Candied Tangerine Peel

I originally got the Buddha's hand citron because it was OMG SPECIAL at the nearest Harry's Farmer's Market. It smelled good. Looked cool. Rare, even. Impulse purchase.

Regret. But in the process of coming to this realization that candying the citron was the way to go, I wanted to make a test batch. With tangerines! Well, they were nearby and I didn't want to mess of the citron by doing it wrong.

So........what did I do? I just took a carrot peeler to the fruit and peeled it until it was a white ball. Three of them, actually. Here're the steps for the word-problem impaired (me).

1. Peel the citrus. Don't bother including the pith in the first place. Not worth the trouble or the risk of it making bad tasting candy. Enjoy the actual fruit at this point :D

2. Boil the orange peel shavings you now have. Until soft. But NOT mushy. Mushy is bad. 45 minutes is probably on the "too much" side of done.

3. Strain it. Boil it again and strain it if you're a perfectionist, but the peels need the boilwater off them at this point.

4. Boil in "simple syrup". 2 parts sugar, 1 part water. Just keep boiling. Taste test with COOLED pieces occasionally until it's good for you. My batch took 30 minutes.

5. CAREFULLY strain the peels from the syrup. Do NOT get burnt. Let the peels cool and they're safe to eat!

6. If you used a mesh strainer, it's easy to "sift" the solidified sugar syrup off the mesh and onto your peels. Makes it look pretty, and .... hey .... more sugar can't hurt.

Notes: DANGER WILL ROBINSON. Boiling sugar is BAD for your skin. And fight the urge to taste test the runny syrup you strained. It's runny because it's BOILING HOT. HOT. Did I mention that it's HOT?  Using grapefruit peel at a much later date failed for reasons of my own incompetence.  If you try doing it with grapefruit, understand it will be much more bitter.  Alas, I can't be precise, as I managed to burn it and aaaalllllmost destroy a favorite pot.

Reaction: 75% awesome. 25% too bitter. Understandable - it's peel after all. I'm in the 75 by the way.....