Recipe provided by Chef Crusco Catering in Austin, Texas
Ingredients
- 4 Navel Oranges – cleaned and 1/4 inch cut off the top and bottom
- 3 cups water
- 4 cups sugar – divided
Directions
- Peel the oranges vertically about 1-2 inches wide and 3-4 inches long (try to remove most of the white pith underneath).
- Bring a deep pan filled with 2-3 cups water to a boil. Once boiling, place the peels in and boil for 1 minute.
- Remove the peels from the water and discard the water. Do the same process 3-4 more times always adding fresh water brought to a boil. The more times you do it the less bitter the taste.
- In the same pan, bring 3 cups sugar and 3 cups water to a gentle boil on med-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar.
- Add the peels all at once, return to a boil and then reduce the heat so that it gently simmers.
- Cook the peels for 30-40 minutes or until the peels are very soft. Keep the leftover syrup to make our Citrus + Honey Simple Syrup which is perfect to make any cocktail that much better!
- Using tongs, transfer the peels to a sheet of parchment paper to dry. Best if done overnight but 2 hours is fine.
- Toss the peels in 1 cup of sugar so the sugar adheres to the peels. Let them sit in the sugar for a couple of hours.
- Remove peels from the sugar and dust off any excess sugar. Place the peels in an air tight jar for up to 3 months.
- Serve them as is with an espresso or even better dredge them in chocolate ganache. Enjoy!
