Candied Orange Peel, or Scorci 'Ncilippati: This method for candying orange peel will work with any kind of citrus fruit, and will provide you with the wherewithal to decorate cannoli, cassate, and pastries, and go into the fillings of any number of desserts, especially puddings.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- The citrus fruit of choice, ideally organic
- Sugar
- A kitchen scale
Preparation:
Begin by peeling citrus fruits, cutting the peels into thin strips, and blanching them (the individual kinds of fruit separately). Transfer the strips to cool water and soak them for 24 hours, changing the water repeatedly. Drain them well.Prepare a syrup by combining equal weights of sugar and water and setting them on the fire; when it begins to caramelise add the strips of peel and continue cooking for 5 minutes more. Pour the contents of the pot out over a marble slab greased with almond oil, let the candied peels cool, and transfer them to a glass jar.
Pino Correnti, author of Il Libro D'Oro della Cucina e dei Vini di Sicilia, says Henry IV of Navarre was had a tremendous soft spot for these candied peels, and quotes Massimo Alberini, author of Breve Storia del Dolce (A Brief History of Sweets; Mondadori, 1972), who says that Henry was unable to give them up even when he paid a call on Madame D'Etampes and realized he had been preceded by Martial Brissac, who was hiding under the bed. Henry was anything but an Othello; he stooped, holding out his candied citrus peels, and said, "Take some, Brissac, for we all have a right to live."
