Orange Peel Candy

I was looking through one of my favorite food sites, foodgawker.com and came across a post from Hungry Cravings (I think her name is Lucy Vaserfirer). It brought back some good memories of my mother. She made these one year at Christmas and I have thought about making them again on and off through the years, but didn't know where to find the recipe. So, I fell in love with the idea of making them for memories-sake. I sent a link to my sisters and of course they knew right where the recipe was in the Joy of Cooking. Should have known, it was my mother's standby cookbook. But, I liked this particulatr recipe and they were fabulous! Candied Citris Peel 2 oz. citrus peel, cut into strips 1 cup sugar, plus more for coating Peel and remove as much flesh and membrane as you can before candying, blanching will take out a lot of the bitterness. Place the peel in a saucepan with 2 cups water, bring to a boil, drain. Repeat 2 more times. On the third time, bring peel, sugar, and 1 cup water to a boil and simmer for 16-18 minutes, or until the peel is translucent. Drain the peel and save some syrup for another use. (I added about a Tablespoon to a cup of hot chocolate, yum!) Spread the peels in a single layer on a parchment paper lined tray and let cool. Roll in sugar to coat. Keeps for about a week in a sealed container. I peeled 7 oranges, made about 2 cups of peel, filled my 2 cup pyrex measuring cup, and simmered in 8 cups sugar. Yikes, but so yum! I had some ulrtafine sugar that I rolled them in, but I think next year, or tomorrow, I will get some raw sugar. That might be yum, too. You can try this with lemons, lines, oranges, grapefruit and she even suggests kumquat slices. Enjoy if you dare! Happy cooking, Jenn