Candied orange peel

Continuing with my Christmas hamper preparation, I made candied orange peel. It was a lot more simple than I thought it would be and they taste delicious! Remember those little cake decorating jellied citrus slices? They kind of taste like those, but they're real fruit! There is some discussion about how many times you need to boil the peel (each time reduces the bitterness). I boiled them three times using navel oranges and they turned out well - sweet but with a slight bitter twist in the rind. I originally thought the pith would be the bitter part, but that turns wonderfully sweet and the rind retains the orangey bitterness.

I must have a thing about oranges... (chocolate orange creams and chocolate-orange-fondant chocolates). I had to resist covering these in chocolate too!

Candied orange peel

3 navel oranges
3 cups caster sugar (plus extra for rolling the strips in later)
1 cup water

Score the oranges into quarters and peel. Reserve the peel. Cut the oranges into halves and squeeze out the juice (we had this fresh orange juice with breakfast the next day - yum!). Cut the peel into strips and add to a pan of cold water. Bring the water to the boil and boil for 5-10 minutes. Drain off the water. Repeat this blanching process three times to reduce the bitterness in the pith.

After draining the last lot of water, add the sugar and 1 cup water to the pan with the piths. Try to avoid stirring, although it may be necessary to ensure that all the orange peel strips are covered. Bring the sugar syrup to the boil and simmer for 1 hour.

I found towards the end of the simmering that some of my oranges had stuck to the bottom of the pan and coloured a bit more than I would have liked (i.e. burnt slightly!) so check on them towards the end.

Drain the syrup off the peel into a bowl and after leaving to cool for a couple of minutes (any longer and they start to set and stick together) roll each peel strip in sugar and set aside on a cooling rack covered in greaseproof paper to cool.

Store in an airtight container for 4 weeks.