Ask Evan: I Want My Candied Citrus to Last all Year. Should I Freeze The Peels Before Or After I Candy Them?

Every week I answer a question from a Good Food listener. You can email me a question, leave one on Facebook or add one in the comments section here. This week’s came from Michael:

I would like to make candied orange peel from our home grown tangelos all year. Is it better to freeze the skins or the finished product?

It is better to freeze the peel before you candy it rather than after. You can clean the peel and cut it into whatever size sliver you are going to use, then freeze it. When you make candied peel you are substituting the water in the fruit for sugar through the candying process. Candied fruit will last at least a year. If you freeze it you run the risk of the sugar in the fruit crystallizing.