Candied Orange Peel with Ginger

I bought three oranges today because I thought Jo might want to eat oranges and I thought I might use the zest from one of them to make more Bible Study Cookies. Nap time came around and I was free to do whatever I wanted within the confines of my home. I didn't really feel like making cookies anymore and I had neglected to set out butter so it could room temperaturize itself. I did a little web searching and it turns out that it's not terribly difficult to candy orange peels so I thought I would give it a try!

I couldn't just follow a recipe I found so I decided to add ginger to the mix. It seems ginger is the spice of choice when you're using a fruit that's a citrus or a peach of some kind. I think it paid off here, because these were delicious! This recipe might be worth doubling because this doesn't make too big a batch. I only had three oranges to work with so I had to mini-size this one.

Candied Orange Peel with Ginger

Ingredients
3 navel oranges
2 cups sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup water

Instructions
1. Wash the oranges well and for Heaven's sake remove the stickers. Cut the tops and bottoms off of the oranges and score through the peel only, dividing the outer skin into quarters. Remove the peel carefully and slice each peel segment into 1/4 inch strips.

2. Place the strips in a small saucepan and put just enough cold water in that it would cover them (if they didn't float, but they do so you'll have to eyeball it). Bring to a boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, drain the peels and repeat the same blanching process for a total of 4 times. This makes them less bitter and takes less time than it sounds like it would. Set the peels aside.

3. Combine the ground ginger and the sugar and stir to mix well. Add the 3/4 cup of water. Place this mixture in the same saucepan you used to blanch the peels and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 8 minutes and then add the peels. Reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until the peels are translucent. Do not stir at all - just swirl the pan if you want them to move around.

4. Drain the peels, roll them in more sugar to coat them, then let them dry on a rack for a few hours before you eat them all.