Candied Orange (Citrus) Peel
4 oranges, peel of (or any thick skinned orange)
3 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar for rolling
or
8 oz chocolate for dipping
You can harvest the peel in many ways. Here are two I recommend: 1) Cut the oranges in half and juice them. Cut each half in half again and take a spoon to scrape the pulp out, leaving a clean pith. 2) Lop off the top and bottom of each orange (think of removing the polar caps where the stem and opposite end are) just to the fruit. Score the orange peel like lines of longitude every 60 degrees. Peel the orange and clean the inside of the peel with a spoon. (I generally don’t like to remove too much pith.)
Cut peel into 1/4 inch strips. Place peels in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Heat on high until water comes to a boil. Pour off the water. Repeat twice more. Combine sugar and water in the saucepan and bring to boil over high heat until temperature reaches 230F. Add peel and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer until peels are translucent (30 minutes or longer). Remove peels from syrup and roll in sugar if desired, and set on rack to dry for several hours. Once the peel is dry, you can dip in tempered dark chocolate - shake off excess, and place on foil, wax paper, or baking sheet to dry. Store in a tupperware, or if not chocolate dipped, store in sugar.
Here's a recipe for
Chocolate-Orange Marmalade (which is something to do with the very orange scented and flavored sugary syrup that's left over when you done making the recipe above)
makes about 4 cups
prep: 10 mins
leftover orange syrup from candied orange peel strips, ca. 600 ml
chocolate, 80% or more cacao, 250g
While the orange syrup is still warm, add the chocolate, broken into small pieces. Stir thoroughly, until the chocolate is completely melted and incorporated with the syrup. Fill into little jars and keep in the refrigerator. Use as a bread spread or filling for tartlets, crepes, etc.
Note: Use very high percent bitter chocolate even though you may not like it on its own. Since the syrup is very sugary, the bitterness from the chocolate/cacao is most welcome in this combination.
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