What and how to make sweet candied fruit

Cooking for a modern person is far from just cooking. It is an art, and cooks can be attributed to the creators. If there is a desire, any hostess can easily surprise her household with original culinary solutions..

You can use candied fruits as sweet helpers. The product can either be bought in the finished form or prepared by yourself..

History of candied fruit

Initially, candied fruits were brought from the current capital of Ukraine as a sweet delicacy to the wedding table of the Lithuanian prince Jagailo.

Balabushki and representatives of the Russian imperial nobility liked it. Catherine II even issued a decree regarding the regular supply of the sweets in question to the court.

After the revolution, the delicacy was forgotten for a while. At the present time, it is difficult to overestimate their role in modern cooking..

Are candied fruits useful??

The considered delicacy is made from berries and fruits. It speaks of his naturalness. However, the abundance of sugar and the need for heat treatment to some extent reduce the usefulness of candied fruits. Such sweets will not be able to fully replace fresh fruit, but are an excellent alternative option for such a favorite children’s treat, like candy.

The finished product contains the same vitamins, micro- and macronutrients (albeit in smaller quantities) as the fresh component taken as a basis. It is also rich in fiber, which has a beneficial effect on the digestive process and promotes natural bowel cleansing..

A greater number of useful elements is retained in fruits, the structure of which is characterized by sufficient density. These include pears, apples, plums, apricots, and so on. This fact is due to the fact that in the process of cooking the fruits are less subject to destruction.

Sweets made from ginger are used as an alternative to medicinal drugs for pain in the throat and ailments affecting the upper respiratory tract. They also accelerate metabolic processes in the body, increase appetite and the amount of gastric juice produced..

Candied citrus fruits have a beneficial effect on the process of removing toxins from the body and are recommended as an immunostimulant and tonic after infectious diseases..

Considered sweets are harmful only in case of abuse. This is due to the high content of sugar in them. Among the contraindications to the use of such pathologies can be distinguished:

1. Diabetes;
2. Overweight;
3. Individual intolerance component.

The benefits of candied fruit is difficult to overestimate. This is the enrichment of the body with essential elements, and the opportunity to please loved ones with a delicious dessert..

How and what make candied fruit?

The procedure for making the dessert in question is quite simple and remains almost unchanged since its inception. Step by step the process looks like this:

1. Original berries and fruits are thoroughly washed and dried;
2. Prepare a syrup, the main ingredients of which are water and sugar;
3. Fruits are ground to the required size, dipped in a syrup, boiled and infused;
4. The sweet-filled pieces are dried.

Practically any berries and fruits can be selected as the main ingredient: from the usual apples, pears, plums, cherries, and so on to pineapple, papaya, mango. However, interestingly, the most popular are candied fruits from the waste of oranges (more precisely, from their peel). The fact that people most often just throw away, becomes the basis of a sweet treat.

Ease of preparation and unlimited choice of the original fruit cause a wide distribution of delicacies both at home and in reputable catering establishments (restaurants and cafes). At the same time, the taste qualities give them popularity among representatives of completely different age categories..

How to choose ready-made candied fruits?

The product in question is available on the market shelves and supermarket shelves with a variety of options. How to choose a fresh and natural delicacy, prepared with all the technological aspects?

An important indicator of the quality of candied fruit is the absence of dyes. The main indicator of the content of the latter is an unnaturally bright color. In case of uncertainty, your suspicions can be easily checked at home. To do this, you need to immerse the product in boiling water for a few minutes. Water staining clearly indicates the use of dyes in the manufacturing process.

During the described experiment, attention should be paid to the integrity of the sweet fruit pieces, which will indicate the natural origin.

When choosing candied fruit should check them by touch. When lightly pressed, they should not give off liquid. In parallel, it is recommended to pay attention to the level of their hardness and sugariness. These figures allow us to judge the correctness of the production technology and the duration of storage..

The choice of a quality product is the key to obtaining the maximum amount of beneficial elements for the body and satisfying the taste expectations of delicacy..

Cooking candied orange peels

Ingredients	amount
orange peels –	250 grams
Sahara –	300 grams
clean water –	200 milliliters
Time for preparing: 4500 minutes	Calories per 100 grams: 165 Kcal

Fans of oranges throw off the peel of fruit in kilograms, while from it you can make an excellent delicacy.

So, consider how to make homemade candied orange peels. To begin with, orange waste must be soaked. It will take about three days.

Soak the peel should be in clean water, which changes approximately every 5-7 hours. This will help avoid the onset of the natural fermentation process. The result is getting rid of bitterness and softening the product..

Next, you need to cut the crusts into pieces of arbitrary shape, put them in a container, add water, bring to a boil, cook for a quarter of an hour, drain the water.

Now it’s time to cook the syrup. To do this, boil water, pour sugar into it and wait until the latter is completely dissolved. Only after this, the processed orange pieces are poured into the liquid. The container is removed from the heat, and the contents are left to infuse for ½ days..

After 12 hours it is necessary to do the procedure again: put the container on fire, boil all 10-12 minutes and again leave for the same time to insist. After the third boiling, candied fruits should be laid out in a colander and left for 2-3 hours..

At the last stage, the resulting sweets should be sprinkled with powdered sugar and / or sugar and allowed to dry for 6 hours..

A long, but simplest process of making candied orange peel will give a sweet and healthy delicacy to sweet lovers.

Candied pumpkin at home

There are many recipes for making a pumpkin-based product in question. Among them are no-sugar options, spicy and others. But most often resort to classical manufacturing. This requires the following ingredients:

• 500 grams of pumpkin;
• ½ lemon;
• ¾ cup of sugar.

First you need to clean and chop the pumpkin. The shape of the pieces can be any, the main thing is to observe their optimum thickness (5-7 millimeters). In the process of pitting, it is important to leave the maximum amount of pulp in which the latter were located. This part of the pumpkin in the candied fruit is the most delicious..

All ingredients are put into the pan in thin, repeating layers. The order of the latter should be as follows:

1. Pumpkin;
2. Lemon wedges;
3. Sugar.

The container is placed on the fire, brought to a boil and complete dissolution of sugar. After that, the contents are cooled and the procedure is repeated a second time. With hard pieces, a third approach is allowed..

Next, the candied fruits are separated from the syrup, laid out on a baking sheet and are placed in the oven for approximately 3 hours. The optimum temperature is 100 degrees. Product readiness is determined by its appearance. It should have a reddish tinge and a flaccid state..

Remove finished candied fruits should be immediately, as they can “firmly” stick to parchment paper. Immediately after this, sweets should be poured with icing sugar..

The proposed recipe requires significantly less time to prepare a delicacy compared to orange candied fruits. However, this fact does not affect the taste of the product..

How to make candied peel of bananas

Another option to use the waste to make candied fruit is to make a delicacy from a banana peel. For this you will need:

• The peel of two bananas;
• 100 grams of sugar.

First, the peel should be cut into strips of approximately a centimeter width. Then you need to put them in a saucepan, add sugar, put on fire, bring to a boil and dissolve the sugar. Caramel mixture is left to infuse for a day. The next day, the procedure is repeated. Such actions are performed within 6 days..

The end of the process of making the product is to separate the syrup and dry the candied fruit for 24 hours..

The duration of the preparation of such a delicacy is justified by its extremely low cost..

Candied fruits

Similarly, candied fruits can be made from a variety of other fruits. The principle remains the same. However, the nature of the ingredient used determines some features of the culinary technology. Particular attention will require options delicacies, as the basis of which components are selected with the following features:

• The presence of bitterness or astringency;
• Excessive hardness;
• Excessive softness;
• The presence of small bones.

In any case, the efforts and time costs will be justified by a tasty and healthy variety of sweets..

Useful tips

Many housewives, not trusting the preparation of products to industrial facilities, take on everything themselves. Candied fruits are no exception. Important aspects of achieving a successful result are the following items:

1. Fresh ingredients should be taken as a basis;
2. It is important to focus on the proposed recipes, but one should not exclude the possibility of departing from the described technology, taking into account the state of the fruits and berries used;
3. To dry in the oven should use parchment;
4. Store ready-made candied fruits in a tight-fitting container for not more than a year..

Candied fruits can be used as a separate delicacy or as a tool for decorating festive pastries and ready-made desserts. Such wide distribution of the product necessitates the possession of information regarding its proper preparation or purchase..