To be honest, I had never made candied lemon slices or lemon peel before, so it was time to try. The result was these delicious candied lemon slices. It’s the perfect topping for a cupcake, a lemon meringue pie, ice cream, a frosted cake or a dessert. Also a great gift for a lemon lover!
Making candied lemon is a very simple process and an easy recipe but it is time consuming. You start by making the citrus slices. Slice lemons either with a very sharp knife or a mandoline. You’re aiming for uniformly thin slices.
Then you need to blanch the lemon several times in a pot of water (a large saucepan or a large skillet will work as well), and it is important to change the water after each boil. You do this because it removes the bitterness from the peel; after all, nobody likes the bitter part of the lemon peel.
Next step is to turn sugar water into a sugar syrup. In the sugar mixture you bathe the lemon slices so that they are soaking up the sugar. You repeat this process several times while the lemon slices drain in a single layer on a rack to let the excess syrup drip away and the sugar syrup continues to thicken.
This is not something you do in one evening, but you can keep the slices for a long time. The drying process also takes some time so keep that in mind. They will still be a little sticky but that’s normal.
Are you going to make this candied lemon recipe? If so, I would recommend using organic lemons. I know they are a lot more expensive, but when you know what nasty chemicals are sprayed on regular lemons, the organic lemons will be worth the money.
Some time ago there was a documentary on Dutch tv showing where that shine from the regular lemons comes from! Not what you want! Depending on where you live you can use meyer lemons or another type of fresh lemons.
In a nutshell, candying is a way of preserving food. By cooking edible products in fat or sugar at a low temperature for a long period of time, they can be preserved for much longer. This applies not only to lemons, but also to candied duck (confit de canard), candied peel and candied ginger.
The method of candying with a sugar syrup not only makes it last longer, it also instantly transforms what you are candying into a kind of candy.
When you first start candying fruit, you will usually use the sugar syrup method as described in the recipe below. In fact, you can candy many types of fruit. In general, harder fruits are the easiest to candy. Soft fruits cook too easily in the sugar syrup and become mushy.
You can use this recipe not only with lemon slices, but also with other citrus fruit such as lime or orange slices. It is also very nice to just grate the peel of a lemon and then candy-coat it, this gives a more subtle effect (and flavor) for a lemon candy decoration. No matter if you’re using citrus peel, orange peel or lime this will make for beautiful toppings on so many baked goods.
Officially, the sugar syrup should be between 105 and 110 ˚C (220-225˚F). I personally have a sugar thermometer, but sometimes I do it myself without a thermometer. That’s fine as long as you’re careful not to turn the heat up to the highest setting. You want a low simmer or medium heat at most.
Yes, there is. And I like quick recipes, so I tried this method first. Instead of soaking the slices in the sugar syrup several times, you can make one sugar syrup and cook the slices in it on a low heat for about 30-35 minutes. The syrup is equal parts water and sugar.
The risk here is that the hot syrup will damage the flesh of the lemon slices or cause them to boil to pieces. Unfortunately, this happened to me the first time (see the first photo) and I think it’s a shame, so I haven’t described this method in the recipe.
The quick method works very well for candying citrus zest or julienned peel. Here you use a cheese slicer to scrape off the yellow part of the lemon peel and then cut it into thin strips. After blanching and cooking in the sugar syrup, the strips are stored in a jar with the sugar syrup. That’s a great way to quickly make a sweet treat to go on your desserts.
Yes. By blanching (thin) lemon slices and then candying them, the slices fill up with sugar and become sweet. However, I should point out that the lemon peel is at its best when it has become translucent, and this is best achieved by cooking it as described above. So take your time. And because you can keep it for such a long time just use extra lemons and make a lot. It’s a delicious treat that goes so well with loads of different dessert recipes.
The best way to store them is in an airtight container in the fridge. Candied Lemon Slices will keep for months.
I have no experience with this, I never have them in the house. Again, I would recommend trying an organic version. If you do try it, I would love to hear if it works with frozen lemon slices!
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