Since it's technically still citrus season and I keep seeing all these amazing blood orange images everywhere I knew I had to try something with them. So I decided to walk down to the farmers market and check out what's in season and buy me some blood oranges. Some fruits are just more photogenic then others. These have amazing color and are so tasty.
I've seen quite a few people making candied orange peels. Admittedly this scared me a bit, but I'm always up for the challenge. So I chopped and scooped out the juicy pulp and cut out the white pithy part of the peel and went to slicing 1/8 inch strips of blood orange peels.
I basically followed this recipe that I had cut out of a Food & Wine magazine a while back, when a friend had given me a gift subscription. I am going to make something that involves chocolate, but candied orange peels are the start of gathering my ingredients.
For those of you who like the orange candies (to the left), they taste just like them. I think I am the minority in liking these candies, I have yet to find any adult or kid that feels the same way about them. I think I got my taste for these from my grandfather, who I swear ate these and lemon drops to help him to stop smoking. Weird childhood memory, but I think that's where I got my love for these.
Cut out fleshy pulp and take out as much of the white pithy part and cut into 1/8 inch slices.
Boil the peels in water for 7 minutes. Drain. Freshen water and boil for another 7 minutes. Drain. Then put 2 1/2 cups of sugar and water and bring to a boil, once the sugar dissolves to clear carefully drop in the peels, let them simmer for about 30 minutes.
Lift them out with a slotted spoon and toss them in the remaining 1 cup of sugar. Let them sit there for 30 minutes until they cool down. Store in airtight container at room temperature until your ready to use. Coming soon, what could I be using these for?
