Posted on 19 Comments

Candied Orange Peel

Candied orange peel will be super helpful in making Christmas Panettone or Stollen.

Candying is the process of soaking fruits in sugar syrup, so the final concentration of sugar is perfect to preserve it. Recipe was adapted from Sourdough Panettone and Viennoiserie book by Thomas Teffri-Chambelland

Ingredients

  • 4-6 oranges 
  • 650 g sugar
  • 400g water
  • Water for boiling oranges

Directions

Prepare the orange peel

  • Wash the oranges.
  • Do a cross cut in the surface of the orange, remove the skin.
  • Boil 1/2 gallon of water. Submerge orange skin in hot boiling water, simmer for about 2 hours. The orange skins have to become soft.
  • Drain hot water, submerge hot skins into an ice cold water, to stop the cooking process.

Prepare the syrup 

  • Boil 400g of water and 400g of sugar until sugar is completely dissolved.
  • Pour syrup over the orange peel to cover completely and let it cool.
  • Strain the syrup into a pot, add 50g sugar, and boil until sugar is completely dissolved.
  • Pour hot syrup over an orange peel and let to cool down completely.
  • Repeat draining the orange peel and boiling syrup with addition of 50g sugar and covering orange peel for 4 more times.

Make sure you let orange peel cool down completely before covering it with hot syrup.

By the end of 5th boiling concentration of sugar will make the syrup thicker and orange peel will get deep orange color.

If not, continue to boil the syrup for 2-3 more times without adding any more sugar and pouring it over cold orange peel.

The peel is ready when the cooled syrup has a consistency of honey.

Transfer the orange peel with syrup into an airtight container, and keep refrigerated for 4-6 months.

19 thoughts on “Candied Orange Peel

  1. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.

    1. Thank you 🙏

  2. Natalya, thanks for sharing this process as the one I did last year was a big mess.
    I bought some navel oranges this week that looked good but when I cut into them they were not a bright orange color. Should I assume the peel will not taste good candied if the flesh doesn’t taste good?
    Also, would you candy the lemon Peel the same way?
    Take care

    1. Jeanette, hi!
      I think the skins of your oranges will work great.
      And yes I would do the same method for lemon peels.

  3. Thank you for sharing (and caring).
    Isn’t simmering 2 hrs a bit too much?
    And what if I have oranges with a thinner skin?

    1. The skins have to become soft.
      If yours are thin, then do just 1-1.5 hours

      1. I did 40 minutes and they where fine

  4. Hello,
    I’m having a hard time converting grams into cups. I’ve tried Googling, but I’m get mixed information. Any chance you can help translate your recipe. I will greatly appreciate it. I’m trying to recreate this recipe for my family for the Holidays. My grandma would make it every year. She passed away 2 years ago. Thank you in advance.

    1. Hi!
      I’m so sorry for inconvenience.
      You have to be very accurate above sourdough baking.
      That’s why I’m using kitchen scale with grams setting

  5. Thanks so much Natalya for sharing this recipe. Candied orange and lemon peel have been very difficult to find this year. I assume this is because many of us are spending more time at home and have more time to bake. Thanks to your recipe I’m able to bake my traditional Christmas recipes. I’m tempted to save one candied wedge, slice it into strips and dip it in dark chocolate:) Merry Christmas to you and your family.

    1. Shawnee, thank you so much!
      Marry Christmas to you and your loved ones 🎄🎄🎄

  6. Good morning. I love your recipes. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with all of us. I.m looking at this method of making candied orange peel. It looks like it takes hours upon hours to accomplish a finished product. Is this the typical way of achieving a candied orange peel?

    1. Thank you! Yes!
      It takes some time to make orange peel, but so worth it 😊

      1. I’ll give it a try. Thanks for sharing. I’m retired so I have nothing but time.

  7. Omg I love candied orange peel makes me feel like a kid. Thanks for posting 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

    1. Thank you 🙏

  8. boiling for 2hrs will destroy any essential oil in the peels… In Italy it is good practice to freeze fresh peels. Once defrosted they will become naturally softer and soak up the syrup more easily and quickly and all essential oils are sealed in the peels.

    1. Woow! That looks good

  9. since comments cannot be modified, I’ll post another comment to better explain what I meant in my previous one.
    boiling for 2hrs will destroy any essential oil in the peels… In Sicily traditional candied peels are made by curing peels by spreading some salt on the “white” side of the peels and let them rest in a colander to release some of the water and their bitterness with it (the more thick is the peels, more time you will need. For citron it can take up to four days, washing and salting the peels each day). Then the peels are carefully washed and frozen for 1-2 days. Once completely defrosted you start the process of bathing them in hot boiling syrup for few days (the process described in the post is perfectly fine); the process of salting-freezing-defrosting will make them naturally softer and ready to soak up the syrup more easily and quickly and all essential oils are sealed in the peels making them much more fragrant.

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