Candied Lemon Peel

My favorite candied citrus peel is grapefruit, where you actually WANT the white part. To avoid bitterness, bring cold water and peel to a rolling boil. Drain. Repeat. For orange peel, I might do this one or two times; for grapefruit, 6 or 7. Taste it. When the peel is tender, cook it in the sugar syrup. It should be almost translucent. It keeps for weeks (months?) refrigerated – store it in syrup to keep it from drying out. I love this stuff. I candy my own orange & lemon peels for fruitcakes and other desserts.

I didn't have a problem at all with this recipe, and the lemon simple syrup that is left over is wonderful for lemon drop cocktails! In fact, I'm now using this recipe for making the syrup and not the other way around! Anyway, I prefer my candied peel to be dry and crunchy. So I leave it out in the air for a few days before storing it in an airtight container. While "curing", I shake the peels around a few times, to help separate them and keep them from turning into big blobs of candy. Once they're fully dry, they don't stick together unless they get damp. I also don't store mine in the refrigerator, but in the cupboard. Some people complained of bitterness. It is probably more to do with the lemons themselves and not with the recipe. The Meyer lemons I used are too thin-peeled to really get all of the pith off, and they came out fine. I just tried one more method for getting the peel in thin strips, without the rind. I used a citrus peeler (mine is attached to my zester, but if your zester doesn't have a peeler attached, you want the kind that bartenders use). I peeled the lemon in one long thin strip, spiraling around the lemon. If you have a spiral of peel left over, you can use your fingernail to peel it off. Make sure you chop the strips up a little bit, so that they don't get hopelessly tangled during the boiling process. I only chopped my pile into thirds, which is enough to keep most of the strips fairly long (if you want it that way) without tangling.

Delicious! I used a veggie peeler to get only the yellow portion of the lemon peel. This resulted in tender strips of peel. I minced the finished candied lemon peel and added it to the Lemon Icing recipe from this site. Yummy!!

If you have ever eaten commercial candied fruit peel, you will notice that they do not remove the pith! Do like several others suggested and blanch the peel in fresh water at least twice, for 10 minutes each time. This removes the bitterness and tenderizes the peel. When it's done enough, a toothpick should easily pierce the peel. Then make the the syrup with fresh water and boil for 5 minutes. Add peels and simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until translucent. Drain and let dry several hours before rolling in sugar to coat.

Perfect! I peeled the skin with a vegetable peeler. I used 4 small lemons (could have used 5 or 6 with just the peelings). No pith to peel. Not bitter at all. I boiled the lemons just once for 5 minutes. The key for me was the second boil in the sugar water. The directions state to boil until 'transparent'. This took about 20-30 minutes and the end result was evident as I tasted the lemon at the 10 minute boil mark and it definitely was not ready. The lemon peel was sticky so I dipped it in sugar and that made it easier to chop.

In a hurry making a gingerbread cake for the holidays and stumbled across this recipe ... it was quick and easy and garnished the cake perfectly ..... with a lil lemon curd sauce on the side . It was wonderful.

A very good recipe. I used orange peel and rolled in granulated sugar afterwards and dipped in milk chocolate.

So easy and so wonderful for decorating. I sprinkled them with sugar afterwards to give them a sugary look.

I made it exactly as said. I ended up with bitter peels and bitter simple syrup.

Really good, but harder to make than you might expect. It's not easy to get the rind cut into strips, and they are really sticky aftern coated with the syrup.

Very tasty, I'm eager to make more for the holidays. But I did notice one issue with this recipe. Instead of using the water for boiling the peels to make the syrup, you should discard the boiling water and use fresh water for the syrup. Otherwise the bitterness that you just boiled out of the peels will carry over into the syrup. Looking over the reviews, it seems that a few people had that issue. Cheers!

I absolutely love this recipe!!! After recently baking and frosting lemon cupcakes, I topped each with a couple of candied lemon peels. This is only the second time I've made candied lemon peel--the first time I used a different recipe. These were so easy and beautiful! I think the double boiling made them extra special! Also, I made them in the evening and the next morning I rolled them in sugar. I was planning on saving the leftovers for another use, but I ended up eating all of them! They tasted like lemon drops. I highly recommend using this recipe! They gave my cupcakes a nice look.

Amazing. I had never made candied peel before. And I sooo loved this. I did just as another viewer did, snagged a few pieces everything I walked by...but did give me a sugar high...but mmmm!!!. Now all the photos I saw and some suggestions said to toss the peels in sugar when drying and I totally did that. I also increased the batch by a half more with the water and sugar because I used 3 lemons and 4 oranges. And it totally worked out great. It dried in no time at all. And I'm totally impressed. I used the candied peel to decorate a cheesecake and used the simple syrup and made a glaze by adding some powdered sugar a little milk, a little yellow food coloring and a bit more lemon extract to give the simple syrup a kick because it was mild in flavor. And it was so yummy. This is a totally keeper. Thanks

YUCK! I cut all the white inner layer out and it was still bitter tasting and it was no where near tasting like candy. I followed the recipe exactly as it was written.

to give them a little more oomph for what I needed them for (decorations on a cake) I soaked them overnight in some of the simple syrup drained them then dusted them with superfine sugar and let them dry out, they were perfect.

Just awesome. I did what many, many others suggested and blanched them twice prior to simmering them in the sugar/water mixture. Also followed others' suggestion to use a vegetable peeler to remove the yellow part. Working the peeler from side to side in a gentle cutting motion offered the quickest and most complete pieces. Tossed in sugar after separating to let cool/dry out for a couple of hours. What a tender, delightful treat! I'll never look at citrus the same way again :)

This recipe very easy to use. I took the advice of some other reviewers and used a potato peeler to get my rind. I used both lemon and orange. Followed the directions as stated then let my pieces dry on waxed paper for a good 10 hours before tossing them in additional sugar to give it a nice dusting. The additional sugar gets rid of the remaining tackiness from the syrup and looks very pretty. These pieces will be adorning some citrus chiffon cupcakes I am baking in a baking contest today!

I used a vegetable peeler to make thin peels of lemons. I drained them very well and then dredged them in sugar to coat them. They dried quickly, looked great, and taste wonderful. A real hit as a decoration on the whipped cream topped lemon souffle cakes at the wedding shower -- everyone was asking for more of the lemon peels! THANKS.

Kind of an involved process, but worth it to give lemon cupcakes that professional-looking finish.

Very good!

DO NOT REMOVE THE SOFT WHITE PART!! No wonder your candy was bitter! The white soaks up lots of sugar, and is the best part in my opinion. Try using a thick-skinned citrus, as one reviewer suggests. It will come out much better!

Really fun to make and it's just like eating candy, but with a fresh citrus taste.

This is a lot of work for small results! The flavor is wonderful BUT..a) it is labor intensive and b) no way this cooks for an hour. DO NOT leave the pan unattended! In less than 15 minutes I scorched a pot and smoked up the house and I'm not a novice! Rewind.... start over. This cooks in about 8 minutes. A veggie peeler works best....flat against the edge of a cutting board will get most of the pith off the peel. Finished product is sweet candy and a perfect garnish for a lemon dessert.

Followed exactly and came out wonderful. Used others suggestions - peeler and cook in syrup 20 mins. Cut into thin strips first as want to use in baking. Made it soo easy

I WAS SURPRISED THAT THIS SIMPLE RECIPE WAS YUM-O...I USED SLICED CLEMENTINES...THANKS FOR SHARING!

Since I prefer less sweet and love Seville Orange Marmalade, I find less blanching is preferable to get that wonderful sweet bitter contrast. Don't be afraid to experiment to get the best balance for you.

This recipe worked beautifully, even with lemons with very thing peels. I boiled the peels for about 15 minutes the first time, though, as I wasn't certain that they were tender. The syrup is also quite delicious. Thank you very much for submitting a wonderful recipe!

This recipe is just fine- I believe that organic produce will usually take care of the bitter taste some folks complained of- I am excited to play around with this recipe- chocolate dipped sounds DELISH!

This was delish! I followed the others advice and left the pith on, it wasn't bitter at all. Edit: the last two times I made this, I used lemon and orange peel. Delicious!

Candied lemon mush would be a better description of my product. Very tasty, but my peels turned into mush after the 3rd boil. I first peeled, then scraped the pith with a grapefruit spoon, rinsed them twice to make sure to remove all bitter residue. After bringing to a boil thrice, i let them steep in the simple syrup (1 c sugar to 1 c water) for about 25 minutes. I really actually like the product, and perhaps I overcooked mine, but I expected more of a chew to the final product.

I thought these were going to be harder to make than they were. I felt like a fancy chef and all I did was essentially boil lemon peels and coat them with sugar. I'm totally making these again!

I tried this with one lemon, still following the instructions exactly. It didn't work, as the syrup burned a little even though the peel was still bright yellow. It tasted pretty good, although I would not recommend it with less than three lemons. I'll try that next time!

Surprisingly delicious! I used a citrus peeler, definitely easier than a regular veggie peeler. I blanched the orange peels twice and the lemon peels three times, main note was to do the syrup step with orange and lemon peels separate, otherwise the oranges taste quite lemony. Made the mistake of not reading it correctly, make sure to do the sugar syrup step at a ratio of 2 parts sugar to 1 part water (not 1:1). I then let them dry on a wire rack over night, with wax paper underneath to catch the drippings, then put them in a plastic bag a handful at a time with sugar, coated them perfectly and we couldn't stop eating them!

This made great candied lemon for Christmas stollen! A little more bitter than I was anticipating, but it is a lemon we are dealing with here! :)

Maybe it's just me, but this recipe takes way longer than what it says. I used orange instead of lemon and like so many other reviewers, I left the pith to give it some substance. I'm going on 4 hours and it's STILL not translucent.

Made these with lemons to top a lemon cheesecake for my girlfriend and they turned out amazing.

Thank you so much for your directions. I had the peels from marinating them in vodka for limoncello and didn't want to discard them. I skipped the boiling because they had virtually none of the white pith, just nice pieces of zest. I cut them into the right shapes and candied them from your directions. It worked PERFECTLY and they are delicious! Thank you! They will go on my lemon cookies served with lemon curd on the side. Yes, I have a HUGE Meyer lemon tree.

My Dad taught me how to make candied orange peel, which I make every year. I've wanted to try lemon though. The peels are better with pith left on, imho. I use navel oranges which have thicker pith. If you don;t want pith, use satsuma.

These were adorable adornments for my cupcakes and the taste was nice.

I remember having these when I was younger, but I couldn't remember how to make them, thank you!

I can't wait for the Holidays! This is going on every candy tray and in every sweets gift box this year. Incredibly easy, fast and tastes great! Recipe worked exactly as stated. Like other members, I put the peels in sugar and tossed for a second immediately after removing them from the pan. Placed on a rack to dry. I couldn't stop myself from picking a piece up every time I walked by. I'm so happy to have found this recipe. So many possibilities! Thanks for sharing! Update: Made the Beat and Bake Orange Cake from this site today and had orange peels leftover after zesting. I used the oranges in this recipe and it was just as delicious as the lemon. Next....limes!

I've used orange peel instead of lemon and they turned out perfect. I left them out to dry before putting them in a container; the portion I used in a recipe for stollen softened very nicely.

This was really easy to make and so tasty. Everyone loved it and it looked great on top 9 the lemon pie!

I tried this with some really plump and juicy limes. Because I wanted to use the juice, before I sliced into them I rolled each of them between my palm and the cutting board, to aid the juicing process. Then I cut them in halves and juiced them on a reamer. Then I turned each half inside out and removed the leftover hthtmembrane

Very tasty. I took a couple of suggestions from the other reviews and mine turned out great. I used a veggie peeler to get the peel off and then I boiled them twice in plain water before boiling them in the syrup.

This is great...I will be doing some that have some spices added and dipped in chocolate as Christmas Gifts. Its a baking year....

It's still a hit and a miss for me, but my husband loves them. I don't scrape the pithy part off. I leave some of the lemony stuff on them. I also use superfine sugar and put them in a plastic container w/lid and shake it up. My favorite part, is that I keep the simple syrup afterward. Rather than pour out all that wonderful sugar water, I strained it into a glass 2-cup measuring cup (I used a strainer because I didn't have any coffee filters). From there I stuck a funnel in a cleaned out used maple syrup bottle, and poured it in. Now I have a nice bottle of simple syrup for lemonade, tea, drinks, etc.

Made as directed then added 4 teaspoons citric acid and a teaspoon of lemon extract to really bump up the flavor. Dehydrated in the oven tossed in sugar. Super yummo!

I make this every year. Hardest to do every 2nd year, though because our lemon tree has a huge crop every other year--so far have done 2 bushels today and will do the next 2 tomorrow. I use some of the lemon juice in the syrup: 1 part lemon j. +1 part water +2 parts sugar. Love this stuff!!!

This was an easy and great recipe.

It is very labor intensive. I think this is a good recipe for lemon peels left over after you have juiced them or used the insides for another purpose. It's a fair bit of work to get the pulp and membranes off the lemon peel (I leave the pith attached). I boil 2-3 times, then simmer in the 1:1 sugar ratio. Takes a while to dry out. I agree, the remaining lemon syrup is amazing.

I found this recipe while searching for something to do with the lemon peels. I use lemon in my water, then when it starts tasting a bit bitter, I boil them to give the house a nice fresh smell but recently, I thought I could do more with my lemons and someone suggested candied lemon peels which led me to this recipe. I tried it right away and I will keep using it. They tasted lemony even with all the boiling. I can wait to try them with my lemon desserts. I will also definitely find a use for the lemon syrup. Thank you for sharing

Came out great. I boiled 3 times per directions and left in the syrup overnight. Sugared them the next day and put on cupcakes

This was fun, delicious, and easy to make. Thank you for the recipe!

I boiled 3 times and followed the rest of the recipe. I let them dry out before eating but they still had a bitterness to them despite the sugar. Maybe it wasn't the right type of lemons. I was bummed because I had some from Trader's Joe that were so yummy.

I made this recipe with orange instead of lemon (I had a ton of oranges). I'll do it again with lemon, lime and grapefruit! So good, even my picky husband loves them.

Never had candied fruit so I have nothing to compare the results. to. Just have a great crop this year.

I have made this a few times with lemon and oranges. Be sure there is no pith.

I loved it, following the instructions, and I will make it again when I use lemons, or oranges.

dip it in melted chocolate and it is amazing.

LOVED IT! It is a bit time consuming, but it very easy and the end result is sooooo worth it. I jarred some in the syrup for the fridge and dried some to roll in sugar...we literally could not quit eating it, it's soooooo good! I followed the recipe exactly and would not change a thing. I can't wait to try oranges too~YUM, YUM, YUM!!!!! Thanks for sharing. :)

If you make your own Hot Cross Buns, Mincemeat, Stollen, Fruit Cake, or anything else calling for candied peel, the home made version makes a huge flavour difference.

I make this recipe often. I love that I can make a yummy treat instead of throwing away the peel after juicing the lemons. I thinly slice the juiced lemons, this leaves a bit of the pulp attached but I think that adds to the candy. I find that if I boil the peel for at least 5 minutes each time I change the water it makes the peel much more tender.

This recipe is pretty vague. It took about an hour to get the pitch translucent. Other recipes said to let the rind dry on a rack overnight, then toss in sugar. So I did that. I used yellow cookie sugar cause I wanted to get rid of it. I only used 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar for 2 lemons. This made a huge mess of my stovetop. Make sure to use a deep pot

Very easy and came out great. Definitely boil the 3 x!

I used 2 cups of sugar to one cup of water and then simmered the peels for 45 minutes. Came out perfect!!

Yummy! I dehydrated it instead of leaving it, and it was a little chewy but the flavor was really good.

I boiled and put fresh cold water 4times instead of 3 times. I did lime peels and lemon peels. We did two lemons and one lime. Taste test soon.

It's awesome. I want to use citric acid to make it sour

I used a peeler to get strips of lemon peel. I boiled them twice , simmered them in a 1:1 simple syrup and then put them on a cooling rack overnight. I used a plastic zip bag to coat them with sugar and they are wonderful--not bitter and not too sweet. I will use them to garnish a freezer lemon cream pie.

I followed the recipe directly and from it I got some amazing tasting candied lemon. I should make this recipe again soon.

loved it

Just what I was looking for!

Super easy to make. Reduced the quantities but still worked a treat

I made it as described, just using the peels of 4 lemons instead of 3, and it worked great! My husband and friends loved it! Thank you!

This recipe turned out perfectly. I made freshly squeezed lemonade today & thought I would use the lemon peels to candy them, like my mom did when I was a kid. Turned out Delicious!!!!

I made this as written and the lemon peels came out very VERY wet. I let them dry on racks overnight (12 hrs). Still very wet. To wet to toss in sugar. Next they went in the oven at 200F and with checking up on them every 5 minutes, were in there over a half hour before they were dry enough that I could let them cool and toss in sugar. Next time, instead of a 1/1 ratio of sugar to water, as the recipe calls for, I'll do a 2/1.

I use these candied peels on top of my lemon pound cake. I was surprised the first time i served them how many people love candied peels! I have also used vanilla sugar to coat the peels.