Candied Citrus Peel - The Topic

[John DePaula]

Can you get a good result candying Satsuma mandarin oranges?

[andiesenji]

Can you get a good result candying Satsuma mandarin oranges?

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Yes. Almost any type of citrus peel can be candied. However, you do have to start with peel that has some flavor.

A few of the hybrid citrus have so little flavor that they end tasting only of sugar. I have found that most pomelos are this way and the white part is so thick, sometimes as much as an inch or more, that most of it has to be pared away and the results are not worth the bother.

If I can't get citrus direct from growers, so that the fruit has not been treated, I buy only organic fruits.

I would advise you to buy just one of the fruits, wash and cut off a small piece of the skin and chew it. If the flavor is very aromatic then you should end up with an aromatic and flavorful result.

Some of the tangerines are tough skinned so after they have been parboiled, I test to see if they are tender enough. If still rather leathery, you can steam them to tenderness and then proceed with the candying process.

I candy or glacé may types of dried fruits and steaming them first accelerates the process so they absorb the syrup much more rapidly.

I learned this from a Lebanese cook who taught me how to candy apricots in honey (which are then rolled in sesame seeds to make a traditional confection).

Also, here is the link to a page in Artisinal Christmas prezzies where I posted in Post # 163, my method of removing the skin from most citrus which is the easiest and quickest method I have found.

It also makes it easier if you want to use shaped cutters as you have a larger piece to flatten and cut.

I know that several people have used garnish cutters to make fancy shapes for decorating cakes and candies.

Edited December 4, 2008 by andiesenji (log)

[John DePaula]

Can you get a good result candying Satsuma mandarin oranges?

←

Yes. Almost any type of citrus peel can be candied. However, you do have to start with peel that has some flavor.

A few of the hybrid citrus have so little flavor that they end tasting only of sugar. I have found that most pomelos are this way and the white part is so thick, sometimes as much as an inch or more, that most of it has to be pared away and the results are not worth the bother.

If I can't get citrus direct from growers, so that the fruit has not been treated, I buy only organic fruits.

I would advise you to buy just one of the fruits, wash and cut off a small piece of the skin and chew it. If the flavor is very aromatic then you should end up with an aromatic and flavorful result.

Some of the tangerines are tough skinned so after they have been parboiled, I test to see if they are tender enough. If still rather leathery, you can steam them to tenderness and then proceed with the candying process.

I candy or glacé may types of dried fruits and steaming them first accelerates the process so they absorb the syrup much more rapidly.

I learned this from a Lebanese cook who taught me how to candy apricots in honey (which are then rolled in sesame seeds to make a traditional confection).

Also, here is the link to a page in Artisinal Christmas prezzies where I posted in Post # 163, my method of removing the skin from most citrus which is the easiest and quickest method I have found.

It also makes it easier if you want to use shaped cutters as you have a larger piece to flatten and cut.

I know that several people have used garnish cutters to make fancy shapes for decorating cakes and candies.

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Thanks, andiesenji; you are an invaluable resource here on eGullet!

I did use your method this time for removing the pulp and my peels have turned out better than ever.

Thanks also for the tip on tasting and/steaming the peels.

[Darienne]

A question has been bothering me about candying orange peel.

Roughly how long should it take for a draining sliver of orange peel to lose the limpness and become stiff enough to dip into chocolate?

I have made Andie's excellent microwave orange peel recipe with varying results...as I learn. The last time, when the peel didn't stiffen after a few hours, I decided to recook it in the syrup two more times. I should have paid stricter attention to the state of the peel slivers and the timing. In the end, they were emanently dippable. But perhaps they didn't really need those final two cookings?

But here I am again. Draining the very limp orange slivers and wondering if they have taken in enough sugar? if they will become stiff enough to dip in how many hours? This time, I'll write the answering notes into my recipe.

(Actually the first time I made them, unexpected visitors arrived and I lost track of what I was doing, overcooked the peels in the microwave, and ended up with peels which were like tire rubber...then I broke a already damaged tooth biting into one of them and ended up in emergency dental surgery. )

[andiesenji]

I usually go by the appearance of the peel. When the part that was initially white has become completely translucent, that is, no longer opaque, it is done.

Try drying the peel in a very low oven - convection works even better, or with a fan blowing on the peel.

When visiting someone who doesn't have the equipment I have in my kitchen, I went to Wal-Mart and bought an inexpensive hair dryer that has a wire stand to hold it in place and used that to speed up the drying time of the peel we made in her kitchen. It came in handy for speeding up the drying time of some cookie icing too.

[Darienne]

I usually go by the appearance of the peel.  When the part that was initially white has become completely translucent, that is, no longer opaque, it is done.

Try drying the peel in a very low oven - convection works even better, or with a fan blowing on the peel.

When visiting someone who doesn't have the equipment I have in my kitchen, I went to Wal-Mart and bought an inexpensive hair dryer that has a wire stand to hold it in place and used that to speed up the drying time of the peel we made in her kitchen.  It came in handy for speeding up the drying time of some cookie icing too.

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Hi Ginger Lady

I guess what I am saying, and not very clearly, is that IF the peel looks done, translucent and tasting the way it should, then the fact that it is very LIMP for a while is not a consideration. I get edgy that maybe it'll just stay limp and end up both dry and limp. I take it that this is an impossibility.

I used tangerine peel this time...almost no pith.

Thanks

ps. I have a batch of apricots in the crockpot.

Edited December 17, 2008 by Darienne (log)

[helenjp]

I agree with andiesenji that pomelo peel often lacks aroma. On the other hand it's good in Chinese recipes...

For very thin peels, what about rolling them up and using a needle and doubled strong thread so that you can hang a whole string of them up to dry?

Thanks for the tip on steaming fruit for glace!!! I have a trad French method for glace whole fruits, but it does take a long time and use an unbelievable amount of sugar.

[andiesenji]

I usually go by the appearance of the peel.  When the part that was initially white has become completely translucent, that is, no longer opaque, it is done.

Try drying the peel in a very low oven - convection works even better, or with a fan blowing on the peel.

When visiting someone who doesn't have the equipment I have in my kitchen, I went to Wal-Mart and bought an inexpensive hair dryer that has a wire stand to hold it in place and used that to speed up the drying time of the peel we made in her kitchen.  It came in handy for speeding up the drying time of some cookie icing too.

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Hi Ginger Lady

I guess what I am saying, and not very clearly, is that IF the peel looks done, translucent and tasting the way it should, then the fact that it is very LIMP for a while is not a consideration. I get edgy that maybe it'll just stay limp and end up both dry and limp. I take it that this is an impossibility.

I used tangerine peel this time...almost no pith.

Thanks

ps. I have a batch of apricots in the crockpot.

←

If it is allowed to dry until just barely tacky on the surface (so the sugar will stick) it should be flexible but not really limp.

I don't think I have ever had a problem with limp peel. Even the fine strings of stuff I candy will eventually get to point that it will hold its shape.

I have experimented with orange peel cut off using a Rotato (lemon too). I had to hang it on my pasta rack to get it to dry in long "ringlets" and hold its shape. I haven't done it again because it was sort of pointless. It looked good as decoration on a cake but was not all that handy for eating as a confection.

Also, once it is dipped in chocolate and the coating sets, that should take care of any excessive flexibility.

Edited December 17, 2008 by andiesenji (log)

[Darienne]

If it is allowed to dry until just barely tacky on the surface (so the sugar will stick) it should be flexible but not really limp. 

I don't think I have ever had a problem with limp peel.  Even the fine strings of stuff I candy will eventually get to point that it will hold its shape. 

I have experimented with orange peel cut off using a Rotato (lemon too).  I had to hang it on my pasta rack to get it to dry in long "ringlets" and hold its shape.  I haven't done it again because it was sort of pointless.  It looked good as decoration on a cake but was not all that handy for eating as a confection.

Also, once it is dipped in chocolate and the coating sets, that should take care of any excessive flexibility.

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Morning test made of my two (separately made, as advised by the Ginger Lady) batches of candied orange peels. The navel orange peels are fine. The tangerine orange peels are still limp and I will put them in the oven for a while. Moab is currently not its usual low humidity self.

And thanks, I finally understand the drying/limp/stiff issue. I'm slow, but I'm steady and extremely tenacious. You may have noticed.

Next comes day 2 for the apricots. Then everything goes into chocolate.

[Darienne]

 

I have experimented with orange peel cut off using a Rotato (lemon too). 

Just looked up the Rotato peeler online.

- can you get one in a store or just online? We don't have enough time left here to order one.

- does it really conform to the changing shape of the fruit or vegetable. DH is extremely skeptical about this. And the literature is a tad vague about this point.

- does it really peel a pear?

Thanks.

[andiesenji]

 

I have experimented with orange peel cut off using a Rotato (lemon too). 

Just looked up the Rotato peeler online.

- can you get one in a store or just online? We don't have enough time left here to order one.

- does it really conform to the changing shape of the fruit or vegetable. DH is extremely skeptical about this. And the literature is a tad vague about this point.

- does it really peel a pear?

Thanks.

←

Don't buy one at the regular retail price. If you can find one at a yard sale or similar venue, for cheap, then go for it.

Mine was a gift to me by a friend who knows I collect odd stuff. I doubt I would have bought it myself but I have found it is fun to play with.

It does NOT peel everything and one needs to be patient (and have a great sense of the ridiculous) to use it but it works after a fashion. It will peel a pear but the fruit has to be quite firm (nowhere near ripe) and it does a better job on the Comice and similar pears that actually do not have the classic pear shape.

I have not really used it for actual peeling to get rid of the peel as one would peel a potato, etc. I can peel a potato, using my paring knife, faster and easier than this gadget. Ditto most other fruit.

I have one of the hand-cranked "Shaker" apple peeler/slicer/corer thingys that I use when I have to process a bunch of apples and it works as advertised. These things have been around for more than a hundred years simply because they work as designed. I wish the same could be said of the Rotato but eventually someone will get it right. (And I will probably get that version too because I have a lot of friends who seem to delight in finding the oddest things to add to my "collections" and other junk. It's a good thing I have a lot of room )

(I already know that I am getting some "flameless" candles for Christmas as a friend's 10-year-old granddaughter let the cat out of the bag. _ I don't use candles in my home because I am allergic to something in the wick material but my friend apparently thinks I "need" candles.)

Over the many years that I have been making the various things that most folks no longer prepare at home, such as the candied peel, ginger, glacé fruits and etc., I have tried almost every process imaginable to get peel off citrus, and so on.

The method I use, and photographed, was shown to be by a lovely, elderly lady who was my neighbor some forty years ago. I ran into her at the Italian market we both frequented and complained about the amount of time it was taking me to peel oranges to make the candied peel. She insisted that I report to her home at once so she could show me the "trick." It was like magic!

And I have passed the knowledge on to anyone who was interested.

[Shoom]

Beautiful results, Sararwelch!

I have a question that is related to the topic: is it possible to make glacee apricots by starting with dried apricots? Is it a bad idea? If so, why?

Thanks in advance.

[Darienne]

Beautiful results, Sararwelch!

I have a question that is related to the topic: is it possible to make glacee apricots by starting with dried apricots?  Is it a bad idea?  If so, why?

Thanks in advance.

←

It's a great idea. I am doing it as we speak, so to speak. And it is going well. Andie's recipe is available on Melindalee's websiteMelindaLee's recipes

(I haven't a clue if I have entered the information above correctly. It's my first attempt)

[Darienne]

 

I have experimented with orange peel cut off using a Rotato (lemon too). 

Just looked up the Rotato peeler online.

- can you get one in a store or just online? We don't have enough time left here to order one.

- does it really conform to the changing shape of the fruit or vegetable. DH is extremely skeptical about this. And the literature is a tad vague about this point.

- does it really peel a pear?

Thanks.

←

Don't buy one at the regular retail price. If you can find one at a yard sale or similar venue, for cheap, then go for it.

Mine was a gift to me by a friend who knows I collect odd stuff. I doubt I would have bought it myself but I have found it is fun to play with.

It does NOT peel everything and one needs to be patient (and have a great sense of the ridiculous) to use it but it works after a fashion. It will peel a pear but the fruit has to be quite firm (nowhere near ripe) and it does a better job on the Comice and similar pears that actually do not have the classic pear shape.

I have not really used it for actual peeling to get rid of the peel as one would peel a potato, etc. I can peel a potato, using my paring knife, faster and easier than this gadget. Ditto most other fruit.

I have one of the hand-cranked "Shaker" apple peeler/slicer/corer thingys that I use when I have to process a bunch of apples and it works as advertised. These things have been around for more than a hundred years simply because they work as designed. I wish the same could be said of the Rotato but eventually someone will get it right. (And I will probably get that version too because I have a lot of friends who seem to delight in finding the oddest things to add to my "collections" and other junk. It's a good thing I have a lot of room )

(I already know that I am getting some "flameless" candles for Christmas as a friend's 10-year-old granddaughter let the cat out of the bag. _ I don't use candles in my home because I am allergic to something in the wick material but my friend apparently thinks I "need" candles.)

Over the many years that I have been making the various things that most folks no longer prepare at home, such as the candied peel, ginger, glacé fruits and etc., I have tried almost every process imaginable to get peel off citrus, and so on.

The method I use, and photographed, was shown to be by a lovely, elderly lady who was my neighbor some forty years ago. I ran into her at the Italian market we both frequented and complained about the amount of time it was taking me to peel oranges to make the candied peel. She insisted that I report to her home at once so she could show me the "trick." It was like magic!

And I have passed the knowledge on to anyone who was interested.

←

Thanks once again for all the information. I have really enjoyed learning about candying various bits and bobs. I don't have much manual dexterity anymore and love to find stuff that I can still do without having to look at the beautiful end results of other's truffles, etc, and wish....

[andiesenji]

Beautiful results, Sararwelch!

I have a question that is related to the topic: is it possible to make glacee apricots by starting with dried apricots?  Is it a bad idea?  If so, why?

Thanks in advance.

←

It's a great idea. I am doing it as we speak, so to speak. And it is going well. Andie's recipe is available on Melindalee's websiteMelindaLee's recipes

(I haven't a clue if I have entered the information above correctly. It's my first attempt)

←

It is much easier to candy dried fruits than it is to have a good result with fresh fruits.

I recommend that you steam the dried fruits just enough to slightly "plump" them as the candying process will go much faster.

With most dried fruits, if not previously partially rehydrated (plumped), they will take up moisture out of the liquid syrup first and you will find the syrup is much thicker than it should be. If partially rehydrated, the cells in the fruits are somewhat opened up (technical term absent from my memory) and more able to absorb the sugars in the syrup.

Candying whole fresh fruits is extremely time consuming and very tricky and it is easy to have something go wrong and not at all easy to figure out why. My best efforts have been with the tiny Seckle or Forelle pears, starting when they are still rock hard, also with the little rose-fleshed crabapples and even these take a minimum of three weeks and a lot of sugar because one needs to change the syrups or end up with a discolored end product.

Edited December 17, 2008 by andiesenji (log)

[Kerry Beal]

My trick for peeling oranges for candied rind is to use one of the Tupperware peelers that were a free giveaway at Tupperware parties in times gone by. I go twice around the orange, then remove the peel in 4 pieces.

[Shoom]

Thank you, Darienne and Andy. I will have to try it and report back.

[Darienne]

Thank you, Darienne and Andy.  I will have to try it and report back.

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My apricots are getting darker but they are still acceptable. I drained the original dark syrup...so yummy...I am going to make lollipops from it...and used new syrup. So the thing to remember is not to use suphured apricots, the most common kind of dried apricot.

[Darienne]

Follow-up on the apricots. They went into the trash and the lovely syrup was a disaster as lollipops (noted in another topic).

I am now candying lemon peels. I did the prelim water changing cooking four times and then started the candying process. They are still very bitter. I should have read this entire topic through before starting, because there is a lot of information in it about thick, bitter, etc peels. (And I now know that a Meyer's lemon is not a 'lemon' per se. Not to mention what a Buddha's hand is. Fascinating. I wonder where I would get them in Canada...probably Toronto?)

Has anyone had success in candying regular lemon peels and what extra steps were necessary, please.

Thanks.

[Darienne]

Question: where is a place to buy a Meyer's lemon and/or a Buddha's hand?

We are off to Utah again soon and will be going through a few cities: Buffalo (a trip to Tomric's), Indianapolis, St Louis, Joplin, OKC, Amarillo, Albuquerque...? What about Trader Joe's? Mail or online order????

Thanks.

[John DePaula]

Question:  where is a place to buy a Meyer's lemon and/or a Buddha's hand?

We are off to Utah again soon and will be going through a few cities: Buffalo (a trip to Tomric's), Indianapolis, St Louis, Joplin, OKC, Amarillo, Albuquerque...?  What about Trader Joe's?  Mail or online order????

Thanks. 

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Here in Portland, OR, I find both at most grocery stores though I haven't been to Safeway or TJ's in a while...

[Darienne]

Here in Portland, OR, I find both at most grocery stores though I haven't been to Safeway or TJ's in a while...

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Thanks. I am not very familiar with most US grocery stores. We will look along the way for a Safeway or TJs. In Moab there is only a Kroger and and a Village Market and they don't carry these items. Heck, they don't even carry parsnips at Kroger's.

Anyone else suggest any other stores to look in?

[John DePaula]

Here in Portland, OR, I find both at most grocery stores though I haven't been to Safeway or TJ's in a while...

←

Thanks. I am not very familiar with most US grocery stores. We will look along the way for a Safeway or TJs. In Moab there is only a Kroger and and a Village Market and they don't carry these items. Heck, they don't even carry parsnips at Kroger's.

Anyone else suggest any other stores to look in?

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Just to clarify, I have NOT been in TJ's or Safeway in a while.

[dystopiandreamgirl]

Here in Portland, OR, I find both at most grocery stores though I haven't been to Safeway or TJ's in a while...

←

Thanks. I am not very familiar with most US grocery stores. We will look along the way for a Safeway or TJs. In Moab there is only a Kroger and and a Village Market and they don't carry these items. Heck, they don't even carry parsnips at Kroger's.

Anyone else suggest any other stores to look in?

←

I would check grocery stores in the asian districts of town; the buddha's hands are part of Tết celebrations.

if all else fails you can order some from Melissa's Produce, but they are not cheap.

I've seen it referenced as having sweet mild peel, but ten years ago when I discovered them I candied a batch and it turned out so bitter I had to throw it out. So now I blanch it 7 times. (I only blanch lemon and orange peels twice).

[Darienne]

I would check grocery stores in the asian districts of town; the buddha's hands are part of Tết celebrations.

if all else fails you can order some from Melissa's Produce, but they are not cheap.

I've seen it referenced as having sweet mild peel, but ten years ago when I discovered them I candied a batch and it turned out so bitter I had to throw it out.  So now I blanch it 7 times.  (I only blanch lemon and orange peels twice).

←

Thanks for the info and for the link. Moab has no Asian section. It has no sections at all. But I could try in Albuquerque. My next-door-neighbor/landlady/friend's daughter lives in Albuquerque and shops for her Mom at Trader Joe's. She would know if there is an Asian section.

I'll try the link now...

Thanks.

Post link note: Almost $40 for two? And then S&H? And then the Canadian $ just fell again yesterday? Perhaps not from Melissa...

Edited January 17, 2009 by Darienne (log)