When going through many recipes for Christmas, I came across candied orange peel and candied lemon peel in every recipe. As we don’t get it here in Madurai, I thought of preparing it at home. I went through many blogs and all the recipes were similar with slight variations. So my preparation is a combination of the recipes I read. The process is quite simple and the time consumed is only for drying the peels. I started with 4 oranges which gave me a box full of peels. When chopped they came to 1 cup. I used my induction stove and set the timer so that I don’t forget the peels. It was interesting to prepare and I enjoyed it. I also used it in my bakes. As this is the first time I am using candied peel in my bakes, I was not sure of the taste it would give. It was full of orange flavour and had a crunch to it while biting through. I think I will do this often.
Ingredients:
Orange-4 nos
Sugar-1 1/2 cups
Water-3 cups
Granulated Sugar-1/4-1/2 cup for coating
Procedure:
1. First cut off both the sides of the orange to make it easy to peel.
2. Then with a serrated knife carefully cut the skin along the length with out cutting the fruit.
3. Make 5 cuts for an orange.
4. Carefully remove the peel from the fruit. You will end up with 5 segments in each orange.
5. In a pan add water and the peel and let it boil for 10 minutes. This is to soften the peel and remove the bitterness. Some blogs suggested boiling three times. But I did it only once.
6. Now drain water and remove the peels. Allow them to cool down.
7. Slice each segment into two for easy handling.
8. With a sharp knife, remove the white coloured pith from the peel.
9. In a pan add sugar and water and bring it to boil.
10. Add the peels and reduce flame to medium low.
11. Cover and cook the peels for 30-45 minutes or until the peels look shiny and glossy.
12. Remove the peels and place them on a wire rack.
13. Allow it to dry for 6-8 hours. They will be very sticky. So you need to dry it. The blogs I read suggested drying the peels for 24 hours. But as Madurai climate is hot, the process of drying took very little time. The peels need to be little sticky so that the coating sticks to it.
14. Take granulated sugar in a bowl, roll each peel in the sugar so that it coats the peel.
15. Dry it again over night to completely dry.
16. Store in air tight box and use as needed. This measurement gives approximately 1 cup of chopped candied peel.

Candied Orange Peel Recip
Ingredients
Ingredients
- Orange-4 nos
- Sugar-1 1/2 cups
- Water-3 cups
- cup Granulated Sugar-1/4-1/2for coating
Instructions
Procedure
- First cut off both the sides of the orange to make it easy to peel.
- Then with a serrated knife carefully cut the skin along the length with out cutting the fruit.
- Make 5 cuts for an orange.
- Carefully remove the peel from the fruit. You will end up with 5 segments in each orange.
- In a pan add water and the peel and let it boil for 10 minutes. This is to soften the peel and remove the bitterness. Some blogs suggested boiling three times. But I did it only once.
- Now drain water and remove the peels. Allow them to cool down.
- Slice each segment into two for easy handling.
- With a sharp knife, remove the white coloured pith from the peel.
- In a pan add sugar and water and bring it to boil.
- Add the peels and reduce flame to medium low.
- Cover and cook the peels for 30-45 minutes or until the peels look shiny and glossy.
- Remove the peels and place them on a wire rack.
- Allow it to dry for 6-8 hours. They will be very sticky. So you need to dry it. The blogs I read suggested drying the peels for 24 hours. But as Madurai climate is hot, the process of drying took very little time. The peels need to be little sticky so that the coating sticks to it.
- Take granulated sugar in a bowl, roll each peel in the sugar so that it coats the peel.
- Dry it again over night to completely dry.
- Store in air tight box and use as needed. This measurement gives approximately 1 cup of chopped candied peel.
its looks colorful n must me tasty..
Melting Cookies – Low fat version
VIRUNTHU UNNA VAANGA
Hai…
R these oranges the imported version??? will the taste be same if we use the peel of normal oranges that we get in indian markets.(btw… i’m from mumbai). after removing the pith can we dry(say.. pat with a dry towel) and cut into small pieces and use as zest…?
i visit your blog … very intersting space. i get to see plenty of eggless bake recipes.
regards… Valli.
Hi Valli, I tried this with imported oranges. The variety we get in India has very soft peels. And also they don’t have a thick layer of white pith as imported ones. So you can just boil it thrice and boil in sugar syrup. As for zest, boiling will take away the freshness so you try grating the fresh peel. And thanks for nice words..
Hi, only the Indian variety is available here. How do I vary the recipe in that case? Also, can I process ginger the same way.
USe that orange itself. There will be no difference in the preparation. I haven’t tried candied ginger, so couldn’t advice you on that..
wow these look so good 🙂 love the fact that the orange color is prominent
love the color!!! so from the above comment, I understand that we need to use imported variety of orange… can you tell me the orange name you used?
Sowmya
Ongoing Event – Let’s Party – Eggless Bakes and Treats
Ongoing Event – SYF & HWS – Ginger
Sowmya, Here we get only this variety and they call it imported orange.
Wow,love the colour,looks very nice gayathri!!
Lovely post gayathri !!!!
wow …you rock gal! very brilliant idea….thanks a bunch for sharing and b/w the clicks are awesome….
SYF&HWS – Cook With SPICES” Series
South Indian Cooking
very interesting to make your own orange peel.
Nice recipe.. I have bought pleanty of oranges .. should try this out!
Love the chocolate dipped orange peels very much. Even i prepared some recently and finished the whole box just like that, my daughter named its as mouth freshner..lolz.
These look gorgeous. I like the special taste orange zest gives to various dishes.
Woow looks beautiful
Wow this is a very informative post and thanks for sharing it here.
I always grated the orange or lime to get my zest but then when they ar enot in season I am in a soup so this is bookmarked Gayatri. Thanks
Just was googling for homemade candied orange recipe and came across yours… Most of the christmas bakes calls for this. Very useful.. Thanks for sharing this recipe..
very useful post.Its tedious to look for such stuff so can make them and store them.
Looks yum…love it…
wow, simply amazing…I’ve been on the hunt for a good candied orange peel recipe myself and used orange marmalde for my cake as I couldnt find easily any candied orange peel even here in US. Thank u so much! Its looks perfect.
Regards,
Manju
http://manjuseatingdelights.blogspot.com/
Hi!!!!
candied orange peel looks great!!!!!!lovely recipe.
interesting one, will definitely try someday!
Can I steam them in a pressure cooker? If yes, any idea how long it would take?
It would save me some time and gas 😉
It is a slow cooking process Divya. I don’t think pressure cooker will produce the same…
Thanks for the lovely recipe Gayatriji but I have One doubt . If I am boiling the peels for so long in sugar syrup the syrup gets thicker and starts to burn . How can I avoid this over thickening of syrup?
Thanks for this wonderful recipe Gayatriji. My doubt has been taken care completely as I started to cook the peels in syrup. The peels have come out nice and glossy . I think the recipe I was trying to follow earlier had some problem. Thanks again.
Hi.. thanks for d recepie.. bt I hv a doubt.. hw should d end product taste?. Mine tastes lil bitter in d end.. should it be dat way? If nt, can u tell d reason of bitterness?
I you have completely removed the white pith then it should not be bitter. It has as strong citrus taste and it is quite tangy..
As it was an indian Orange it was difficult to remove d with pith bt did as much possible.. maybe dats d reason for bitterness. Nz thanks for reply