Oranges and lemons to add tang to Christmas food

Valerie O’Connor peels away the secrets of oranges and lemons to add tang to festive fare.

On a trip to Beijing many years ago, we entered the snow-blind city and the first thing that struck me after the cold, was the endless mountains of mandarin oranges for sale along the roadside.

Oranges make up over 70% of the world’s fruit production and we glug gallons of juice every day.

While countries like Greece are lucky to have oranges and lemons growing in their front yards, we on this chilly little island, have to rely on boxes of the fragrant and delicious fruits to be imported every year.

The orange is a generous and versatile fruit too, which we can enjoy in treats like marmalade, orange and polenta cake, orange liqueurs and sorbets and more, while the flavour gets imitated too, in the form of fizzy drinks.

Many varieties are cultivated for the peel alone, for the fragrance of orange or grapefruit peel in a perfume, is one of the most delicious and summery scents you can wear.

This time of year, cake bakers get busy gathering ingredients for Christmas cakes and puddings. Stashes of nuts, ground almonds and sugars are gathered and the ubiquitous peel is purchased for that intense tang it gives to each bite of festive dessert.

Making your own peel is cheap, easy and rewarding, requiring ordinary, everyday kitchen ingredients.

Oranges are so pretty that they make great decorations for your tree when dried out in the oven. So next time you sit down and peel an orange, have these recipes to look at and make your own delicious citrus peels for cakes, nibbles and sweet treats.

Candied Peel

You will get a lot of peel from a couple of oranges so, depending on how much you want, don’t go nuts.

Some recipes call for repeated boiling of the fruit to remove all the bitterness, but I like a bit of tartness to these, so I just do it once.

Ingredients

2 oranges and 2 lemons or 4 oranges Pinch salt 1 kg sugar 750ml water

Method

1. Peel the fruits and keep the pieces large or cut them into strips

2. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the salt, add the peel and cook it for 20 minutes on a simmer. Drain and rinse the peel and leave it to drain in a colander

3. In the same pot, bring the water and 750g sugar to a boil and let it cook for 5 minutes, then add the peel and cook it on a simmer for an hour.

4. Strain the peel and spread it out on a wire rack over a baking tin and let it dry overnight.

5. Take the remaining sugar and toss the peel pieces in it to coat. Remove from the sugar and return to the wire rack to dry out again.

You can enjoy nibbles of peel now or store them in an airtight container or in a jar of sugar for later use.

Home made Chocolate Orange

There was no way I was going to attempt to reconstruct a Terry’s chocolate orange but it wasn’t until I tasted these babies that it hit me that they taste the same, if not better than the much-loved, shop-bought sweetie.

The flavour of chocolate and orange go so well together they are heavenly to eat, and easy to make.

You could even bag a few of these up in cellophane and give them away, but why bother when you can eat them all yourself, sloth-like, lying on the couch. Perfect with a strong coffee.

Ingredients

20 strips of candied orange peel 100g dark chocolate, min 70% cocoa solids

Method

1. Melt the chocolate slowly in a heavy-bottomed pot

2. Get a couple of plates lined with foil or baking parchment and have your peel strips at the ready.

3. Dip the strips in, one by one to ensure good coverage. Lay them on the plates. Repeat this process until they are all covered with the chocolate.

4. Put the plates into the fridge to let the chocolate set. Keep these bad boys in a sealed container or just wolf them all in one go.

Orange slices for decorations

These slices of oranges look so pretty and take little effort. You can string them with thread and hang them on the tree or make garlands from them or add them to wreaths.

Be warned however, they are as bitter as a jilted lover, so nibble at your peril. The sugar just helps them to glaze a little.

Ingredients

1 or 2 oranges

50g sugar

Preheat the oven to 120C

Method

1. Thinly slice the oranges and lay them out on sheets of baking parchment on baking trays

2. Sprinkle over the sugar liberally and pop the sheets into the preheated oven

3. Cook the slices for one hour, keeping an eye on them as they can easily burn

4. Remove them from the oven and leave to cool.

* Enjoy their festive prettiness and the fact that you didn’t have to go to the shop for tinsel.