Have a strainer, slotted spoon, and large sheet pan lined with waxed paper ready.

Scrub the peels well, especially if your fruit has been sprayed or waxed. Dry gently with clean dishtowels or paper towels.

Remove the peel in large pieces. If the pith is very thick, gently scrape it away with a paring knife, tip of spoon, or your nail. You want to leave some pith on so the peels maintain structural integrity.

Using a sharp knife, slice the peel into thin strips. Think linguine or vermicelli. These need not be perfect–I managed it with Carpal Tunnel.

Put the zest in a small saucepan and fill with cold water to cover. Place on the stove and bring just to a boil. Strain immediately. Run cold water over the zest. Repeat this step one more time.

Leave the zest in the strainer.

Make sugar syrup: using the same saucepan, place sugar and water over low heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved.

Add zest to pan and bring to boil. Immediately reduce heat to gentle simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until zest is translucent.

Remove zest from pan with slotted spoon and spread on baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Allow zest to dry. Depending on where you live, this may take anywhere from 1-24 hours; I had best results allowing zest to dry overnight before storing.

Once zest has dried to your satisfaction–it will feel slightly tacky to the touch but not terribly sticky–place it in an airtight tin with the sugar and optional citric acid. Catherine Phipps recommends chopping or grinding the citric acid–I put it in a mortar and pestle. You could also grind it in a coffee grinder. It’s not necessary–citric acid is like salt or sugar–but it’s easy and adds a nice touch.

Keeps forever.

Use candied peel in or atop cakes, cookies (try it in shortbread), cupcakes, or ice cream.

Notes:

The photographs in this post reflect the yield when recipe is doubled.

I recently invested in a kitchen scale, allowing me to weigh in metric.

Citric acid is available anywhere home canning goods are sold. It keeps indefinitely.

Catherine’s recipe suggests allowing the zest to dry for about an hour. As it’s exceptionally damp in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had the best results with a 24-hour drying period.