This year, I learned what mixed peel is. Any good British person would know, but I am not British, and I was totally confused. Luckily, I have a bunch very good friends who are English and Scottish, and they helped, as did Google! Here's what happened: I read an intriguing-looking recipe for cinnamon star cookies from the Royal Family's website. First things first... the royal family has a website? And they publish cookie recipes? Does anyone in the royal family actually eat cookies? I read that they don't eat garlic, onions, rice, potatoes, pasta, or shellfish... I find it hard to imagine that cookies are on the yes list.
Anyway, the recipe for cinnamon star cookies looked very interesting. It's a gluten-free cookie made of almond flour, egg white, cinnamon, sugar, mixed peel, and lemon zest, covered with a beautiful white meringue that bakes on hard. But when I first read the recipe, I couldn't figure out what the difference was between mixed peel and lemon zest. (More to come on that recipe in another post.)
Turns out mixed peel is candied citrus peel and it's used in many holiday recipes in the UK. I've made candied lemon peel before, so the concept was pretty similar. I researched a bunch of recipes, but whereas you can make candied lemon peel in a number of hours, most of the mixed peel recipes required somewhere from 2-7 days of steeping time to soften the peel and remove the bitterness.
I ultimately settled on a recipe on the shorter side. Depending on how much lead time you have, you could simply let the peels sit in the syrup for longer, which would probably make them softer, chewier, and even more delicious, but I was really happy with how these turned out. They worked great in my recipe, and they're sort of fun to munch on. They keep for weeks, and if you freeze them, that increases to months. I'm not sure what else I'll use them for, but I will find something. Also, the leftover citrus-flavored sugar syrup is amazingly delicious; I'm not sure why anyone would want to throw it out! I stuck it in a jar in the fridge and have been using it in mixed drinks. Yum.
Mixed Peel/Candied Citrus Peel
Ingredients
5 average-sized citrus fruits (I used a grapefruit, a tangerine, an orange, and two lemons)
1 1/2 to 2 cups (10 1/2 to 14 ounces) sugar, divided
Cut the peel off the fruit in strips, leaving on as much of the white pith as possible. You can leave the peel in strips, but ultimately, you're going to want it to be chopped, so I decided to chop it from the outset into pieces about 1/4" square.
Place the chopped peel in a saucepan, cover with water, bring it to a boil, and reduce it to a simmer for 10 minutes. Drain the water off. Again, cover the peel with water, bring it to a boil, reduce it to a simmer for 10 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the water, and drain the rest. (You could actually do this a third time to reduce the bitterness, but I didn't, and it was still delicious.)
Pour the reserved water back into the pot with the peel, add 1 cup of sugar, and bring it just to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Turn off the heat and leave it to stand overnight. I put a pot lid loosely over it to keep it covered.
The next day, add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, and cook over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. If the syrup feels very thin, you can add another 1/4 or 1/2 cup of sugar and let it dissolve as well.
At this point, you can leave it to stew in the syrup for another day or couple of days, or you can be done. I left mine for another 8 or so hours, just for good measure. When you decide you're done, drain AND RESERVE the syrup. Put it in a jar and keep in the fridge for several weeks - you can use it in mixed drinks, make lemonade, brush it cake layers before frosting... I'm sure there are lots of options. Spread the peel out on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Let it stand overnight to dry. Stir it around from time to time to let it dry fully. If it's still not sweet enough, you can sprinkle it with a bit more sugar and toss it around. You want to let it dry completely, and then it can be stored in a tupperware, a glass jar, or in the freezer in a ziploc bag.
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