Don't Throw Out Citrus Peels — Make Sweet Treats With Them Instead

I'm all about a zero-waste kitchen, but one thing I don't worry about too much is citrus peels. Why? Because mostly I just use lemons, and I eat the peels too. Weird, I know. But to each their own, and I'm not trying to talk you into doing it. What I will get on my soapbox for, however, is re-purposing citrus peel instead of throwing it out. There's a lot you can do with it, including making orange peel-infused olive oil and using zest to give your boxed cake mix a boost. It's also not difficult to make candied citrus peel, which can be eaten on its own or added to homemade fruitcake if you're into that kind of thing. (I use mine to make Victorian seed cake, instead.)

To make candied citrus peels, start by slicing the peels into strips, then covering them with water and boiling them for 10 minutes. Drain them, add more water to the pot, and boil for another 10 minutes. Repeat this a third time. This step is called blanching, and it helps remove some of the peel's bitterness. (If you're using super-bitter peels like lime or grapefruit, it'll help to blanch them a few more times.)

For the second step, you'll be using one part sugar and two parts water to every four parts peels. Combine the sugar and water and bring them to a boil. Add the peels and simmer them for 15 minutes, then remove them from the syrup and allow them to dry. Don't throw out the syrup, since it can be used for flavoring desserts and drinks.

If the above method of candying citrus peels sounds a bit too labor-intensive for you, you might be interested in exploring a 19th-century flavoring called oleo saccharum. The name might sound like medicine, but it's simply the Latin words for oil and sugar. It, too, is made from citrus fruit and water, although no water (or cooking) is required.

To make it, you start by peeling your citrus of choice with a vegetable peeler. What you want is long strips of zest without much pith, although you shouldn't use a microplane zester because that way you'd only get the sugar oil without the candied peel. Again, mix four parts of peel with one part sugar, muddling them gently to combine. 

Allow the mixture to rest at room temperature for a full 24 hours, at which point the sugar should have extracted sufficient oil from the peels to form a syrup. Strain the syrup, keeping it to flavor cocktails, sparkling water, or tea, and reserving the peels. These quick-candied peels may be slightly more bitter and less sugary than the ones made via the method above, but they're well-suited for baking, and can also be used to garnish a cocktail.