Candied Lemon

In my last post I talked about making delicious lemonade. Doing so creates an excess of lemon peels. Normally I would simply add them to my compost bin, but before I did so something popped in my mind. The memory of delicious candied lemon peels. These are one of my favorite treats, and every time I am at a chocolatier shop without a doubt I get candied citrus peel (usually orange) dipped in dark chocolate. While I didn't have the chocolate, I thought candied lemon peels by their selves would be just as good.

Ingredients:

• 3 to 4 lemons washed
• 2 cups sugar 
• 1/2 cup sugar 

Directions:

1. Remove the peel from the lemon in vertical strips trying to leave off as much white pith as you can. 
2. In a small saucepan combine the peels with 2 cups of cold water and bring to a boil. 
3. Immediately drain and refill the pan with water. 
4. Repeat this process two more times to remove the bitterness from the peel. 
5. After the third dunking remove the peels from the pan. 
6. Measure two cups of sugar into the saucepan and add one cup of water. Set over medium high heat.
7. Bring to a boil and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. 
8. Drop in the peels, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer uncovered until the peels are tender and translucent. 
9. Drain and cool the peels. Keep the syrup for other uses. 
10. Place the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar in a large bowl and add the peels. Toss until peels are thoroughly coated. Take one peel out at a time shaking off excess sugar. 
11. Store in an airtight container. Keeps for several weeks in an airtight container. 
    
    
    

Making the lemon peels was a fun process that was easier than I thought it'd be. The only difference from the above recipe was using the water I'd boiled the lemon peels with. Because of that I used four cups of sugar. This resulted in two mason jars of lemon syrup. The peels were also wet, so I let them dry for a few days on my counter on parchment paper before putting them in the container. 

As of now I have not used this syrup, but I am excited to try it! The website I found the recipe suggests that I use them in iced tea, but I think they'd be delicious on vanilla ice cream. Any suggestions on what to use this on? The peels themselves are delicious, and maybe in the future I can try my hand at melting chocolate to make my own gourmet treats. 

Overall I give this recipe a 8.7 out of 10. 

Recipe source: https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/candied-lemon-peel?fbclid=IwAR0jzrDgWrO8kxXNIZcuf__tcjwWUAtdEi7fVHT4gEVJ7uDdKUPCcoDdMEw