Candied Orange Peels Again

OK. You are probably thinking that I'm starting to get obsessed. Not really. At least not yet. We just had a lot of oranges lying around that I was almost certain were going to go bad if we didn't use them. And I was right. But anyways. I broke down the recipe a little and decided to take a new approach this time. Nothing drastic.

I picked a nearly flawless orange. Took my zester / peeler and went at it. I peeled all the way around the orange this time. Last time I peeled from top to bottom and as soon as I started it I realized I wasn't going to get nearly as many peels as I would if I just spiraled down the orange. Then I cut them down to 1" long strips.

Then I dropped them in a small saucepan, just covered them with water then stuck them on the stove to bring to a boil. As soon as they started boiling I took them off and drained them and rinsed with cold water. Basically I blanched them. This time I only did it once. Before, I did it twice. The recipe I followed says you can do it as often as you like. I then took the same small saucepan and put in my sugar water. The recipe is basically 1 part water 3 parts sugar. So that's what I put in: 1 cup water, 3 cups sugar. I stuck that on the stove and brought it up to temp: 130*.

Once it was up to temp I dropped in the blanched orange peels and walked away. Literally. I got too distracted and ignored them too much. The sugar dried up and I had to add more water. If I had paid attention it wouldn't have happened. But really you should drop them in and "walk away" for about 45 minutes but also keep an eye on them. Just don't stir them around.During this distracted time I took my orange and peeled it the rest of the way and enjoyed it and played online with my daughter (I swear, I think she knows more about the computer than me. Maybe she can help me with this blog). And like I said, when the timer went off, I saw that my sugar was all dried up. But no worries, I added one more cup of water and it was just fine. I heated it up just enough to dissolve the sugar crystals and then removed the orange peels, laying them out on parchment paper. I let them dry completely for 24 hours then bagged them up. I've been snacking on them ever since. I'm going to get some good tea and steep these orange peels in with my next cup of hot tea.

Speaking of tea. I took my sugar water and added one more cup of water to make a simple syrup of equal parts sugar and water and added it to my sun tea. There is nothing wasted when you make this.

“Affluence separates people. Poverty knits 'em together. You got some sugar and I don't; I borrow some of yours. Next month you might not have any flour; well, I'll give you some of mine.” --Ray Charles