Hi everyone, welcome to this episode of Amanda Tastes. Today I am going to show you how to make sugaring grapefruit peel.
When you peel a grapefruit, you can save the skin and make a simple snack.
It alone can be a snack, or you can use it for baking. For example, apply it as a filling in a cake or cookie.
All you need is peels of 2 grapefruits, 1/4 lemon and 150g cater sugar.
You can use pomelo instead of grapefruits.
Or you can apply this sugaring method to orange and lemon zests, and it works as well.
First off, clean the peel.
Sprinkle some salt on it and then rub with your hands on the surface to get rid of the wax.
Then rinse in water.
Pat dry. Score a cross on the stem head.
Follow the line and cut all the way to the bottom.
Only score on the surface, and do not cut through the flesh.
Peel the skin off the pith along the line like so.
Cut the peel into strips.
Trim off the white pith.
Doing so is to reduce the bitterness flavor of the peel.
The pith will also make the snack too soft.
So it is up to you how much pith you want to trim off.
Personally I like to trim half pith off, so that the final snack will be kind of chewy and spongy instead of being too soft.
Soak the peels in water.
Add in a pinch of salt, and then bring it to a boil on high heat.
Turn the heat off once it boils.
Drain the peels, and then soak them in clear and fresh water.
Let them sit in the water overnight.
This is because soaking makes them tender and softer, so that they will absorb more flavor.
This is also because it helps to get rid of the bitter taste in the peels.
After soaking overnight, transfer them into a pot.
Add in fresh water and boil it again.
That is boiling twice in total from the beginning.
So then there won’t be any bitterness in the peels.
Now it’s time to sugaring them.
Transfer them into a frying pan, and then add in half caster sugar.
Squeeze in lemon juice.
Add in about 150ml of water.
You only need the right amount of water just to dissolve sugar in it, not too much.
Bring it to a boil, and then turn down the heat to low.
Cover with lid and leave it for about 10-15 mins.
Add in the remaining half of caster sugar.
Adding sugar separately can help the peels to absorb the sweetness more evenly.
After adding sugar for a second time, the syrup will become thicker.
Now slightly move them around to coat evenly.
Cook it on low for another 10-15 mins.
Then the peels will become a little translucent.
Now turn up the heat to high to thicken the sauce.
Let syrup cook to get even thicker.
You will see large bubbles rising in the pan.
The consistency you are looking for is when you move the boiling peels around the pan, there’s no water remaining.
The peels are now coated with syrup bubbles.
Turn off the heat.
Place kitchen towels on the counter.
Put a wire rack on top.
We need to let them sit till dried.
Now as the peels cool down, there are no white bubbles around any more.
They become translucent and covered with syrup.
Line up the peels one by one on the rack to cool and dry.
Keep one away from the other and do not let them stick to each other.
The kitchen towels can keep your counter clean from the dropping syrup.
Leave them until they cool down and become a little gooey to touch on the surface.
Let them sit to room temperature.
Prepare two bowls, a clean one and a bowl with some caster sugar in it.
Dredge a piece of peel in the sugar bowl first.
Coat it evenly.
Then transfer it to another bowl.
This coating step prevents peels from sticking to each other during the sugaring process.
They look like this when they are done.
They are like beautiful gummies.
And they have a very rich and strong grapefruit aroma.
You can hardly taste the bitterness, and they are more like fruit gummies.
You can store them for a long time, even for a month or two.
They can be a snack.
Or you can chop them up and apply to cakes and cookies.
Grapefruits are in season now, so I hope you can save the peels and try this simple recipe.
I also want to bring this up, that I am holding a prize drawing event on Weibo.
It is still on. If you are interested, please come and follow me on Weibo.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Amanda Tastes. And thanks for watching.