If you’ve got some extra citrus fruit laying around, why not try making candied citrus slices? It’s as simple as slicing up some lemons, oranges, or any other kind of citrus, and cooking them in a bit of simple syrup!
Watch the video below or read on for step-by-step instructions.
How to Make Candied Citrus Slices
Select and Slice Your Fruit
You will find this candying process works for any kind of citrus fruit, although my favorites are sweeter oranges like cara caras. In the video above I used a mix of cara caras, satsumas, blood oranges, and lemons.
The first step is to thinly slice your fruit. You can use a mandolin if you have one, but I like to use a nice sharp knife. Slice the fruit about 1/4 inch thick. Thinner slices will risk the fruit falling apart as it cooks. Thicker slices be a bit unpleasant to eat.
If you have trouble cutting even slices, you can try rotating the fruit as you cut instead of slicing all the way through from one side to the other.
Remove any seeds with your fingers or the tip of your knife.
Blanching the Citrus Slices
The next step is to cook the citrus slices in boiling water. This step helps soften the rinds and also removes some of the bitter taste from the rinds.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add your slices and let them simmer for 10-15 minutes. Once they are slightly softened you can drain the slices and set them aside.
Preparing the Cooking Syrup
In order to actually candy your citrus slices, you will need to make a sugar syrup. I make a syrup using 2 parts sugar to one part water, by weight.
There’s no special amount of syrup to make, rather you just need to make enough syrup to cover your fruit in whichever pan you decide to use. You need enough to cover just a single layer of slices, as you won’t be cooking more than that at one time.
So I just set my pan on my scale, and start off with say 200 grams of sugar + 100 grams of water. Then keep adding sugar and water in that same ratio until it looks like I have enough syrup.
Once you have a good amount of syrup, transfer you pan to the stove and stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
Candying the Citrus Slices
With your citrus slices blanched and your syrup prepared, it’s time to candy! Lay the slices in the syrup in a single layer and bring to a simmer.
The time to cook will vary depending on your pan and your fruit. Plan to cook them for at least 10-20 minutes, but you can let them go for much longer.
The slices are done when they look nice and shiny and translucent. At this point they have absorbed all that sugary goodness!
Carefully remove the slices and place them on a rack or tray lined with parchment paper to dry. I like to let mine dry out overnight.
Once the slices have dried out a bit they are ready to use! You can use them as is, or coat them in a bit of granulated sugar so that they aren’t sticky.
Storage and Decorating
Candied citrus slices will keep for weeks in an airtight container, but I’ve never had mine last that long! If you coated them in sugar, they can all go into a container together. If not, you might want to lay the slices between layers of parchment or wax paper to keep them from getting stuck.
I used my last batch of candied citrus slices to top off a cake, but there are tons of ways you can use them as a garnish. The look very pretty whole or sliced on cakes, cupcakes, and even cookies!
You can also dip them in chocolate to enjoy as a stand alone dessert!
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