Today is Celebrate National Candied Orange Peel Day!

Now, this is a day that I could celebrate - National Candied Orange Peel Day!  I think I would like Candied Orange Peels.  I like orange marmalade, so it can't be a step too far to enjoy orange peels that are cooked in sugar.
I may try making them.  Maybe I should put "Make candied orange peels" on my "When I retire I'm going to do this" list.

Did you know that oranges supply lots of potassium?  The peels don't have any, but eating the oranges or drinking the juice you've squeezed from them gives you potassium AND the ingredients for candied orange peel all at the same time.  So you get great potassium, a treat and no trash. And in China they believe that orange peels aid in digestion, which makes it nearly an international day.

I found the following recipe for Candied Orange Peel at:
http://userealbutter.com/2007/10/09/candied-orange-peels-recipe/

Now if you don't feel like eating 4 oranges in one day just to make this, you could eat one a day for 4 days instead.  Just put the peels in a sealed baggy and store them in the refrigerator until you have enough rind for the event.


Candied Orange (Citrus) Peel
4 oranges, peel of (or any thick skinned orange)
3 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar for rolling
or
8 oz chocolate for dipping
You can harvest the peel in many ways. Here are two: 1) Cut the oranges in half and juice them. Cut each half in half again and take a spoon to scrape the pulp out, leaving a clean pith. 2) Lop off the top and bottom of each orange (think of removing the polar caps where the stem and opposite end are) just to the fruit. Score the orange peel like lines of longitude every 60 degrees. Peel the orange and clean the inside of the peel with a spoon.
Cut peel into 1/4 inch strips. Place peels in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Heat on high until water comes to a boil. Pour off the water. Repeat twice more. Combine sugar and water in the saucepan and bring to boil over high heat until temperature reaches 230F. Add peel and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer until peels are translucent (30 minutes or longer – 75 minutes at my 8500 ft. elevation). Remove peels from syrup and roll in sugar if desired, and set on rack to dry for 4-5 hours (more humid regions will require more time). Once the peel is dry, you can dip in tempered dark chocolate – shake off excess, and place on foil, wax paper, or baking sheet to dry. Store in a tupperware, or if not chocolate dipped, store in sugar or as is.

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Enjoy your Candied Orange Peel Day!

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Oh, wait...I forgot the knock, knock joke, and the poem.

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Banana.

Banana who?

Knock, knock.

Who's there??

Banana.

Banana who??

Knock, knock.

WHO'S THERE?

Orange.

Orange who?

Orange you glad I didn't say 'Banana' again?

Now for the poem...try rhyming oranges...as kids, we always used Poranges, and thus the poem "Oranges, poranges!" was born...in our family.
Even "way back when" I enjoyed making up poems.  It was actually kind of a poetic chant:

Oranges, poranges

Two kinds of oranges.

I was young.  You could probably tell.

But orange you glad it's National Candied Orange Peel Day on May 4?

Oh, great, it's also my daughter's birthday...argh!

I didn't mail the card!