Steps

• Cut the orange peel into strips.

  Place them in a pan covered with water and boil them for a few minutes (3–4 minutes).

  Drain them, discard the water and repeat the procedure, finally repeating it a third time.
  If the peels are thin, two boiling cycles are sufficient.

  Because the white part of the orange can be bitter, after boiling let the peels cool slightly and thin the white part by trimming it with a knife.
  I used to do this before boiling at first, but after a little experience I found it easier to do it afterward. And in some cases (when the peels are thin) it’s not necessary.

  At this point weigh the peels. Then weigh an almost equal but smaller amount of sugar. Specifically: for every 3.5 oz (100 g) of orange peel, weigh about 6 1/2 tablespoons (≈80 g) of sugar.

  Put the peels in a pan, add the sugar and about an equal amount of water (by weight) — roughly 1/3 cup (≈80 ml).

  Bring to a boil and cook the peels in the syrup over low heat so the syrup doesn’t darken, stirring and turning often until the syrup is completely absorbed. Then set them out to dry on a cooling rack:

  

• or on a sheet of parchment paper.
  Whether on a rack or parchment paper, try not to overlap the peels or they’ll stick together.

  

• At the end of this procedure, the peels are very sticky but already very tasty.

  Let the peels dry for 12–24 hours.
  Drying time varies depending on room temperature and how wet they are (i.e., how much syrup is on them).

• At first I wasn’t sure how long they needed to dry, so I left my first peels to dry for a couple of days until they stopped being sticky to the touch. Later I realized that if they dry too much they can harden and break.
  Also, if they’re too dry the sugar won’t stick. It’s better to sugar them when they’re still a bit sticky.

  If they do dry out too much, it’s not the end of the world: you can break them into crumbs with a knife or in a food processor — the crumbs are perfect for desserts and doughs, for example in shortcrust pastry to flavor tarts or cookies. Here are my candied orange peel crumbs:

  

• Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie or in the microwave.
  For every 1.75 oz (50 g) of chocolate, broken into small pieces, add about 2 teaspoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of water.
  If using the microwave, 30 seconds at full power is usually enough; then stir the chocolate well to combine it with the melted butter and to melt any remaining pieces.
  Dip the peels.
  Eat immediately, or place the peels on a plate or on parchment paper and wait for the chocolate to cool and set.

  They’re delicious!

  

• If well dried, the peels keep for several months when stored in an airtight food container in the refrigerator. I tried keeping them in a glass jar at room temperature but after a month they developed mold, apparently due to humidity. In the fridge they keep for a long time — just check them periodically and dry any moisture on the lid if needed.

  Update: in the photo below you can see freshly made peels (in the large pink container) compared with some candied peels I stored for one year (in the small container), kept intentionally as a test. I always kept them refrigerated, and after one year I considered the experiment concluded. 😊 They didn’t mold, they dried out but kept a great flavor.

  

• They’re dry — this photo isn’t perfectly focused, but you can see the peel broke instead of bending; however they kept well and are usable, and soaking them softens them, for example in kefir. 😉 Try them to flavor kefir!