I used blood oranges, grapefruit, lemon, and tangelos.

Ingredients:

Citrus Rind or While Citrus Fruit
Simple Syrup (equal parts sugar and water)

Instructions for Candied Citrus Rind

1. Put a pot of water on the stove to boil.
2. Remove the rind from the citrus fruits you’re using, you can leave the pith (white stuff) on- it gives some extra oomph to your candy, but be sure to remove any lingering fruit pulp from the rind. I use a spoon to do this- super easy!
3. Finely julienne the rind, you want it to be super thin, while these will be sweet, they also have the tart kick citrus provides.
4. Pop the rinds into the boiling water, let simmer for ten minutes. This helps remove some of the bitterness from the rinds.
5. After ten minutes is up, remove the rinds from the water, lay on a drying rack set on a cookie sheet to let some of the excess water drip off, and dump the boiled water.
6. While the rinds are drying add enough simple syrup to the pot to be able to cover the entirety of the rinds (I used 2 cups sugar, 2 cups water) and let come to a simmer.
7. Add rinds back in, let simmer for about 10 minutes or until translucent.
8. Remove the rinds from the simple syrup, place them back on the drying rack, and let sit 30 minutes to an hour or until the fruit becomes tacky.
9. Add 1/2 cup of sugar to a bowl, toss in rinds a hand full at a time to coat.
10. Enjoy! Keep in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks. Don’t forget to save the flavored syrup!

Instructions for Candied Fruit Slices

1. Add three cups sugar and three cups water to a large saucepan and let it come to a boil.
2. Remove both stem end and bottom of your citrus fruit, and then slice the remaining fruit into super thin slices (some like using a mandolin for this.)
3. Place fruit slices in a single layer (ends can be overlapping) in the boiling simple syrup, and reduce to a simmer.
4. Allow to simmer for 40 minutes or until fruit becomes translucent.
5. Remove onto a drying rack placed over a cookie sheet, let sit for an hour or until fruit becomes tacky.
6. Gently toss with sugar.
7. Enjoy! Keep in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks.

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These candied fruit pieces are delicious in cocktails, over salads (or ice cream!), or oven on their own! Do you have a favorite citrus recipe? Let me know in the comments below!