How to make candied lemon slices
02.15.2011 
Did you know that lemons in their entirety, peels and all, can be edible? With a little bit of cooking magic, lemons (or any citrus fruit, for that matter) turn into candy. And beautiful decorations for baked goods!
Start out with 3 large lemons because, unless you are very adept at using a mandoline or unless you are an expert at cutting consistently uniform slices with a knife, you will want to leave room for error. I used my mandoline to cut my lemon slices and I still had a culling rate of about 30-35%.
When you have a dozen or so lovely, deseeded lemon slices (again, this same process can apply to any type of citrus fruit), bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. While you are waiting for your water to boil, prepare a bath of ice water in a large baking dish.
Blanch the lemon slices in the boiling water for about 1 minute. Handle the slices gently.
Carefully drain the lemon slices and plunge them into your prepared ice bath. Let them sit for a minute or so in the ice water. Carefully remove them.
Combine the following ingredients in a large saucepan:
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
Stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a simmer and add the lemon slices in a single layer.
Let the lemon slices simmer (no boiling) for 1 hour.
Remove the slices from the syrup and set them on a cooling rack over a stack of paper towels. It will take a good chunk of time for them to dry completely (sometimes as long as 12-24 hours), so plan ahead if you intend to use them for decorating baked goods.
Or, just dip them into chocolate and eat them like candy!
Reader Comments (15)
Do these harden as they cool?
Yes! They do harden as they cool. I make sure to turn them several times throughout the cooling process so they don't stick to the cooling rack too badly.
Wow, these are lovely! Is the left over syrup tasty as well? Can it be used as a simple syrup in other recipes?
Ooh, now I'll have to make these! I'm also curious if you did anything with the leftover syrup. Got a vision of glazing a creme caramel dish with it... Or perhaps in a nut brittle?
What a great idea! I hate wasting "leftovers," so next time I will have to experiment!
Do you think instead of sugar could you use honey or agave and get similar results?
I bet either of those would work great! Let me know if you try it.
Pip
I blogged about these not too long ago - I love they way they turned out. Btw, your first photo is amazing!!!
:)
ButterYum
So pretty! I love how translucent the slices get, like stained glass.
How long can these be stored? I am thinking of making them as Christmas gifts
I make this same recipe in the dehydrator, instead of the drip-dry method. I also give the individual slices a quick flip in sugar just before putting them in the dehydrator. They come out BEAUTIFUL and EVERYONE (even non-citrus fans) LOVE them!! I think the reason for the long simmer time (1 hour) is to remove most of the bitterness from the rind.
I've GOT to try this... Thank you!! Lemons are one of my favoritest things. :)
I picked 12 lemons from my tree, had a 99% rate of slicing, so I doubled the syrup recipe. After they simmered for a hour I realized I forgot the ice bath. Oh well, I put them in the food dehydrator for about 12 hours. They turned out perfect, and there was no mess in the food dehydrator. I have about a half quart of lemon syrup left over that I can't wait to use on something... I'm thinking a lemon cake is in my near future.
I just used the leftover syrup to make boiled frosting for a lemon cake. Delicious.
Googling how to candy lemons led me to your blog. I had a quick look through your recipes and looked up to find it's been half an hour and I still haven't started... You have such beautiful photos!