If Life Gives You Blood Oranges, Make Candied Orange Peel

My students at an all boys school are exceptional in many ways, one of which is how they often take the initiative to pursue enrichment through extracurricular activities.  Sometimes, the boys design their own after-school clubs and ask a faculty member if he or she will host it. That is how I came to host the Cooking Club several years ago.

This past Friday my twelve to fourteen year old cooking devotees donned their aprons, washed their hands and readied their knives for the lesson of the day: How to make a Sicilian blood orange and fennel salad. Their bantering about food on this day and any other is nothing short of impressive. This little group is no stranger to terminology such as the locavore ethic, sustainable agriculture, slow food, and are knowledgeable about a myriad of exotic ingredients. They understand simplicity and authenticity in the context of food. Listening to their lively chatter as we sit down to enjoy the products of our labor, I smile to myself knowing they will grow to be men and fathers who will value the importance of sharing healthy meals with family and friends.

To practice what we preach, I asked the boys to save the peels from the blood oranges we used for last week's recipe. I know what you're saying. Blood oranges are not exactly locally grown; they come from who knows how many thousand miles away, but we used every bit of the orange and used the peels to make the delectable candied fruit one finds everywhere in Mexico.

Candied Orange Peel

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Gilda Valdez Carbonaro

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 1 hour 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour 50 mins

Serves: 8

This is the ideal thing to have on hand to chop up and add to a dessert bread such as the holiday rosca or pan de muertos.

Ingredients

• Five or 6 oranges or 5 oranges and 2 lemons


• Water in which to boil the orange peel and to make the syrup


• About 1 cup of turbinado cane sugar


• 2 cups regular sugar

Instructions

1. Cut into the citrus as if you were going to quarter the fruit, but don't cut into the orange or lemon itself.


2. Peel off the quartered peel.


3. Slice into strips.


4. Drop into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.


5. Drain and repeat two more times to remove the bitter taste, then set aside.


6. Dissolve the 2 cups regular sugar in 2 cups water, bring to a boil and add the peels.


7. Stir occasionally; when the syrup is almost completely absorbed (about 50 minutes), remove the peels and drain.


8. Spread the peels on a rack for about an hour to dry ( or in a slightly warm oven)


9. Place the peels in a paper sack with the turbinado sugar and shake to coat them with the sugar.


10. Spread them on wax paper to dry.