Candied fruit is such an underrated detail of cooking that almost everyone overlooks how simple it is to recreate at home. Not only is candied fruit delicious, it is a delectable mix of textures ranging from soft to chewy. Of course, you could experiment with all sorts of fruits at home but candied orange is a particularly beautiful element to have in your pantry because of how versatile its uses are. They’re beautiful to top up on cakes or trifles and even better to finish off cocktails.
What’s even better is the fact that neither the process or the outcome requires more than three key ingredients. You could also substitute oranges for any kind of citrus fruit like grapefruit, tangerine and even sweet limes. Candied citrus peels have a special place in the vast and diverse universe of sugar-coating fruit. If stored correctly, they stay fresh in an air-tight jar for up to two months. You could also cover them with dark chocolate sprinkled with a bit of flaky salt for a special, late night solitary treat.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
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- 4-5 medium-sized oranges
- 1.5 litres water
- 1 cup sugar
Recipe:
- In a large pan, bring one litre of water to a boil and lower the flame until it is a slow simmer. Wash and slice the oranges into thin discs and place them in the hot water for a couple of minutes. This ensures that the orange slices lose any residual bitterness that might come from the peels. Adjacent to the pan with hot water, take some more water in a bowl and chuck in lots of ice to make an ice bath. Once the orange slices have been boiled for a couple of minutes, transfer them slowly to the ice bath in order to stop the cooking process.
- In a saucepan, mix equal parts sugar and water and stir until the sugar begins to dissolve. Place the saucepan on heat after stirring and avoid doing so once heat is applied, in order to prevent crystallisation. Once the sugar melts and becomes a syrup-y consistency, allow it to come to a slow boil. Meanwhile, pat the orange slices dry with a soft kitchen towel and place them gently in the hot syrup.
- Using a fork or chopsticks, turn them over to the other side after a minute or two and allow the sugar to evenly coat all the orange slices. Extract them carefully from the hot syrup and place them on a wire rack and allow them to cool completely before storing them in a jar. Use it to decorate cakes, layer trifles or parfaits or as a garnish for your cocktails.
Note: Do not throw away the residual syrup after candying the orange slices. Add some butter to it while it’s still hot and whisk constantly until the syrup becomes a silky consistency. Pour over pancakes or French toast and enjoy!