Homemade Candied Mixed Peel

Not to everyone’s taste and yes, it is easy and cheap to buy and us Cornish put it in just about all our baking. What would Heavy Cake be like without that citrus hit? But if you make your own, with one taste you will never go back. For the large jar [and a small tub] in the photo I used 1 red grapefruit, 2 large lemons and 3 oranges. The weight after boiling was 1lb 2oz plus you still have the fruit to eat of course, and I froze the lemon juice.

Peel some oranges, lemons and a grapefruit, making sure you keep the pith attached. Cut it into strips of about an eighth of the fruit. You want all the pieces about the same size. Place them in a saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Drain, then repeat 5 times more. But after the final boiling, cover the pan and simmer until the peel is tender. [I will admit this is a pain in the butt]. Throw away the liquid.

You now need to weigh the peel and in the pan add an equal amount of granulated sugar. Add a small amount of water [I used about ¼ pint] and bring to the boil, carefully stirring the sugar to dissolve. Simmer, very lowly, uncovered until you have a very thick syrup, which will probably take about 2 hours. Drain and cool.

Sprinkle caster sugar on a sheet of parchment [on a clean tray] and toss the peel in it until the peel is covered. Preferably in a single layer. Leave it overnight before placing in an airtight clean jar. 

A Great gift too. Will keep for several months in a cool dry place. My next post will be an old Be ro bake that uses the peel - it’s also great on ice cream!

Note: You can make just one flavour, if you wish.