An easy recipe for homemade candied citrus! Turn everyday citrus fruits into a sweet snack, an elegant garnish for desserts, a simple addition to a cheese plate, or a stunning homemade gift!
Using a vegetable peeler, peel just the zest off of your fruit. Try to get as little of the bitter white pith as possible. This will make your life easier. The sharper your peeler, the easier this step is. Mine was as dull as a doornail (whatever that is…)
Cut the white pith from the peel if need be. Flatten the peel on a cutting board and carefully shave the white part from the zest. I find a large knife actually works better for this process because you can use the blade to keep the zest flat.
Cut the zest into long thin strips about 2mm wide. If you want perfect zest, square off the wide strips first and then cut the thin ones from that perfect rectangle.
Place peels in a saucepan and add cold water just to cover; bring the mixture to a boil; strain; repeat 2 more times.
In the same saucepan combine the sugar and water, stir to hydrate. Add your corn syrup. Return the peels to the saucepan and cook over low heat.
Simmer peels for 1-2 hours or until they are translucent but still retain their color. You can also test for doneness by eating one (my favorite method!). They should be soft and sweet with just a little bit of chew. If your cooking liquid no longer covers your zest at any point just add a little water.
You can store the candied zest in the cooking liquid (refrigerated) or to crystallize it as in the photos, strain the zest, place on a rack or plate and allow to cool until tacky. Then toss in about ¼ cup granulated sugar. Cool and store in a cool, dry place until ready to use.
Notes
You can make as little or as much as you would like at a time. I divided the recipe for syrup above (about 2/3 for the orange and 1/3 for the lemon) and candied the zest of 2 lemons and 4 oranges. I used separate pots to keep the flavors pure, but the process is the same. Corn syrup is one of those pain in the tush things to measure because its hard to get it to stop flowing out of the container! In this recipe err on the side of more rather than less. If your corn syrup has a nifty 1 cup measure mark on the side (Thank you, Karo), you can also eyeball it. The yield of this recipe depends on the type of fruit you use. 4 oranges gives you about 2 cups of crystallized peel and 2 lemons gives you about 1 cup.