Step 1

Wash the oranges and dry them.

Step 2

Cut off the ends, then slice down the orange lengthwise to section the outer peel into quarters. Now use your fingers to gently peel the oranges.

Step 3

Cut the peeled peels into fine strips and place them in a small-medium pot. Add around 1 1/2 cups of water so that the peels are just covered and bring the water to a boil. Boil the orange peels for around 15 minutes while stirring occasionally.

Step 4

Pour the content of the pot through a strainer to drain the water and capture the orange peels. Rinse the pot and run the orange peels under water to get rid of some of the bitterness.

Step 5

Place the orange peels back in the pot, add 1 1/2 cups water and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Bring the mixture to a low simmer. Let the orange peels simmer for around 1.5 hours while stirring occasionally until the water-sugar mixture becomes a thick syrup and the orange peels look slightly translucent.

Step 6

Remove the orange peels from the pot and place them on a cooling tray. It's best to have some parchment paper underneath the cooling tray to capture syrup drips. Separate any peels that got stuck together using two forks and let the peels dry for around 24 hours until they are no longer sticky to the touch. Alternatively, you can roll them in granulated sugar after they have cooled.

Step 7

Either place the strips into an airtight container for storage or cut them into small cubes if you plan on using them for baking (for example in Gingerbread cookies or German Stollen).