Candied Citrus Peel
Some people excel at marketing themselves. They read self-help manuals filled with buzzwords; they engage in tactical online behaviors; they practice affirmations before mirrors.
Me, I’m terrible at all that.
This is a long-winded way of saying I keep forgetting to tell you my photography is now available at Shutterstock.com.
You will be shocked to learn the Shutterstock portfolio is almost entirely food. Food’s many photographic virtues include endless variety, natural beauty, intense color, ease of acquisition, and the willingness to sit quietly for the camera. There are no reality shows featuring chard moms. Onions do not demand cigarette breaks. You have nothing to fear from being alone in the studio (or the miniscule living room passing for one) with an eggplant or any other vegetable (with apologies to Laurie Colwin).
Finally, when all is said and done, you can eat your subjects.
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Candied citrus peel is a sweet even January dieters can feel good about. Inherently low in calories, fat-free, and loaded with vitamin C, this intensely flavored confection is hardly a splurge. Yes, there’s a light coating of sugar syrup. Yes, there’s the sugar used to store the peel, which will cling to the pieces you pop in your mouth. But hey, this ain’t chocolate roulade.
Those of you recalling hours of blanching peels followed by sticky sugar syrup baths will be happy to hear this recipe is far easier–thinly sliced peel is softened in two quick dips in water, simmered briefly in sugar syrup, dried, and that’s that.
You can candy just about any citrus peel; for the photographs here, I used a Meyer lemon, a bergamot, a lime, and a blood orange. (Thus doubling the original recipe.)
Though the citric acid is optional, I encourage you to include it. By adding a tingly, almost numbing hit of flavor to candied peel, citric acid turns a pleasant treat into a compulsively addictive one. Find it online or wherever canning supplies are sold; mine comes from the hardware store.
Many thanks to Catherine Phipps for graciously allowing me to share her recipe for candied peel. It come from her wonderful cookbook, Citrus. Make this your very next cookbook purchase. Like, right now.
Candied Citrus Peel
From Catherine Phipps’s Citrus
1-2 citrus fruit. (try Meyer or Eureka lemon, lime, blood or navel oranges, bergamot, or sweet limes)
1/2 cup/100 grams sugar
10 tablespoons/150 millilitres water
For storing the finished peel: (depending on how long your peel takes to dry, you may not need these until next day; see notes about drying peel)
An airtight tin
approximately 6 tablespoons/75 grams sugar
1/4 -1/2 teaspoon citric acid (optional but strongly recommended)
Have a strainer, slotted spoon, and large sheet pan lined with waxed paper ready.
Scrub the peels well, especially if your fruit has been sprayed or waxed. Dry gently with clean dishtowels or paper towels.
Remove the peel in large pieces. If the pith is very thick, gently scrape it away with a paring knife, tip of spoon, or your nail. You want to leave some pith on so the peels maintain structural integrity.
Using a sharp knife, slice the peel into thin strips. Think linguine or vermicelli. These need not be perfect–I managed it with Carpal Tunnel.
Put the zest in a small saucepan and fill with cold water to cover. Place on the stove and bring just to a boil. Strain immediately. Run cold water over the zest. Repeat this step one more time.
Leave the zest in the strainer.
Make sugar syrup: using the same saucepan, place sugar and water over low heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved.
Add zest to pan and bring to boil. Immediately reduce heat to gentle simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until zest is translucent.
Remove zest from pan with slotted spoon and spread on baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Allow zest to dry. Depending on where you live, this may take anywhere from 1-24 hours; I had best results allowing zest to dry overnight before storing.
Once zest has dried to your satisfaction–it will feel slightly tacky to the touch but not terribly sticky–place it in an airtight tin with the sugar and optional citric acid. Catherine Phipps recommends chopping or grinding the citric acid–I put it in a mortar and pestle. You could also grind it in a coffee grinder. It’s not necessary–citric acid is like salt or sugar–but it’s easy and adds a nice touch.
Keeps forever.
Use candied peel in or atop cakes, cookies (try it in shortbread), cupcakes, or ice cream.
Notes:
The photographs in this post reflect the yield when recipe is doubled.
I recently invested in a kitchen scale, allowing me to weigh in metric.
Citric acid is available anywhere home canning goods are sold. It keeps indefinitely.
Catherine’s recipe suggests allowing the zest to dry for about an hour. As it’s exceptionally damp in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had the best results with a 24-hour drying period.
