the slow candy

Here is the thing about me, and I’m sure all of you can relate: Along with seeking quick-hit-projects like the poncho, I simultaneously crave longer, more absorbing projects.

This is why I recently passed over recipes offering quick! easy! ways to candy fruit peel and instead settled on the one that took three days. Not three days of constant attention – I’m not that much of a nutcase or shut-in. But still. Three days of shepherding the fruit through soaking, simmering, absorbing and more simmering. Three days of on-and-off tending to a pot that made our apartment smell like fresh marmalade and created fruit as bright and translucent as stained glass windows.

This candied fruit is headed into our Christmas puddings, and as my sisters will attest, I’m always annoying them with my eagerness to start new traditions.

This is one I hope will stick, so I wanted to do it up right.