A delicious experiment with Meyer lemons

Every year I make candied Meyer lemon slices. It’s a family favorite. I use the Italian 14 day method of candying fruit. It’s gentler to the fruit than boiling fruit in syrup, but it is a method you have to be careful with. If you are too rough with the fruit they fall apart and if you don’t clean your bowl each time you add sugar to the syrup it will crystallize for you.
This year I was too sick to do it so my son decided to give it a try. He saw me make them last year and had the recipe so he felt confident he could do it. As it turned out he ran into a few problems.
We ended up with circles of peel. All of the fruit dissolved into the syrup which then crystallized. I was sure that putting them in my dehydrator (the final step), wouldn’t work, since that would make it crystallize even more, so I though, let put them in the freeze dryer instead. The syrup actually made for a very nice jam by the way.
What we ended up with was peel covered in crispy bubbly lemon caramel. The flavor is out of this world. I don’t think I have ever had a better lemon flavor in a candy. Underneath the caramel the peel are chewy and soft with absolutely no bitterness.
This really was a very delicious outcome from what looked like a disaster, and kind of still do 😂

Sometimes "mistakes" make something new and awesome.

So, are you going to give us the recipe? Do I need a freeze dryer?

Ellen Lewis wrote:So, are you going to give us the recipe? Do I need a freeze dryer?

To get the crunchy bubble caramel yes. The bubbles form during the vacuum part of the freeze drying process. I can give you the instructions for making candied fruits using the Italian method. Unfortunately I lost the article I wrote about it, when Facebook disabled my account, but I have the link to the original website, where I learned how to do it.
This is the link https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/italian-food/how-to-cook/candied-fruits-how-to-prepare-and-use-them?refresh_ce=
Only thing I will add, is to not mix different fruits in the same syrup, and be careful and wash your bowl before you add the boiling hot fruits and syrup back. Do smaller portions and be careful when handling the delicate fruits. Before I got my freeze dryer, I used my dehydrator for the final stage. They are still amazing, but you just don’t get the bubbled up crispy caramel.
I will put some pictures below on how it looks without the freeze dryer.

Oh yummy yummy yummy!!!
Just the thing I need for my sweet tooth when my body's craving vitamin c.

How do you store them and how long do they last?

I just read the link to the directions and have two questions-

Do you have any problems with bugs getting to your fruit while you are making it? I have a problem in my house with sugar ants and sometimes house flies and fruit flies. The ants usually find anything sugary within 12 hours if it's not put away in the refrigerator.

Do you know what the cedars are that are mentioned in the recipe link? They list it with oranges, tangerines, and cedars. 🤔 I'm intrigued!

Jenny Wright wrote:Oh yummy yummy yummy!!!
Just the thing I need for my sweet tooth when my body's craving vitamin c.

How do you store them and how long do they last?

I don’t know what the cedars is. As for how long they last. I made them in August and we ate the last of them in January. If thy are completely freeze dried, they should be good for 25 years, but I don’t think mine will, since they still are chewy in the middle. It won’t be a problem though, since they will probably be gone in a few months. The cherries I made using this method, are actually still good. We use them as candy, on top of marzipan cookies and in cocktails. I made those 2 1/2 years ago.
This method is a really good way of preserving fruits you are planning on using as candies or to decorate cakes, or as a mix in.

Jenny Wright wrote:I just read the link to the directions and have two questions-

Do you have any problems with bugs getting to your fruit while you are making it? I have a problem in my house with sugar ants and sometimes house flies and fruit flies. The ants usually find anything sugary within 12 hours if it's not put away in the refrigerator.

Do you know what the cedars are that are mentioned in the recipe link? They list it with oranges, tangerines, and cedars. 🤔 I'm intrigued!

I don’t know about insects. I cover my bowl with a dish towel and leave it on the kitchen counter, but I guess you could put the bowl in a bin with a tight fitting lid. That said, I never do sugar work during ant season. They drive me nuts, so I do this during spring, when there are plenty of water and food for them outside, so they leave us alone. The dish towel will keep fruit flies and other flying insects away.

Jenny Wright wrote:Do you know what the cedars are that are mentioned in the recipe link? They list it with oranges, tangerines, and cedars. 🤔 I'm intrigued!

Maybe Citrus medica fruit ? It is called 'cédrat' in french. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citron

It seems fitting for the recipe - very fragrant, but also very bitter in its native state.

It looks like the cedars mentioned are citron, called cedar in Italian

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citron

How to candy them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcIaJOKHksA&t=41s

Now, does anyone have a method on how to candy Thai limes???  Every time I've tried, they come out really bitter

I imagine - though I haven't tried it -  that increasing the number of times or the duration of the first boil would do it.
I make marmalade of thai limes and it's seriously bitter & strongly flavored.