Candied orange peel

I blame it all on Missie Lizzie from Me and my shadow blog. She has posted a lush-looking photo of the jar with homemade candied orange peel, and I was inspired to make my own batch.

Let me warn you, though the end result is utterly delicious, it is a quite time-consuming process. I tend to use the grated orange peel for all sorts of cakes, as it adds a fabulous aroma and zesty flavour to the baked goodies. Thankfully, my guys enjoy a freshly squeezed orange juice, so we are not short of the orange peel.

For a jar of candied orange peel you will need

4-5 oranges
1/2 mug of granulated sugar
+ caster sugar

I am retelling Missie Lizzie's recipe in my own words, but if you want to read her post please click on the following link.
First remove the orange skin by scoring it with a sharp knife, like drawing the segments. Don't cut too deep. Open the peeled segments of the orange like in the image below. You will need 4 or 5 thick-skinned oranges, depending on their size.

Carefully remove the white pith from the skin segments. Put the segments into a pan and pour enough water to cover them. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain the water, cover the segments again with the cold water and bring to boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Repeat one more time.
Make the sugar syrup in a pan (ratio: 1/2 mug of sugar to 1 mug of water). Stir it until the sugar is dissolved, then add the orange peel. Simmer for 45 minutes. The cooked segments will look almost translucent. Place the cooked orange peel on the cake rack  with a dish under it to pick the syrup drops.
That's what they look like at this stage.

Take a bowl with the caster sugar and dip each segment into it, making sure that they are well covered with the sugar. Leave them on the greaseproof/parchment paper overnight to get firm.

You can also dip them in chocolate if you like. Place the homemade candied orange peel in a jar.

 

If you plan to give it away as a gift, tie a nice Christmas ribbon around the jar. 

Personally, I don't think it will last long here to be given away. The candied orange peel is delicious, very zesty and moreish. Maybe I should save a few segments and make a lemon drizzle cake?