[Sca-cooks] Candied Orange Peel

[Martha Oser]

Actually, the whole thing worked rather well! 

We peeled the oranges using one of those modern plastic orange peeler 
doo-dahs.  I think they were just standard navel oranges and my husband was 
able to get the peel off in about 4 large sections per orange. 

I boiled them 3 times, changing the water each time.  After the first boil, 
I used a paring knife to take off most of the pith, which had softend, as 
had the peel itself. 

They sat covered overnight after the second boiling and then I scraped more 
pith with a spoon before the third boiling the next morning. 

After the peel had cooled, I used my little cutters to cut a bunch of shapes 
out of about half of the peel.  They worked really well and the peel had 
softened so much, it required hardly any effort to cut through with the 
cutters.  It does work better to cut with the peel side up rather than pith 
side up. 

I reserved the "liquor" from the last boil, which had a very light orange 
flavor and color, added water to make 2 cups and added about a cup of sugar. 
The cut shapes, scraps and strips I'd cut all went into the pot with the 
sugar water and simmered for about an hour and a half.  Then they got 
drained and rolled in granulated sugar and left out to dry for several 
hours.  I would have left them overnight, but we have cats. 

The remaining syrup that drained off thickened nicely as it cooled, and has 
a light orange taste, though it is very sweet.  We are taking it to use 
Christmas morning on french toast. 

The shapes held up very well in the sugar water.  I think we lost one point 
on one star, and that may have been due to a weak point in the peel itself 
rather than harsh boiling. 

I took a couple of photos of the shapes when they were all done, and I'll 
post them eventually.  :) 

We also made a raspberry syrup out of the juice from a bag of frozen berries 
I used to make a cheesecake, and boy did that turn out tasty!  Three cups 
water, one cup sugar and whatever juice drained out of the thawed berries 
(probably about half a cup or so).  This simmered down to about a cup of 
thick, tasty liquid.  More for the Christmas french toast, though my husband 
doesn't want to share it! 

Happy Holidays to all! 

 -Helena