Over the weekend, a friend brought over the most beautiful lemons from her parents’ lemon tree. Note, we’re in Illinois. Her parents’ tree is in Arizona. She was sharing because her folks had a bumper crop this spring. My friend was greeted by 3 dozen lemons… what to do, but share! She mentioned juicing the lemons and freezing the juice in ice cube trays. Then she mentioned saving the peels to candy them. Aha! Lemon, citrus, orange, citrus… helloooo?! I thought it’d be delicious, AND I was planning on making some candied orange peel this week. I’m experimenting with frozen peels; thawing them first and then continuing with the typical recipe.

Just type “candied orange peel” in your favorite search engine and there are tons! They’re all basically the same. Mine isn’t that different.

• Peels from 4 – 6 oranges (this time around, I also had 2 lemons): The peels were in sliced sections and the pith (white) was already trimmed. You want very little pith, but I still leave a but. I sliced these into 1/4″ strips. The lemon peels were smaller.

Using a 3-1/2 qt. pot, I filled it with about 4 cups of water. This should be enough to cover the peels. Heat until boiling, then add the peels. Blanch the peels for about 3-4 minutes. Turn off heat, drain/remove the peels (I just used a slotted spoon not a colander), discard water and repeat. You will blanch the peels 3 or 4 times. This is to soften the peels, but more importantly, to remove the bitterness. It sort of cooks out, cooks down any pith, too.

After 1st blanch

• 4 cups water
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• Extra granulated sugar in a separate container for dipping

In your clean, empty pot, combine the water and sugar. Heat until you get a rolling boil. You can use a candy thermometer, and heat until 210 degrees. Add peels, boil for a couple minutes, and then lower heat to a simmer. Continue to simmer peels for 45-60 minutes, or until peels are translucent. (I’ve read recipes where they only simmer for 30 min.)

Remove peels after they are to your liking and dry on a cooling rack. While still warm, dip the peels in sugar and lay out on the racks to dry. I like to leave them out overnight. The next day you can take the dry candied peels and dip or drizzle with chocolate!

Don’t discard the simple syrup that is in your pot. Keep in the refrigerator and use for iced tea! Delicious!

(Note: The fresher the fruit, the softer the peel. I like thicker skin, but just make sure to blanch less if the peel is really young.)