Homemade Candied Orange Peel (Old Fashioned Recipe)

🧂 Ingredients

• 2 large oranges

  (preferably organic and unwaxed)
• 275 g white sugar

  (separated into 200g + 75g)
• 400 ml water

  (separated into 200ml + 200ml)
• 50 g dark vegan chocolate

Instructions

• 1 Wash the oranges.
• 2 Use a vegetable peeler to peel the oranges and then slice the peel into strips
  that are around 1/2cm thick (1/4”). Press the peeler into the orange firmly to
  get a nice even layer.
  
  Note: Peel the oranges from top to bottom in straight strips, rather than around
  the orange in a circular fashion. We use a peeler rather than a knife to reduce
  the amount of pith attached since the pith has a bitter taste to it. If you get
  excess pith on any of your pieces of peel, trim it off with a knife.
• 3 Add the slices of peel to a saucepan and cover with around 200ml of cold water.
  Bring the water to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain the peel and rinse in
  fresh water.
  
  Note: Don’t skip this step of boiling the peels in water and then rinsing them,
  this reduces the bitterness.
• 4 Add the peel back to the saucepan with 200ml water and 200g sugar. Bring the
  water to the boil and then simmer gently for 30 mins until the peel is soft.
• 5 Remove a piece of peel with a slotted spoon and, when cool enough, taste it. If
  the peel is still bitter, keep boiling for another 5-10 minutes before tasting
  again.
• 6 Once there is no bitterness remaining in the peel, remove the peel from the
  saucepan using a slotted spoon and spread it out on a cooling rack for 10
  minutes to let the peel air dry a little.
  
  Note: Keep the orange sugar syrup, it’s delicious in cocktails and drizzled on
  pancakes!
• 7 Spread the peel out on a rimmed baking tray [https://geni.us/avvbakingtray].
  Sprinkle over the remaining 75g of sugar and toss to coat.
• 8 To fully dry the peel, spread it back out on the cooling rack and set it aside
  in a cool, dry place for at least 24 hours. You can enjoy it sooner than that,
  but don't put it into a jar or container before it is properly dry.
• 9 Store the candied orange peel in the refrigerator in an airtight container
  [https://geni.us/avvairtightcontainers] for 2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to
  2 months.
• 10 If you’d like to coat the peel in chocolate, start by melting 50g dark
  chocolate. To do this, break the chocolate into pieces and put it in a bowl. Set
  the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate is melted and
  smooth.
  
  Note: Try not to let the bottom of the bowl touch the simmering water in the
  saucepan.
• 11 Alternatively, add the chocolate to a microwave
  [https://geni.us/avvmicrowave]-safe dish and microwave
  [https://geni.us/avvmicrowave] the chocolate in 15 second increments, stirring
  after each increment until the chocolate is melted.
• 12 Dip the candied peel in the melted chocolate and then place it on a tray lined
  with parchment paper (or a wire rack) until the chocolate has fully set. You can
  pop it in the fridge to speed up the process if you like.

Nutrition Info