Candied Orange Peel

I just don’t understand why people don’t use (preserve and use) orange peel. It’s good to nibble, and can be dropped in drinks, cookies, salads; In just about anything.

I have saved (it turns out to be) one pound of orange peel from Navel Oranges.

I empty them (one orange fresh today, several frozen from days of yore) into my rice cooker and add 4½ cups cold water.

The cooker is left on the “warm” setting for a half hour or so until the peels are thawed.

I brought the mixture to the boil, and let it simmer 20 minutes; drained and rinsed the peel under cold water.

A second time I brought the mixture to the boil, and let it simmer 20 minutes; drained and rinsed the peel under cold water.

I sliced the peel into thin strips.

I brought it to the boil (about 15 minutes) then set it back to “warm” from 7:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.

Here are the sliced chunks waiting for sugar and water to be added.

Back into the slow cooker with two cups white sugar and three cups cold water.

The sugar and water are added; I set the cooker on “high”.

To speed things up a bit I am using a large mug of water and a side plate to press the peel into the syrup.

Once the peel was rendered down and almost all the water gone, I spread the sliced strips onto a drying rack.

Next time I’ll retain the jelly-like syrup that’s left over, either to add to an orange marmalade mixture, or to add to my morning coffee.

Here are the strips in close up; I have arranged them cross-wise to maximize the number of strips I can fit onto my tray.

Into the oven on a low heat (120c) testing them every half hour or so until they feel dry, rubbery, non-sticky.

Now, I turned off the oven – then forgot about them for two days until I was ready to bake a loaf of bread! It doesn’t seem to have done them any harm.

I put a cup of sugar in an old ice-cream tub and used my left hand to pick and drop strips, one at a time into the sugar tub, and y right hand to shake the tub every four or five strips to coat the strips with sugar.

Here is the finished product.

Yum!

I got just under a pound of candied peel from this effort.

So. A jar for somebody’s Christmas present, and a jar for – Oh! I don’t know. Perhaps my bedside table.

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