Oh the Possibilities!

9:00 pm and I was itching to start making something - anything! I already decided on the shortbread cookies (sorry D, I know you don't like them) and I'm planning on dipping them in chocolate and somehow incorporating candied orange peels. Good combo right? Not sure where the candied orange peels would get incorporated - baked with the cookies? Tiny citrus gems mixed in with the dipping chocolate? The planner in me decided to go ahead and make the candied orange-peels tonight. Ahead of time you ask? So out of character I know, but I needed to do something.

Anyway, no oranges at home of course (I usually only have apples or guavas, I eat them errrryday) and I wasn't about to risk venturing out in the cold only to find the fruit store closed. I was very close to throw my hands up and give in to zoning out to re-runs of E.R. when I discovered a half-used, shriveled looking root sitting in the corner of my kitchen. So it wasn't such a pitiful scene, but really, ginger isn't the most attractive thing out there. Why not beautify it by candy-ing it right? And BOY did I candy it up tonight!!

I was really good about the photo-taking this time, documenting each step (the process of the water evaporating and leaving the ginger syrup is really exciting to watch!) so I can present my mid-night journey with you guys. I went through a ton of recipes as usual, and I didn't end up following anything. They all called for, like a pound or more of ginger...all I had was one lonely chunk, roughly the size of the palm of my hand. Really not much, but it doesn't matter how much ginger or orange peel you're using, as long as the ratio of ginger to water to sugar is set...it's a fairly easy process in terms of making candy according to David Lebovitz.

Ginger

Sugar

Water

More sugar

1. Use a sharp knife to carefully remove the skin of the ginger. Try not to cut too deep into the ginger, you don't want to end up with a tiny dinky piece of ginger, thats not much to work with!
2. Cut the ginger into whatever type of candy-shape you want. I made long skinny strips, but you can do round slices or even squares. The thicker the pieces, the longer you'll have to cook it for, so if you're low on time, just go with the thin slices.
3. Put the ginger into a pan and add water, just enough to cover the ginger. Boil for one minute and remove from heat. Quickly rinse the ginger in cold water and then drain out the water. Repeat this one more time, but after this second boil, don't throw out the ginger-water! It'll really help to enhance the flavor of the ginger syrup that you end up with. It should also be noted that if you do decide to have bigger chunks, you might need to repeat the boil-cold water process one extra time.
4. So now you have a bowl of ginger-water, blanched ginger pieces, and a ton of sugar waiting to be candied. Pour a bit of water into the pan, around 1-2 cm of liquid from the base of the pan, then add sugar into the water until you start to see the swirls of sugar when you stir (this is really subtle, but if you want a measurement, for my ginger, I used around 3/4 cups of sugar).
5. Add the ginger into the sugar water mixture, all of the pieces should be completely immersed in the liquid.
6. Turn the heat down so it's on a slow simmer.
7. Simmer until it is thick and syrupy and the ginger pieces come up really soft when you try to lift them from the pan with a fork or chopsticks. I simmered my pieces for about half an hour, if your chunks of larger, you'll need more time on the stove (hour to 75 min), but just be aware that the liquid should not become BROWN.It should be yellowish golden...not brown. You don't want it to caramelize! There is a time and a place for caramelization, and as lovely as it is, now is not it. If the ginger pieces aren't soft yet and you're running low on liquid, add more of the ginger-water and stir in more sugar.
8. When the pieces are soft, remove from the syrup with a fork. Let the excess syrup drip off the ginger when it's still on your fork - don't be too ambitious (*sigh, I know it's hard), so don't try and do too many pieces at once.
9. I put half of my candied ginger in a foil pan filled with white sugar, and the other half I separated with chopsticks while they were still hot onto a piece of foil.
10. Let them rest for a few hours - they need time to dry.
11. 
    Cook down the remaining syrup for another 1-2 minutes and then pour into a clean jar or bowl. I'm not sure what I'll use the syrup for, but I think it would be nice in some tea? oooh the glee of coming up with THREE different things with one recipe!