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Homemade Mixed Peel is so much more flavourful than supermarket bought. It isn’t as bitter and has a more fully rounded flavour that captures the essence of citrus season.
Until recently I didn't use a lot of mixed peel in my baking. Instead if a recipe called for it I simply swapped in the zest of an orange and lemon or perhaps even a tablespoon of marmalade. That’s because mixed peel is one of the ingredients that Luke abhors. He can taste it a mile away so it has been useless to hide it within my fruit cakes as he would simply reject it upon first bite. He also knows which bakery adds mixed peel to their Eccles Cakes, his favourite treat, and takes his custom elsewhere. So mixed peel had been relegated from all baking in our household and substitutions relied upon instead.
What Is Mixed Peel?
Mixed peel is one of those ingredients that is featured in a lot of British baking, from traditional fruit cakes like Dundee Cake or Christmas Cake to tea time fare like the aforementioned Eccles Cakes or Hot Cross Buns. Mixed peel is basically candied lemon and orange peel. Eighteenth century bakers knew that the most intense flavour of any citrus fruit is derived from the peel. So intent on capturing as much flavour as possible in their recipes and mindful of preserving since fresh fruit was scarce, the peel was candied, dried and stored until needed. These traditional recipes are now the backbone of British baking so mixed peel has been handed down to us in our grandmothers’ and great great grandmothers’ recipes often when dried fruit is called for.
Earlier this month I was recipe testing one of my Auntie Lil’s classic cakes, She was a bit of a baker and her Vinegar Cake, which was her traditional everyday fruit cake, was legendary. I have had the recipe tucked into my recipe file for years now and recently I have been attempting to recreate an authentic gluten-free version of her renowned cake. Auntie Lil’s recipe, like a lot of traditional fruit cakes, calls upon mixed peel as an ingredient. Since I wanted a result as near as the cake she baked for her young family I dutifully added mixed peel from the supermarket along with the other dried fruit it asked for. At first bite I couldn’t work out why the cake tasted so horribly bitter, there was almost a sourness that butted up against the soft plump sultanas and raisins which was distinctly and acidically unpleasant. It soon became apparent that in my enforced abstinence from mixed peel I too had developed a dislike for it.
But how could that be? I love citrus, I love the brightness of intense lemon and orange peel. There should be no reason why mixed peel doesn’t appeal to me too. But the supermarket stuff, when tasted by itself is just not that nice. So I set about making my own. And since I now had dominion over the mixed peel I added grapefruit peel as well to add a third dimension of citrus to the proceedings.
Much like my Homemade Glacé Cherries, when you make it yourself there is absolutely no comparison to the shop bought stuff. You could eat Homemade Mixed Peel by the spoonful. In fact since I made so much Cole and I have been dipping our hands into the jar and taking out small sticky handfuls at snack time as a little treat. Making Homemade Mixed Peel is a labour of love and requires about a week of soaking it in a sugar syrup, draining it from the liquid, boiling the sugar syrup down and re-soaking the peel multiple times. Although the really trying time comes after the mixed peel has been drained of the sugar syrup and then needs to dry in a sterile environment for about a week. I dried mine in my switched off oven but since I use my oven almost every day it has required a lot of patience not to bottle the peel earlier just to get it out of the way. I definitely need to invest in a dehydrator for this purpose. When I do I’ll make the recipe again and let you know how it goes.
Suffice to say that when it came time to recipe testing Auntie Lil’s Vinegar Cake with the Homemade Mixed Peel the results were pretty on the money. Gone was the nasty bitterness, instead the lovely fragrance of sharp citrus permeated the cake and sat comfortably alongside the rest of the ingredients. The recipe has been a triumph and I’ll be sharing it soon, so stay tuned. And as for Luke, he has conceded that if I were to start using Homemade Mixed Peel in my baking then that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Thumbs up indeed.
In the meantime if you are making this Homemade Mixed Peel you will find you have two delicious extra kitchen ingredients leftover from the recipe. You will have copious amounts of citrus flesh from the beginning step once you have peeled the fruit, and also the most beautiful citrus sugar syrup from the end step once you have drained the peel away from its soaking syrup. Do not throw either away. I’ll be posting a recipe for my Triple Citrus Shrub in the next few days to use up that citrus flesh and I’m working on a compendium of recipes to make the most of that delicious citrus sugar syrup which I’ll be sharing soon.
Homemade Mixed Peel
Ingredients
- 4 organic oranges - unwaxed if available
- 4 organic lemons - unwaxed if available
- 1 organic grapefruit - unwaxed if available
- 2300 ml cold water
- 1350 g granulated sugar
Instructions
Day 1
- If your fruit is waxed then you will need to wash off the wax from the skin of the fruit first by giving it a light scrub. Cut the oranges, lemons and grapefruit into quarters then with very sharp knife remove the skin from the pith and the flesh.
- Cut the peel lengthways again. You might need to cut the lemon peel once, the orange peel twice more and the grapefruit peel three times more to get even sized pieces. Then cut widthways into short thin strips.
- Weigh the peel, you should have around 450g.
- Place the peel into a stainless steel saucepan with the cold water then bring to the boil. Turn the heat low and simmer for 1 hour.
- Remove from the heat and set a sieve over a large bowl. Pour the contents of the saucepan through the sieve, set aside the peel for one moment and weigh out the cooking water.
- Pour 1140ml of the cooking water back into the saucepan with 900g of the sugar. If you don’t have enough cooking water then just top up with tap water. Bring the sugar and water to a gentle boil and simmer for 10 minutes until the sugar has dissolved.
- Pour the sugar syrup over the peel, cover and leave the peel to soak for 24 hours.
Day 2
- Strain the syrup into a large saucepan and return the peel to the bowl.
- Add the remaining 450g of sugar to the saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer for a couple of minutes making sure the sugar has completely dissolved.
- Pour the syrup back over the peel, cover and leave for another 24 hours.
Day 3
- Pour the peel and syrup into a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to simmer for 30 minutes.
- Pour everything back into the bowl, cover and leave the peel to soak for four final days.
Day 7
- Drain the fruit, place on a fine wire rack and leave in a sterile dry place until no longer sticky, such as a turned-off oven. Although leave a note on the oven that it is not to be used. The mixed peel can take as long as seven days to completely dry. The best way to store the mixed peel afterwards is in sterilised glass jars and should keep for at least a couple of months.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried Homemade Glacé Cherries yet?
I made this so I could attempt Nadiya Hussain’s Tutti Fruitti Pavlova recipe. It was worth it - so yummy and just wouldn’t be the same without the peel. Biggest issue I ran into was day 4 it all crystallized into a solid block. I re-heated and added more water to get the crystals dissolved, but it didn’t really work well. Peel still turned out a little gritty. Any advice on how to avoid this in the future?
Hi Becca, did you keep it in the fridge during the soaking period? A change in temperature like that could cause the sugar to harden. I keep mine on the kitchen counter when the weather is cooler.
So the peel is cut into finished sized pieces at the second bulleted step?
Yes that's right.
Isn't the time needed misleading given that there is about a week needed to prepare this?
Hi Amanda - you are right, it's incredibly misleading. These recipe card templates were not designed with these kind of long haul recipes in mind. I shall endeavour to find a work around.
Hilary mentions leaving the peel in quarters before candying it. Until a few years ago, it was possible to buy Sundora uncut mixed peel in the Uk, which you could then cut as you wished. It was infinitely better than the pre-cut stuff which is all you can get now, and it included more than just oranges and lemons, though I forget what. It’s hard to cut once candied, which was a good excuse to have it in larger pieces! I may just have a go....
I’m determined to attempt this! Will it work if I just peel the citrus with a vegetable peeler?
Hi Kathy, you could do but it does peel the skin rather thin and I like to have a bit of body to my mixed peel and include a bit of the pith.
Hi, I am about to make the peel as per your recipe, we are currently at the end of our summer and it is still rather humid, would you suggest popping the mix into the fridge for the 4 days? Just wondering if it will go mouldy if left on the bench, like salted veg for pickle does ?
Hi Kerrie, if it's humid where you are then it is better to be safe than sorry. It can't do any harm to keep in the fridge.
Working on the recipe now. How much of the white part is considered pith? Do I have to remove it all or only the thin membrane that is attache d to the fruit?
Hi Charlotte, all of the white part is considered pith. You can remove as much of it as you want. I tend to remove all of it.
Hi Georgina - thank you for this beautiful recipe. May I ask how much mixed fruit we wind up with in the end? About 450 g or does the weight reduce in the end? My panforte recipe calls for 250 g and just want to make sure I have enough when all said and done. 🙂
It remains a similar weight. You should have enough!
I live in California and have a lemon and orange tree. I love fruitcake but the store “fruit” always seems sorta gross!
Your recipe turned out great! I dried it in a dehydrator. I highly recommend it.
So far, the only thing I can think of with the left over flavored simply syrup is in Whiskey Sours. 😉
Hi Denise - that's great to hear!! Check through the comments to see what other uses I have given for the syrup - I plan to write it all up properly soon though!!
Thanks so much for the recipe! What ideas do you have for using this leftover citrus syrup? I have a ton left over and it seems a shame to bin it.
Hi Colette, One of my favourite uses is to mix the syrup with dijon mustard and soy sauce then use as a chicken wing or cocktail sausage marinade. Or you can drizzle the syrup over ice cream, porridge or into hot cocoa. You can brush over just baked cakes for added flavour and a yummy texture or even to the buttercream. Also use a tablespoon at the bottom of a glass of prosecco for an amazing cocktail. Or use in salad dressings in place of honey. There are so many uses. Hope this helps.
This is it! This is the only recipe I'm using for mixed peel from now on. I like to bake stollen on Christmas Eve for Christmas breakfast. Since my procrastinating self got a late start, I decided to use my dehydrator to speed up the curing process. (I did 4.5 hours at 110ºF/43ºC, stirring just a couple of times along the way)
I am absolutely thrilled with the result. The long cooking/soaking method really does make a world a difference. Thank you so much!
Hi Heather - that's great to hear! I'm so happy you like the recipe!!
I only checked that I had the ingredients for this before I started. I wish I’d checked the directions and found out that it was almost a week of a job. It’s unlikely I would have bothered. I hope it turns out well but it will be a while before I reach that stage.
Hi Hilary, that sounds so frustrating! I've made that mistake before with recipes and it's always annoying. I hope you enjoy the mixed peel once it's ready.
Thank you for taking the time to reply to me.
Well I’ve finally reached the last day of soaking and all looks well however I’ve encountered another problem ☹️ I don’t have a fine gauge sheet to drain it on I only have cake cooling trays. The only thing I can think is if I put it into a couple of colanders until the dripping stops and then lay it on baking parchment until it dries.
I made peel before many years ago and now recall that it was made by leaving the peel in quarters and chopping it when required. Can I adapt your recipe to this method?
Hi Hilary, I drain mine on cake cooling trays as well - you can see in the photo - but the mesh is quite fine. I'm not sure how well the recipe as it stands could be adapted using the peel just quartered. As the peel is cut so small it is easier for the sugar syrup to penetrate the peel. However, you could try it but I would then recommend keeping the peel in the fridge once finished as I'm not sure how long it would keep.