Candied Citrus Peel - The Topic

[cherimoya]

Sorry. I just went back and read your earlier post where you said that you actually prefer the flesh to the peel. I guess I will just go ahead and try the Herme recipe.

[Rehovot]

I keep meaning to try andiesenji's recipe for microwaved candied citrus peel; other eGers have had great success with it...... You might give it a try.

[chiantiglace]

i dont know Herme's recipe for candied orange peel with the orange flesh attatched because I only have his chocolate book, but it sounds, considering the flesh, that its actually orange confit? Depending on the method in which you are preparing this recipe. Candied orange peel is rather simple. Infact it could take me about 5 minutes to throw some together. But if its confit than thats much more elaborate procedure. Even though its extremely similar, the time frame and consistency is not.

[cherimoya]

That recipe is in his chocolate book (p. 257).

[chiantiglace]

Ok, yes i just read it. Sorry I overlooked it, I should have known that recipe was in there.

That IS orange confit. Inwhich it is slow cooked and stored in its own juices. Meaning the juice from the orange "flesh". This isnt the same thing as the candied orange peel we discussed in other threads aswell as the beginning of this thread. You can find many other recipes similar to this just by looking up orange confit. It has basically the same principles as Duck Confit in which the duck is cooked and stored in its own fat (delicous) which practically makes its storage life indefinate if frozen, ha.

[K8memphis]

Umm, mine came out a bit tangy--the zest is almost bitter. Do you usually remove the zest? None of my recipes say to do that. Plus I'm gonna drain some & sugar them & see if that doesn't help.

Now I boiled & rinsed mine four times, but on the final slow cook, the syrup boiled down too low--that might be the problem. I fell asleep or I'd have added more.

But just checking if you remove the grapefruit zest before making yours. I made adorable little stars. They just taste like sh*t-- No they are not that bad--but should they be that uber tangy???

Thanks

[Tweety69bird]

I've never seen a recipe that said to remove the zest. Wouldn't that ruin the purpose of candying the peel? I mean, all white peel wouldn't look as pretty, and it's more the white pith that is the bitter part, not the peel. Maybe the next time you could boil the peels 5 times instead of 4? See how they taste after you've let them dry and crystalize a bit.

[jenc]

Maybe try to get rid of more of the pith? I scraped my candied citrus peels until I hit the colour.

[K8memphis]

The pith tastes great--it all turns red--and is smooth and wonderful tasting. Yeah I was surprised that the zest itself--the outside of the peel is uber tang. I'm gonna get some out & sugar it & see how it does.

The pith is bitter in real life but after the multiple boilings, rinses & then the boiling 2 hour bath in the simple syrup, the pith is wonderful.

I need to do it again and I will do some with zest, some without zest and make sure it does not boil down--that had to hurt it some.

Yes and I'm gonna boil & rinse a few extra times too, good idea.

Thanks JenC and Karyn.

[Ruth]

Maybe try to get rid of more of the pith? I scraped my candied citrus peels until I hit the colour.

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For all candied citrus peels (orange, lemon, grapefruit and - best of all - pomelo I leave a 1/4 inch of pith. The texture of the pith makes the peels much more interesting but to remove the zest makes no sense whatsoever.

[K8memphis]

Maybe try to get rid of more of the pith? I scraped my candied citrus peels until I hit the colour.

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For all candied citrus peels (orange, lemon, grapefruit and - best of all - pomelo I leave a 1/4 inch of pith. The texture of the pith makes the peels much more interesting but to remove the zest makes no sense whatsoever.

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The zest is borderline on not tasting good.

It makes sense to make something tasty to eat not scary to eat.

[K8memphis]

Maybe try to get rid of more of the pith? I scraped my candied citrus peels until I hit the colour.

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For all candied citrus peels (orange, lemon, grapefruit and - best of all - pomelo I leave a 1/4 inch of pith. The texture of the pith makes the peels much more interesting but to remove the zest makes no sense whatsoever.

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The zest is borderline on not tasting good.

It makes sense to make something tasty to eat not scary to eat.

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I mean the after taste is not cool. Musta screwed it up. But I mean I will put the zest in the pot to boil, I'm gonna try some without the tippy outside zest just to see how it does.

My kid is here, I'll make her eat a piece...

edited to say: I was watching her when she didin't think I was watching her--you should have seen her eyes. lol

There's something wrong with this batch or I don't care for this. I love grapefruit everything though. Is it supposed to be almost bitter?

???

Edited June 21, 2006 by K8memphis (log)

[andiesenji]

I par-boil the peel until it has lost the bitterness. Some take longer than others. Only then do I add the peel to the syrup and begin the candying process. Sometimes it takes 8 par-boiling sessions.

With very thick rinds, I do trim the white pith down a bit, however I usually keep it about 1/4 inch thick.

With Pomelos, that have extremely thick pith, you have to cut off a lot.

Some grapefruit varieties do work better than others. One particular "white" variety which is sometimes available here in southern California is the rather seedy Duncan. It has a much better flavor and the skin is a bit milder in flavor than the hybrid varieties such as Marsh.

There is a new hybrid called Mellogold that is exceptionally sweet.

Of the "pink" varieties, I like the Red Blush best.

The OroBlanco, which is a grapefruit/pomelo cross is very good for candied peel.

[K8memphis]

Thank you, Andie, for the grapefruit wisdom. I'll try to find some of those varieties. Very helpful information. I appreciate it.

[aidensnd2]

I've found that the trick to candying citrus rind/peel is the parboiling. The more bitter the peel the more times you need to boil/rinse it. For orange peels I'll boil them 4-5 times, each time starting again in cold water. And the last time adding just a bit of sugar. For something like grapefruit I would go at least 6-8 times. If the peel is still bitter after the parboiling it won't really get any better once you start candying it. The sugar might hide some of the bitterness but if there is bitterness left you aren't going to eliminate it with sugar.

[K8memphis]

Yeah, I had a real good eating brand of Texas red -- I don't remember what kind it was but it was a real good variety for eating anyway. And deep down in the dusty inner recesses of my brain, I knew that 4 times was not very many, but I had such a good grapefruit, I wasn't listening to myself. I just followed the recipe and it said 4 times. Duh on me. But screwing up is such a good way to never forget how to do it right next time. The recipe should have been as clear as you were about it though.

I always say I've done everything wrong at least once...here's another one to add to my list.

But my little (grapefruit peel) stars are very pretty anyway. If not a little deadly too. They'll make a beautiful garnish when I get it right. I take a small star cutter and mash it down in to the peel with a flat spoon, one of those cool Asian spoons. Easy peasy and pretty.

Thank you, Andie! You've helped me immeasurably.

[Tweety69bird]

What if you dip your pretty stars in chocolate so that the sweetness of the chocolate will balance out the bitterness of the peel? Might make them more palatable?

[K8memphis]

What if you dip your pretty stars in chocolate so that the sweetness of the chocolate will balance out the bitterness of the peel? Might make them more palatable?

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That's the plan for some of the next batch that I will par-boil long enough.

What kind of chocolate do you all think? Bittersweet chocolate was what was recommended in the recipe.

[Kerry Beal]

What if you dip your pretty stars in chocolate so that the sweetness of the chocolate will balance out the bitterness of the peel? Might make them more palatable?

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That's the plan for some of the next batch that I will par-boil long enough.

What kind of chocolate do you all think? Bittersweet chocolate was what was recommended in the recipe.

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Bittersweet is the best with fruit peels in my book.

[alanamoana]

i actually like milk chocolate with grapefruit. because the peel is likely more bitter than other peels, i think the sweetness of milk chocolate goes well with it. use a darker milk than just plain. i think valrhona lactee is 38% or something like that. it isn't too sweet, but won't fight with the grapefruit peel either.

[Tweety69bird]

What if you dip your pretty stars in chocolate so that the sweetness of the chocolate will balance out the bitterness of the peel? Might make them more palatable?

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That's the plan for some of the next batch that I will par-boil long enough.

What kind of chocolate do you all think? Bittersweet chocolate was what was recommended in the recipe.

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Yeah, I would go with milk to get more sweetness when paired with the grapefruit. You have enough bitter, no? I'd use dark with orange though.

[andiesenji]

Here is another tip. If you can find powdered alum (or lump alum which you have to crush) soak the peel in cold water into which you have mixed a teaspoon of alum per quart, for at least 3 hours.

Then rinse repeatedly in cold water before you begin your par-boiling.

The alum will remove some of the bitterness and will keep the structure of the peel from getting too soft.

This is generally used for citron, which is pretty bitter anyway, and it seems to work well with particularly bitter grapefruit.

I've used it for candying limes, which turn gray if not treated with alum (sometimes they turn gray anyway but that is just a quirk of those particular limes).

My aunt adds a pinch of "bicarb" (baking soda) to the first batch of par-boiling water, but I have never tried this myself and have no direct evidence that it works.

[K8memphis]

Thank you all, Tweety, Alana, Andie and Kerry.

Oh oh oh orange flavored chocolate??? Great idea.

And I kind of like the bicarb idea. If I can find the same grapefruits I might try that. Alum, huh? lots of great grapefruit wisdom.

Very funny, Tweety, yes I got plenty of the bitter!

Thanks again.

[mrose]

In the past several weeks, someone had a thread on making large amounts of candied orange peel. I can't seem to locate it, does anyone remember this topic?

Thanks

Mark

[Kerry Beal]

In the past several weeks, someone had a thread on making large amounts of candied orange peel. I can't seem to locate it, does anyone remember this topic?

Thanks

Mark

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I recall seeing one about ginger, but not about orange rind. I have e-mailed you the recipe that I use for orange rind, let me know if you have any questions. It doesn't really require you to have a specific gravitometer, just follow the number of minutes of boiling and it should turn out fine.