Hard Candied Lemon Peel
This is the first time that I have made candied lemon peel, and I have to say it was quite fun! You can make this confection as something that is soft and chewier, or hard, depending to what stage you cook it to. I made mine hard, I just wanted to see how it would come out. It tastes great! Here is the recipe:
6 lemons (approx.)
1 ½ c sugar
1 ½ c water
6 tbsp. light corn syrup
Granulated or extra-fine sugar (used to coat the candied peel)
Step 1: With a sharp knife, score the skin of the lemon into quarters, then peel it off with your fingers. Keep the white pith attached to it.
Step 2: Lay each quarter of the skin on a cutting board and with a heavy knife, cut on the bias, in uniform strips about 1/8 to ¼ “ wide. You should end up with 3 cups of strips.
Lemon peel slices
Step 3: Place the peel in a saucepan and cover with a generous amount of water. Bring to a boil, cook for 1 minute then remove and drain. Do this step 2 more times. After the 3rd time, replace the peel in the saucepan and cover once again with fresh water. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. Then drain and set aside.
Boil the peel
Step 4: Next make the syrup: combine the sugar, water and corn syrup in the saucepan. Boil for about 2 minutes. Add the lemon peel. Simmer briskly, stirring occasionally until the syrup is considerable reduced, then watch constantly.
Syrup
Step 5: Now decide on whether you want the candied peel tender – cook down until there is about 2 – 3 tbsp of syrup left. For medium-firm – leave only a spoonful of syrup before removing, and candy-like peel – cook until the syrup is on the point of hardening (or hardball stage) Note: When it is close to hardball it starts cooking up quickly. Watch it closely so that there won’t be any scorching.
Boil Peel in Syrup
Step 6: Take a fork and arrange the candied peel on a bed of sugar on a jelly-roll pan. If you’ve cooked it to hardball stage, this is a little difficult. I had to spread it little by little, and let it cool some. I then pulled pieces apart with my fingers, they worked better than the fork. But be careful, it can be hot!
Step 7: Keep tossing it in the sugar until cooled. If you did the soft peel, place them on cake racks and leave them to dry. I was able to place the hard candied peel into a jar fairly quickly.
Store in a Jar
You can store in bags or jars closely covered. This makes great gifts! Enjoy!
