Candied fruit, a pure fruit treat

As Christmas arrives, the pastries and chocolates of the time are filled with color thanks to the candied fruit. Candied or candied fruit is made through a complex and long natural process that consists of adding a sugar syrup and its cooking juice to the fruit so that the water in the fruit is progressively replaced by sugar., whose dose in the syrup is increasing day by day, so that it penetrates to the heart of the fruit so that it is cured and sweetened.

Candied fruit, characteristic decoration of the roscon de reyes, it is also the base of the delicious Fruits of Aragon, dipped in chocolate black. We cannot forget either cherries, those cherries that happily top any cake.

Although these days it is easy to find them in the market, we are going to dare to give you the recipe so that you have time to prepare a good still life of candied fruits and surprise your guests in these upcoming Christmas parties. We only need some ripe, firm and healthy fruits, water, sugar, patience and time, about 20 days.

Day 1: First of all we have to prepare the fruits. The small fruit can be left whole, but if it has thick skin, such as plums or apricots, we must prick them with a fork. If we prefer, we can cut them in half and bone them. If we choose citrus we peel them and separate them into segments, eliminating the white part and the membranes. We can also frost the skin of citrus, although it takes much less time than fruit. Larger fruits such as pears, apples and peaches are cut in half or into thick wedges. We peel the pineapple thoroughly, core it and cut it into slices.

Now, we weigh the fruit before cooking it. Remember that the different types of fruit must be candied separately so that they retain their own aromas and cook evenly. We put the fruit prepared separately in a casserole, cover with boiling water and simmer until tender but firm, preventing it from losing too many juices. With a slotted spoon, we remove the fruit from the casserole and we put it in a fountain without piling them up so that they do not squash and deform each other.

For the next step we prepare 175 g. of sugar and 300 ml. of this cooking water for every 450 g. of fruit. We dissolve the sugar very slowly in the water, stirring constantly. We boil and pour this syrup over the fruit so that it is completely covered. If not, we make more syrup with the same proportion of water and sugar. We let it rest for 24 hours.

Day 2: We put the syrup where the fruit rested in a saucepan and add another 50 g. of sugar. We dissolve over low heat until it boils and we cover again the fruit. We let it rest for another 24 hours.

Days 3 to 7: We repeat the operation for the next five days, so that the syrup becomes more and more concentrated.

Days 8 and 9: Now we are going to add 75 g. of sugar to the syrup instead of the 50 g. that we had been adding so far. We dissolve e we add the fruit to the casserole. Cook over low heat for 3-4 minutes. Carefully put the fruit and syrup in the source. Let stand for 48 hours.

Day 10: We repeat the operation with 75 g. of sugar and this time We let it rest between 4 and 12 days. This is the last resting process. The longer it is, the sweeter the fruit will be, but we have to avoid making it too dry.

The time has come, we drain the fruit and we put it on a rack oven placed on a tray and we cover the fruit with a large pot so that it covers it but does not touch it. So we have to keep it in a warm place, such as the kitchen, during two or three days until completely dry. During this time, we turn the pieces of fruit two or three times.

Once the fruit is dry, we put in boxes, handling with care and separating each piece with non-stick papers. Thus, it will be preserved for a long time thanks to the loss of water and the action of sugar.

It is true that doing it involves a great effort, but you cannot imagine the pleasure of seeing how the fruit changes its appearance every day and acquires more and more the characteristics of candied fruit. As a reward, a candied fruit made by us and with all the aroma of natural seasonal fruit.

Via: Comarcarural
Image: Federico Verdu