Candied Orange and Lemon Peels

Stayed up last night working on a new sort of recipe for me, candy! Specifically, candied orange and lemon peels; recipe from Room for Dessert. My folks gave me some Meyer lemons from their tree as well as some oranges and I wanted to use them all before it was too late. The candying was a pretty straightforward process, but time consuming. First, I juiced all the fruit; no point in wasting the insides. The orange juice I put in a pitcher to drink. The lemon juice I froze into an ice cube tray. I can hang onto that for months and use it in other recipes. Next, boiled the peels in water to soften them up. This took about 30 minutes for the lemons and about 50 for the oranges. Then, scraped the pith off the peels and sliced them into strips and triangles. Then the fun part... boiling the peels in lots of sugar, some water, and a little bit of corn syrup. The recipe instructed to simmer until the temperature reached 225 degress Fahrenheit, at which point most of the water has boiled off, but the sugar hasn't quite gotten to the point of caramelizing yet. At that point, I pulled the peels out of the liquid with tongs (sugar burns are PAINFUL; I recommend avoiding) and set them out to drain for a bit. Lastly, a quick toss in some granulated sugar and you're done. Candied citrus peel.

The pictures below include the fruits mid-juicing, the peel simmering in sugar, two shots of the peel drying, tossing in sugar, and the final product. Candy. Woo!