Household Hints by Rosemary ~ Candied Citrus Fancies

I normally start thinking about Christmas around the beginning of November because we have to get our parcels and cards off to family and friends far away. Once this mind-set is in place I then collect all sorts of bits and pieces of crafts and cooking tricks to try out and perhaps use to fancy up our Christmas table, tree and decorations.
I do love to make citrus balls with oranges and cloves at Christmas and have lots of oranges left over. This year I'm determined to go a step further and make candied citrus peel. My nephew's fiancée uses it all the time and shared her recipes with me. All citrus fruit works very well with this procedure, oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruits, although I don't like the grapefruit as much as the others.
First wash and dry the fruit very well, then if you are lucky enough to have a citrus peeler, which I believe will peel the fruit in long thin curls, prepare the parings. If not you can use a potato peeler and take just the top layer of peel, otherwise, peel the fruit in wedges with a paring knife, scrape as much of the white pith away as you can, then slice the peel into very thin strips.
In a medium saucepan add about five ounces of sugar to about eight ounces of water and add the strained juice of the fruit. Stir the mixture to dissolve the sugar, bring the syrup to a boil, turn down the heat and add the peel; try to keep the peels from sticking to one another as it's just more appealing. Allow it all to simmer until the peel becomes very translucent. Don't stir the mixture during this stage as it will form sugar crystals and don't scrape the sides of the saucepan for the same reason.
Once the peel is translucent, strain the peel from the syrup, in a large zip seal plastic bag put about a half cup of sugar, add the peel and gently shake it until the peel is coated. Set the peel on wax paper and allow it to dry, which will take a while, or you can heat your oven to a low setting of 100°C, check every twenty minutes or so to make sure it's not browning. Once dry, seal the candied peel in an airtight container, use a paper towel as a base to keep the peel dry and store in the fridge. Sounds as if it's a lot of work, but it really isn't. Using orange, lemon and lime all together give so much colour.
I'm told the peel doesn't freeze well so you can only keep it for a week or two before using. It is wonderful for fancying up iced cakes or cupcakes, added to drinks, desserts, very fancy as a topping on the meringue on a lemon or key lime pie or as a garnish on almost anything. If it's coming to its “best before” date, chop it in smaller pieces and add it to a cake, cookie or muffin mix - delicious zing.