Roll up your sleeves: candying grapefruit peel

I wax rhapsodic about citrus in winter. It really is one of my favorite things about this season. And I've learned so much, and I'm still learning. One of the things that is key to what I've learned, is that EVERYONE loves citrus of some kind, and everyone has a favorite. People who don't care for grapefruit love oranges, people who don't like oranges love blood oranges, and so on and so forth.

Today, we are jaded by the prices we pay for citrus. How many times have you said something like "four for a dollar? NAH. They have them six for a dollar down the street." Well, it wasn't always like that. Citrus were always considered precious, because getting them to climates where they did not grow was a feat worthy of being called a miracle. So they were expensive. To give someone an orange was a gift of true love. Indeed, IF you were a good child all year, you would get an orange in your stocking at Xmas. In the original Cinderella, the thing that wins the prince's heart is when Cinderella gives her orange away to her evil stepsister, because there aren't enough to go around (Cinderella takes place in a cold climate. Probably Russia. T hink about getting oranges to Russia, from Italy, in the 17th century). So all kinds of strategies were developed by cooks to use every part of the citrus. This manifests itself, for example, in Shaker lemon pie, where the whole lemon, not just the juice, is used. And it also manifests itself in this labor intensive, but wonderful confection, candied grapefruit peel.

The first time I made this for people, anyone my age or thereabouts, or older, widened their eyes and said something like "My mom used to make this EVERY YEAR. I missed it." People who didn't have that tradition but tasted it, loved it. Indeed, the crossing of bitter and sweet, with citrus notes, is wonderful. And it's a way to use up all those peels. They weigh a LOT. So, rather than compost them, use them to make this. But I warn you: you are going to need a candy thermometer for this (you can get them cheap), and it's going to take a w hile to do. Trust me, the end result is worth it. I'll give you a little of what I do, but not a lot. I have a lot of people to make happy with this stuff.

Ok, so you start with 3-4 grapefruit. Squeeze out the juice and either drink it down (it's SO good), or make something with it. Make curd, for example, or sorbet, or use it for marinades. Do something.

Now, the work begins. If you cut the grapefruit in halves, half them again to make quarters. Put these in a pot, cover it with water, and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about fifteen minutes. Drain it, and let it cool. BE PATIENT. Then, with the back of your knife, scrape off all of the white pith and anything else that's left, and then cut the peel into long strips, maybe a quarter inch wide. You'll have a lot of them.

Put this under water, bring it to a boil, and cook for ten minutes. Then drain, and repeat the process two more times. You will have cooked the peel a total of four times. You need to do this to get most of the bitterness out. And to soften it, for the candying process.

Now, get the strips into a pot with four cups of sugar, and two cups of water. Bring this to a boil, to dissolve the sugar. You keep the grapefruit in with this. The sugar helps to cure it. Now you start simmering to the point where the syrup is at 230. Here, the chemistry of sugar is interesting. You will get to the boiling point of 212, very quickly. Those 18 extra degrees will take a while. Probably on the order of 30 or 40 minutes. And you MUST get to that point, or the sugar will not "take" properly, and your candy will be a mess. At 230 (use the thermometer), take it off the heat, and let it cool completely again. You may have a lot of syrup left over, and you may have almost none. It very much depends on so many things that it's impossible to predict. If you have extra syrup, save it and drizzle it on cake . It's delicious.

when the peel is cool, get out your baking sheets, line them with paper, and get the peel on it, in single strips. Try not to let them touch each other, and let it cool in the air until it's just barely tacky to the touch.

When you get there (and how long will depend on how much moisture is in the air), get some more sugar and just toss the pieces in it, until they're coated. Then store it in a dry, metal tin. It will keep forever.

What you will see during this process is a color change, as the peel goes from grapefruit yellow to a very interesting, complex pink color. The peel is just toothsome enough to be interesting, and the combination of bitter and sweet is terrific. Some people like to dip this into chocolate as well. I prefer to leave it on the table, with bittersweet chocolate, because some of us like our citrus "straight."

You have made a candy out of water sugar, and , literally, garbage. You would have thrown those peels out, right? Some years ago, I read an article about a woman who made and sold the stuff, at 64 dollars a pound, and the author said it was worth it. I laughed. Grapefruit peel, sugar and water, 64 dollars a pound. Of course, your labor counts. I will probably candy somewhere between 12 and 15 grapefruit this year, using this recipe . Put the strips in a mixed assortment of your goodies, or if theres someone REALLY special, give em nothing but this. If someone gave me a tin of candied grapefruit peel, I would treat it as a true expression of absolute love.

I'm waiting....