April 9, 2009 - 7:12am
candied peel for hot cross buns
Hi,
I know I'm waiting til the last moment for this...and should have been enjoying hot cross buns for the last week or two instead of just drooling over JH's and FoolishPoolish's recipes.
Well, I'm trying to actually get down to it and am struggling to find candied peel (lemon, orange or combo). It's always readily available at Christmas time, but I can't even find it in grocery stores that bake their own hot cross buns.
Where have you folks been finding it? I've definitely left it too long for mail-order, so am looking for a possible local solution.
I'm in the greater Boston area, so if someone in Boston has found it recently.
Thanks!
MommaT
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Candied peel is not the best tasting stuff...but I do use a little of it...Im making my own as I have a lemon tree and easy access to organic fruits and veggies..try making your own or just add a little zest...but I would use only organic...especially when it comes to the skins of the fruit! You will find it has a much better even pleasing taste and it will not have corn syrup in it...which I try to avoid and will not buy anything with corn syrup in it.
Sylvia
It's easy to make your own; it tastes a lot better too, not to mention the cost!
--Pamela
I agree that it might be a bit tedious in the long run, but I never need peel from more than three or four large oranges. The juice made for wonderful orange juice this morning!
Hi Hans,
I have been soaking my peel in about a quart of water with 2 Tablespoons of salt...the brine soak softens the peel so very nicely...just rinse very good before boiling in the sugar syrup to get rid of any salty flavor..Im going to do this when making marmalade too...sure helps those long soaks to soften the skins...
Sylvia
I must confess I buy my candied peel from the store. Making candied peel was on my list of things to do before easter but I never got round to it.
Here's one of many methods I've seen: http://elrasbaking.blogspot.com/2008/01/quick-candied-citrus-peel.html
Cheers
FP
This recipe is pretty much how I make them.
--Pamela
Now I know what my project for the evening is!
Since I have organic oranges and lemons at hand, I'll make sure to have both.
I guess here in America, they don't use it in the hot cross buns so don't have it in the stores year-round. I was told (again) today...that's a seasonal item.
This sounds much better!
THanks,
MommaT
I gave up on finding peels around Boston. Instead, I bought some fancy-dancy organic oranges and lemons and made my own. Made WAY too much, but it was really easy. I used a Joy of Cooking recipe which used much less sugar than all the other recipes I found. I then saved the simple syrup and used it to glaze the finished hot cross buns. A lovely citrus boost.
Enjoy!
Hi smtucker, Nice idea to use the simple syrup for the glaze...I have so many lemons from my tree. We love lemonaide...so I used the pulp to make lemonaide and then the syrup really made it tasty and sweet.
Sylvia