Sicilian Candied Grapefruit Peels and Grapefruit Infused Caramel with Creamy Pine Nuts

Sicilian Candied Grapefruit Peels

Grapefruit Infused Caramel with Creamy Pine Nuts

I finally caught up with all the peels I had and candied 4 gallons worth of citrus peels. It's interesting to see the variations that arise because, perhaps I got busy doing something else and wasn't paying attention or the peel was a different variety of that particular citrus. In the case of the grapefruit, these peels were slightly thicker than the last batch and took longer to reach the point of translucency. My trick is I slow cook them for HOURS in the simple syrup over a very low heat after initially bringing it to a boil. In this case, the simple syrup became very thick and caramel like and gave a lovely coating to the tangy grapefruit peels. You’ll notice the color is much darker, more orangey than my previous batches, which stayed the color of the yellow fruit. While the flavor is generally intense, so much that it’s hard to eat more than 2-3 strips in one sitting, these are even more so, plus they’re chewy like caramel. I rolled them in sugar and left them overnight on the drying racks, but because of the thicker coating, I had to toss them in sugar again the next morning to lightly coat them.

Usually I save the left over simple syrup and add it to the juice I previously squeezed of that juice. I call it my “Rock Candy Lemonade or Grapefruit Juice” because it gives it that candy type flavor with the acidity of the juice. It really pops in your mouth and is quite refreshing. This time, because the sugar had cooked down, what remained was caramel..it just needed a little butter and cream, but this time I decided against it. I wanted that creamy flavor so I added pine nuts. I decided against toasting them because I was going for the texture of them with the flavor of the grapefruit. I tried it out before actually following through. It was creamy goodness in my mouth...a taste of heaven. In went the pine nuts...I poured it out on silpat and the next morning, cut them in squares, tossed them in sugar so they wouldn’t stick to the jar and filled it up.

The idea is no waste. Every part but the pith of the fruit is used as well as all the sugar. What’s left over from rolling...goes into the pot for the next batch of simple syrup. It becomes a system that works..and draws me into a zen like trance as I go through the process of creating the peels.

I will say, it’s nice to be done....before we go gleaning again...it’s time for a break and to focus on other creative vices.... but the results are delicious.

Sicilian Candied Meyer Lemon Peels

After juicing, zesting 100 of the 170 lemons, bagging, labeling and freezing, and of the remaining 70 Meyer Lemons, removing the pith, blanching, cooling, blanching, cooling, blanching, cooling, draining and then candying them in a bath of sugar for 65 minutes (yeah..I know it's 20 minutes more than I say so in my recipe)....then carefully hand rolling each slice in granulated sugar and then placing on drying racks and allowing to cool for at least 5 hours...I prefer overnight and into the next afternoon and then packing in glass jars.... I am DONE with the Meyer Lemon Peels. Now don't get me wrong..I am NOT complaining here. They are a time consuming labor of love and the end result is this spectacular burst of intensity in your mouth. I just hadn't planned on that many.

My sister-in-law, Kathy, is a gleaner. She goes to the Valley with a friend of hers and picks buckets and buckets of citrus from the abundance of lonely fruit laden trees. Some they give to shelters, some they give to friends and some they keep. This week, Kathy made my eyes pop out with her tremendous generosity of citrus gifts; Oranges, Meyer Lemons and Grapefruit; bags and bags and BAGS of fruit. How could I say NO....though I knew the work that was in store. I just can NOT throw out the peels... even if it meant that I were to zest at least 1/2 of them, which I did.There's so much juice that I pour it into labeled quart sized bags and stored them in our new freezer chest that we just purchased for the side of beef we bought from a friend in Durango, CO. Just before my friend, Harriet died, she asked us to come over and pick as many tangerines from her tree as we could, knowing it would our last time in all these years of enjoying this monthly invitation from her...and so in a combination of joy and sadness we did. Now we have tangerine juice to last the winter, peels to candy, which I prepped and then froze as well as enough zest for the months to come.

Tonight...I'm working on the grapefruit. Removing the pith is time consuming. I see recipes where people leave the pith on and some of the fruit or they take the fruit off and live some of the pith..but the true Sicilian way is to remove it all and then blanch and cool it 3 times to remove the bitterness. The beauty comes in as you're candying it and it's close to completion; when you see the transparency of the peel with the glaze of the simmering sugar, truly looks like a stained glass window. It's at that moment when I remember why all the other work was worth it; it's a work of art, the color of the peel so vibrant..truly beautiful to experience. I was hoping to get it done sooner so as to ship some off to a friend's mom who likes grapefruit...but you can't rush the peels... and so they will be candied on Tuesday and ready to ship out the day after Christmas...a lip smackin' way to start the new year!