The salt water step is new to me too. At first I thought it was to remove the bitterness but that's probably taken care of through the blanching steps. I must admit I have no clue. The peels look great!

Hi,
I remember my Mother making these, and the aroma in the house was delicious. I am on the South Beach Diet and would like to make them again as a little treat, but need to know the calorie and Carb count of RIND. If really low I's like to try using SPLENDA insted of sugar.
Mom would simply boil the rinds, scrap the pulp when cool enough to handle, roll til nearly caked in granulated sugar and dip the ends in bittersweet chocolate. We loved them.
Appreciate any information you can find on carbs and calories.
Thanks so much, Annie
:)

nutritiondata.com shows 3 cal/tbs for lemon peel and 6 for orange. As far as using Splenda, I'm learning from experience (and their website) that there are things it cannot do. I think this is one of them. Maybe you could try 25% Splenda, but I suspect that this is a job for portion control.

I was thinking of making candied orange and lemon peel. In the interest of time, I'm considering cooking the two peels together. Or would that mess with the flavors of both?

Scraping the white out of the peel - what an horrid waste of time. It is all veggie, and after sugaring, and chocolate wrapping, it all goes down with a smile.
Cut peel off fruit, I do four segments, juliene in3/8 width strips. cover with water, bring to boil, three times. This is to eliminate the bitter of the citrus oil. After pouring water off the third time, cover with sugar, I use 1 1/2 cup granulated per grapefruit. Bring to boil slowly, maintain boil until begins to sugar serious on side of pot. let cool a minute or two on pot lifter pad, lift out of pan, I use chop sticks, put on rack to harden, sugar out. Wrap in DARK chocolate, I use Wilbur coating with 20% added baking chocolate, gives character. Hide from bride, enjoy.

The reason for soaking in salt for the first 3 days, as I understand; is to preserve the skin and to soften it so that the last stage of cooking in the sugar syrupy becomes fast.
One needs 100 grms of salt for every liter of water.
1 liter = just under 2 pints (450 ml = 1 pint)
100 grms = just under 4 ounces.
One is suppose to change this salted water on a daily bases; to be repeated for 3 days.
Wish me luck as I attempt my first batch.
Clare P H

Hello. This is my first comment, but I'd like to say I've been a big fan of your site for several months. I just found this recipe here and wanted to comment about the salt water, especially since the last comment kinda lost me with the 3 days bit.

I've never heard of brining anything but meat before, or for doing it anywhere near 3 days, but I do it all the time to meats - soak overnight in a cooler - or a big bowl in the fridge - full of cold salt water (& ice if using a cooler). In a nutshell, it allows the tissue to retain it's moisture during cooking. (The science can be found here for the curious; all I need to know is it makes my turkeys, hams & roasts extremely juicy and tender. We've even brined ribs before popping them in the smoker... delicious.)

Anyways, I haven't made my own candied orange peel yet, but I encountered some in the past that was like shoe leather, it was so tough & rubbery. So when I looked up your recipe, and saw the salt water bit, I thought... maybe the reasoning could be along the same lines as brining meat, so the peel would be very tender when it was done?

No idea if this is THE reason, but it's just a thought I wanted to share. I have a recipe for a pound cake that calls for this candied peel as part of the topping, and I will be trying your recipe for it. :) Thanks for keeping up such a great site, and sorry for the long post!

I have been absolutely addicted to making candied citrus peel this winter. I use organic fruit and after initial success with orange and grapefruit my mind went to mandarins, tangerines, and don't forget kumquats! A fun discovery; I tried rolling the finished grapefruit in a sugar/salt mix. For anyone who likes a little salt on their grapefruit, this is WONDERFUL. I use the orsa salt, which is quite fine and actually good for you. Nevermind about the sugar...

I am interested in trying the step of soaking in salt water, my grapefruit did tend to be on the tough side so maybe that would help.