Candied Orange Sticks

I had a lot of peel left from making orange marmalade, not wanting to waste it, I had a thought that it could be made into candied chocolate orange sticks. When finished, I was told that I hadn't made nearly enough!!
Ingredients
- 4 oranges
- Sugar
- Caster Sugar
- 50 g good quality, 70% cocoa dark chocolate
Directions
- Wash the oranges.
- Score the peel of the oranges into quarters with a sharp knife. Put all of the oranges in large basin and cover them with boiling water. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, then drain and peel away the skins. Using this method, both the outer peel and the inner white pith will come away from the fruit.
- Put the peel into a saucepan and cover with water.
- Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook for an hour.
- Drain the peel and gently scrape out the soft pulp from inside the peel.
- Slice the peel into strips .5cm/1/4 inch wide.
- Weigh the peel, and then the same weight of sugar.
- Put the peel and the sugar into a small pan – the peel and sugar need to be quite snug in the pan.
- Add just enough water to cover the peel and then bring to the boil. Immediately reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer and cook until the peel is translucent and has absorbed almost all of the syrup.
- Remove the peel from the pan and spread it on a tray lined with baking paper. (If the peel tends to curl, carefully straighten them, place another sheet of baking paper on top and weight down with another tray overnight.)
- Leave at room temperature for at least 24 hours to dry out.
- Place a little caster sugar into a dish and then, adding a few strips of peel at a time, throughly coat each piece with the caster sugar.
- Alternatively, melt the dark chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler, and coat half of each orange stick with the chocolate and then lay on a tray lined with a new piece of baking paper. Place in the fridge to set.
Notes:
- Adapted from a recipe in The Preserving Book, (2010) L Brown, p156
- Try using other citrus, lemons, limes, grapefruit…
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