Candied Orange Peel
Posted by bakinghistory on December 27, 2007
A nice winter treat: preserved orange peel
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This candied orange peel is made with an unusual method that makes it especially flavorful and aromatic.
You can roll the strips in granulated sugar or leave them plain, to use in cakes and breads, cookies, or to dip in chocolate.
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From the original recipe by Marion Harland
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In: “Common Sense in the Household: A Manual of Practical Housewifery”, 1873–USA
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Ingredients:
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Organic oranges
Sugar
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Weigh the oranges whole, and take an equal weight of sugar.
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Wash and scrub the oranges. Squeeze the juice through a strainer into a large pan. Mix the sugar with the orange juice.
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Cut the peel in narrow strips.
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Boil the peels in water, changing the water twice and replenishing it with boiling hot water kept ready for this purpose. Cook the peels until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
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Bring the orange juice and sugar mixture to a boil, add to it the drained orange peel strips and boil 20 minutes.
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Drain on racks, and when dry but still slightly tacky roll in sugar or leave as they are.
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Baking History 
Ulrike said
Wow, I’ve never been thinking about making candied orange peel myself. My son says the picture looks great!
bakinghistory said
Hi Ulrike 🙂
Homemade candied peel tastes great and it is better than many commercial brands. Thanks to your son for complimenting the picture!
Chiara said
Buon Anno Baking!!!
Stavo appunto cercando una ricetta valida ma soprattutto nuova per preparare le scorze di arancia candite. Immagino che la pellicina bianca sia da togliere attentamente. Devo pesare le arance prima di spremerle giusto? Cambia qualcosa se peso solo il succo che ottengo invece di pesare le arance intere? Magari è una domanda un po’ stupida…
Ho preparato molto dolci per questo Natale; tra i quali anche lo zenzero candito. Buono ma troppo, troppo piccante! L’ho fatto bollire per 2 volte per 15/20 minuti rinnovando l’acqua ogni volta. Forse dovevo ripetere più volte questo procedimento?
Grazie, come sempre sei favoloso!!!
bakinghistory said
@Chiara: Ciao, Buon Anno! 🙂 per le scorzette, la pellicina bianca va lasciata, altrimenti una volta candite restano dure. Le arance vanno pesate intere per usare poi lo stesso peso in zucchero. Non saprei se cambierebbe qualcosa a fare diversamente, seguendo il procedimento decritto pero’ vengono davvero bene.
per lo zenzero, piccantino deve restare, in effetti. Pero’ penso dipenda anche dal fatto che in realta’ bisognerebbe candire le radici quando sono molto fresche e giovani, cioe’ ancora verdi, mentre quelle che si trovano in commercio sono in genere piu’ mature e quindi piu’ forti.
Chiara said
Thank you very much, Baking! Seguirò scrupolosamente il procedimento per le scorzette e so che saranno un successo.
xxx
Susan94 said
Thanks so much for posting this. I bought a bag of organic oranges from Trader Joes and the peels didn’t last long in this house. I had company over and shared it with them and they were impressed. Can I follow the same directions to do lemon peel? If not, can you post a recipe for that too? Thanks.
bakinghistory said
@Susan94: Thank you! I am very happy to know that you liked these.
As for the lemon peel, I have not tried with lemons yet, but since I do have some organic ones I will try.
Marion Harland says that lemon peel can be prepared the same way, but using more sugar. She does not specify how much more—I would try with a ratio of 1:1-1/2, such as 1 lb whole lemons and 1-1/2 lb sugar.
The lemon peels might also be a little harder than orange peels, so they might need to be boiled 2-3 minutes longer–testing once in a while to check how tender they are.
Kaisa said
This is a great food that always seems to be forgotten, thanks for shareing this with a world.
bakinghistory said
@ Kaisa: Thanks! and thank you for visiting! 🙂
Cate said
Hi, your receipts and recipes are great, but sometimes a little more history would be fun, too. Candied peels, for example, have been around for longer than the 1870’s. I reenact as an 18th century woman, c 1770-80s, and we often serve candied orange and lemon peels, candied ginger, too. Candying flowers was also done then. I’m not sure how far back candying goes, probably much further back in time. Some of your bread recipes, I’d like to try as I do a lot of “beehive” oven baking. The potato and rye flatbread…might be fun thrown on the fire in an open hearth kitchen. Just an alternate suggestion. You must have a fabulous collection of cookbooks or links to online sites. Thanks for sharing.
Cate
bakinghistory said
@ Cate: Sorry I was unable to answer earlier, since I was ill. You are right, perhaps some more history of the foods would be interesting to add to the recipes themselves. Absolutely true that candying citrus peels and other fruits and vegetables goes very much back in time, and it is mentioned in many very old books. Reenacting is great, you are lucky to do that. I would be happy to see any pictures you migth have of breads you make with the recipes from BH, if you can email me here xxgcvqu02(at)sneakemail(dot)com. Thanks!