Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Candied Orange Peel
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peel
Cut the orange rind into thin strips.
Soak the strips in cold water for two days, changing the water ten times a day.
Drain the strips and cover them with fresh cold water in a pot.
Bring the water to a boil, then drain again.
Candy and coat
Make a thick syrup and cook the orange strips in the syrup until they become sticky.
Remove the strips from the syrup and roll them in granulated sugar.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Orange rind
- Provides the flavorful peel that becomes the candied confection.
- Granulated sugar
- Forms the thick syrup that candies the peel and coats the finished strips for sweetness.
The step that matters
Cooking the strips in the syrup until sticky. Sugar syrup must be thick enough to replace the water in the peel. Cooking slowly lets sugar penetrate the rind, so the strips turn translucent and sticky rather than hard or watery.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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