Candied Blood Orange Chips with Fennel

It’s one of my favourite times of the year with citrus fruits lining the shelves at the market. Blood oranges, tangerines, pomelos and many varieties of oranges are in abundance. These Candied Blood Orange Chips are a great way to use up your bounty, leaving you also with a great simple syrup you can use for a cocktail later on. They are easy to make, tasty to eat and look amazing on your plate!

I try not to eat the orange slices as I go, and you can easily alter this recipe to make more or less slices. Feel free to add any other spices or aromatics to the simmer. The Sicilian way is honey and cinnamon, or you can use ginger or just plain brown sugar. I would also say that if you have a dehydrator at home, feel free to use that instead. You would sprinkle the spices and/or sugars on top and then place in it.
You can also use this recipe for any citrus fruit such as lemons, limes, grapefruits, oranges, pomelos, etc. You can use a mandoline (I used this one) or hand slice by knife. You want to make sure you have an uniform thickness to them, it ensures a more even cooking time.
These candied blood orange chips can be use as a garnish for dessert or a cocktail, a snack or even as a pourporri. I guess you could also add them to homemade soap for colour or scent. I love how with the oranges, fennel and salt, it delivers a salty and sweet taste to these. They last for about a month if you store them in an airtight bag or container. If you are planning to use them as a garnish, you can make these way ahead. Christmas would be a great season to make these too using just oranges instead.

Added bonus, the house smells amazing while these are cooking away!

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Candied Blood Orange Chips with Fennel

Course Dessert

Keyword Blood Orange Chips, Blood Orange Recipes, Candied Fruit

Prep Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 2 hours

Servings 30 servings

Ingredients

• 2 cups tap water
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds. coarsely cracked or whole
• 25-30 blood orange slices thinly sliced with seeds discarded
• 1/2 teaspoon maldon sea salt flakes

Instructions

1. Place the water and sugar together in a large thick bottomed saucepan with a lid (you want it wide enough to fit all of your orange slices in a single layer,)
2. Place the fennel seeds in a spice bag. (Or just place them in the syrup as a whole. I did this and then just strained the syrup afterwards)
3. Place the bag in the saucepan and bring the contents of the pan to a boil on medium high heat. Boil the liquid for 1 minute and reduce to a gentle simmer. Remove the spice bag and discard the fennel.
4. Switch off the heat. Place the orange slices over the surface of the sugar syrup in the pan. Carefully, dunk each slice into the syrup using a spoon to wet the entire slice of fruit.
5. Cover the pan with a lid and cook the liquid on low heat to keep it barely simmering.
6. Let the fruit cook for 1 hour.
7. About half way through, open to check and make sure the orange slices are immersed in the syrup, If the liquid gets low, add about 1/2 cup water.
8. The slices will be done after an hour when they become completely transparent. The syrup will acquire a golden color as it cooks but shouldn't burn.
9. Once the orange slices are completely transparent and cooked, remove the pan from the stove and transfer each slice carefully using a pair of tongs to a wire rack placed over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
10. Allow the excess syrup to drip on to the parchment paper.
11. Place a wire rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200F.
12. Randomly sprinkle the maldon sea salt flakes over the chips.
13. Place the entire rack with the orange slices and the baking sheet in the oven and keep the oven closed for 20 minutes, then switch the oven off and allow the chips to stay in the oven for another 40 minutes.
14. Remove the entire rack with the orange chips from the oven, they should crisp. Carefully peel the chips from the wire rack and store each chip between sheets of parchment paper, placed in an airtight container.
15. If the chips get sticky you can always dry them up a little by placing them in an oven that is preheated to 200F, switch the oven off as soon as you place the chips in and shut the door for 10-15 minutes. The chips will be crisp and ready to use.

Try these when taking an indulgent weekend afternoon on the couch.