Recently I made an apple pudding from Sarah Josepha Hale, commonly known as “The Mother of Thanksgiving” in America. The recipe called for candied lemon peels. I’d never candied lemon peels before, so I looked at a few different tutorials online and read lots of reviews of recipes to determine the best way of going about it. After putting together the best aspects of each technique, I jumped right in and candied some peels.
Guess what? They turned out absolutely delish! I decided to post the tutorial here on my site. It’s a fun, economical food project that you can make with peels you might normally discard. They taste kind of like chewy lemon drops. My husband is addicted. Now that I know how to make them, I’ll be setting aside my unused lemon peels when I cook and reserving them for candying. Uncandied peels will last for about a week in an airtight Ziploc bag in the fridge. Candied peels will last for months, especially if you dust them in sugar. They’d make a super fun homemade food gift for the holidays… put them in a pretty Mason jar with a ribbon and a tag. You can dip them in white or dark chocolate for an extra special treat!
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How to Make Candied Lemon Peels
24 servings
15 minutes
1 hour
Parve or Dairy, depending on preparation
Description
Learn how to candy lemon peels with this step-by-step photo tutorial. Easy candy recipe, only 2 ingredients required.
Ingredients
- 4 organic lemons
- 3 1/4 cups sugar, divided
- A saucepan
- 4 oz white or dark chocolate (optional)
Instructions
Slice the lemons into four quarters lengthwise.
Peel the lemon flesh away from the peels. Reserve for another use.
Use a small, sharp-edged spoon to scrape the tough fibrous parts off of the inner peel, leaving a thin layer of white left behind on the peel.
Slice the peels into thin strips.
Alternatively, for thinner and daintier decorative peels, you can use a serrated peeler to scrape yellow strips from the exterior of the lemon peel. Cut those peels into thin slices.
Place the peels into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring the water to a rolling boil for 30 seconds.
Drain the peels in a colander.
Cover with water again. Bring to a boil for 30 seconds, then drain again in a colander. The boil and drain process helps to cook out any bitter flavor from the peels. You can boil and drain up to three times, but I usually only do it twice because the lemon flavor is weakened each time you do it.
When you're finished boiling and draining, pour 4 cups of water into the saucepan along with 3 cups of sugar. Stir with a whisk while the water heats, till all of the sugar is dissolved.
Add peels to the saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.
Reduce heat to the a low simmer. Let the peels simmer for 60-90 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Different sized peels will take different amounts of time to cook. The peels are ready when they're transparent and easy to bite through. Err on the side of cooking them longer, if you're unsure... undercooked peels will have a slightly bitter flavor.
Drain the peels. If you want to, you can strain the peels through a mesh strainer, letting the liquid stream into a jar. The leftover lemon flavored simple syrup can be used to flavor drinks and cocktails. It will be a thick syrup, and sugar crystals may collect in the jar over time. You can reconstitute the syrup by adding water and stirring over moderate heat if the syrup becomes overly thick.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the peels out in an even layer on the parchment. Let the peels cool for about 15 minutes till tacky to the touch.
Pour 1/4 cup of sugar into a small bowl. Dip the peels into the sugar till coated. Sugar coating the peels will add sweetness and help to keep them from sticking together.
Alternatively, you may let the peels dry as-is for a deeper yellow color and a gel-like texture.
Place the peels back on the parchment. Let them dry for 2-3 hours longer if they are sugar coated, and overnight if they are not.
At this point, you can serve them, or you can dip them in chocolate. For a batch of lemon peels, you will need about 4 ounces of chocolate (dark or white).
Melt the chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave for 60 seconds, or until you can stir the chocolate to a smooth consistency. Dip the candied peels one at a time into the chocolate, so they are coated halfway up the peel.
Place the dipped peels on a parchment-lined baking sheet and let them dry for 30-45 minutes.
These candied peels make a great homemade gift. They will last in a sealed jar for a few months. If you're jarring them and giving them away, I recommend sugar-coating the peels to keep them from sticking to each other. Thicker peels are more candy-like, and taste similar to lemon drops.
Thinner peels (using a serrated peeler) will dry curly and slightly crunchy. They're perfect for decorating daintier dishes like cakes and cupcakes.
The chocolate-dipped peels are a personal favorite of mine. I especially like the lemon peels dipped in white chocolate.
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taji says
I followed your recipe with just one tweak. I boiled the entire 1/2 of lemon peel instead of cutting them up before cooking them. Once I had finished that step, I folded the lemons and took scissors and cut the lemon peels to be in a round disk shape. It was far easier to remove the extra pith once they were already boiled. I put them in the oven at 200 degrees and dried them into a delicious chewy candy consistency. Both beautiful and yummy!
CB says
I haven’t tried this yet but I want to make my own mince pies so I will try this before I try to make the mince pies. (They will be gluten, suet, alcohol and orange free – especially orange as I am ALLERGIC) Trouble is I’ve left it too late this year so… it’ll need to be next year. If that works I’ll try making christmas pudding.
Georgette says
I love these. I’ve evolved a few variations. I thinly slice whole lemon slices. Don’t worry about pulp, pith or seeds. I’ve discovered that the white pith is actually good for soaking up the syrup. The key is to boil & drain 3x & also to cook long enough in the syrup. I remove to a slotted cooling rack & sprinkle with more sugar. And I use the syrup to make another batch for gifting. The lemon circles are so pretty. Thank you for the recipe.
Cass says
I made these, but got distracted and left them on the stove too long! It wasn’t a total disaster – the sugar syrup evaporated and left my shards of peel in crystals of sugar. I simply shook off the excess but then couldn’t decide what to do with the sugar. I used it to make my simnel cake, which turned out to be the best I’ve ever made! Win, win, as far as I can see.
Ruth says
I have used this recipe to make mixed citrus candied peel. I use the peel, chopped, in my Rosh Hashana sweet challahs along with dried cranberries and raisins. It’s an awesome mix.
Tori Avey says
Great idea!
Star says
Hello .. where do i find that crazy little spoon? It almost looks like its sharp like a knife
Ashley at ToriAvey.com says
Hi Star, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. I think you’re referring to the measuring spoon in the step-by-step images. It’s a double ended metal measuring spoon. One end is narrow so that it can easily fit into the smaller openings of spice jars. It may appear sharp, but it’s not! 🙂
Melody says
These were fabulous! I cut the strips quite thin because I was going to finely chop them for a cookie. I ended up letting them dry on the cookie sheet for 2 days before putting them in a container. I never added sugar because they were so flavorful! If I did these as a ‘candy’, I probably wouldn’t sugar them either before dipping in a light layer of chocolate. The one thing I’ve hated about candied peels is the overwhelming ‘sugary’ flavor which buries the citrus flavor.
hannah says
For me it was hard to peel but it turned out awsome
Gab says
Hi. I made your candied lemon peels (with home-grown blood orange peels) and I was wondering, is it possible to vacuum seal them for later use? I live in Australia and want to use them in Christmas cakes I expect to make several months from now. They’re very delicious. Like what we used to call fruit jubes in texture and with an incredibly intense flavour.
Tori Avey says
Hi Gab! I don’t have much experience with vacuum sealing, but I would think it would probably work well for this. The sugar is a natural preservative. But you might want to get a second opinion from somebody with vacuum sealing experience. Glad you like the way they turned out!
Gab says
Update for you: Used a combination of candied blood orange and lemon peels in an old-fashioned boiled fruitcake and WOW!! Took it to another level. Utterly fabulous. Everyone loved it. Thanks! (I added the peel as I folded through the dry ingredients. I thought reboiling with the other fruit might diminish the taste and texture). Clearly what I have left won’t last until Christmas. If only our citrus season was the same as yours… In case any of your other readers are interested, so far so good for the peels in the vacuum bags. They seem to be perfect 🙂
Anna says
They came out great. Thank you so much!!!! I’m putting them in small mason jars 🙂
Sherry says
I just got my first patch done…second patch is in the sugar syrup…for my first try they turned out great..can’t stopping eating them..even my husband loves them…I’ve wanted to make these for years but thought they were to hard to make..they are so easy…but it does take time..thank you for your recipe…first time to your web page…
Whitney says
I haven’t tried them yet as my lemon peels are still drying, but I already know this is going to be my new favourite! I’m literally addicted to lemon water and I always hated tossing out the peels. I thought about making a candied lemon peel before but didn’t think it would be this easy!
I’m thickening the left over syrup right now by boiling it longer and adding some extra sugar to try making candy covered grapes! Hoping it will be similar to candy apples. I’ll let you know how they turn out. Just a quick question though, have you ever used brown sugar and white sugar together or just brown sugar? I just did because I didn’t realize I had any white sugar left until I had already started using brown sugar. I still think it’s going to turn out great but again I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks for this!!
Tori Avey says
Hi Whitney, I generally use white sugar for this, mostly for color. I think brown should work fine in theory, but I wonder if it will set up as well as white. Let me know how it goes!