Recipe: Chocolate Candied Orange

I may have had a severe sugar overdose, and these were the cause of it - Chocolate Candied Orange!

I was flipping through some of my cookbooks a few days back, wrecking my brains over what I should make for the Cookbook Challenge this fortnight. 

The theme for this fortnight - Citrus. I bookmarked a few recipes, but finally decided on trying the following recipe by Darina Allen because of several reasons. Firstly, I was intrigued by the idea of candying citrus fruits. While I may have tasted store-bought, crystallized fruits, candying fruits at home was a totally new thing to me - I really wanted to try out a new cooking technique. Secondly, I've always wanted to make use of the citrus peels that ends up in the bin every time I make some orange juice or grapefruit juice. Thirdly, I wanted to make something with dark chocolate. And lastly, I didn't have to go to the shops because I always have these ingredients on hand:) I knew I had to try this recipe! 


Chocolate Candied Orange 

Adapted from Forgotten Skills of Cooking by Darina Allen

Ingredients:

• 5 oranges, scrubbed well
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 400g sugar
• 50g dark chocolate (I used 85% Dark Chocolate by Lindt) 

Directions:

1. Cut oranges in half and squeeze out the juice. Reserve the juice for another use, such as homemade orange juice or orange oatmeal. 
2. Put the halves of fruit into a large bowl (not aluminium), add the salt and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for 24 hours.



Soak it for 24 hours with salt water

3. Next day, discard the soaking water, put the fruit in a saucepan and cover with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer very gently until the peel is soft, about 3 hours.
4. Remove the oranges and discard the water. Scrape out any remaining flesh and membranes from inside the cut fruit, leaving the white pith and rind intact. Slice the peel into long strips or leave whole if you prefer. 
5. Dissolve the sugar in 250 ml of water, bring to boil, add the peel and simmer gently for about 30 - 60 minutes, until it looks translucent and the syrup forms a thread when the last drop falls off a metal spoon.

   

   It's simmering. I had to wait for 45 mins
6. Remove the candied peel with a slotted spoon.

    

   Candied Orange
7. Dip the strips of candied orange peel into melted dark chocolate. Arrange individually on a sheet of baking paper and leave to set.

Other Variations

• Cut the candied peel into 5 mm -1cm slices and roll in caster sugar and serve with coffee
• Instead of using oranges, Darina Allen also used grapefruit peel and lemon peel.

Storage

Transfer candied peel into sterilized glass jars. Pour the syrup over the peel, cover and store in a cold place or in the fridge. It should keep for 6-8 weeks, or longer under refrigeration

The Outcome

I was totally fascinated by the whole process of candying the orange peel, and the chocolate candied orange was absolutely divine. While I may love chocoIates, I'm usually not someone who likes adding sugar to my food. However, the sweetness of the candied peel grew on me, and I liked how it went so well with the coat of rich, dark chocolate. J and I had it along with our glasses of iced black coffee. I'm pretty sure this will be really popular amongst kids, and those with sweet-tooth!

As divine as it is, I'm not too sure if this is worth the hassle and effort. I have some doubts about the candying method used in this recipe. Why do we need to soak the oranges in salt water? Why must we simmer the oranges for such a long period of time? Is this the only way of candying fruits? I tried doing a search on the Internet, and it appears that there are candying techniques that are faster. I might study a little more about these candying techniques, and try a faster method next time instead! 


Do you have any experiences to share regarding the Candying technique?