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Candied Ginger

Sometimes I love to have a piece of candied ginger when I have ate too much. By chance I saw Alton Brown on TV showing how to make candied ginger, something which I will buy from the Chinese Medical Shop.   Then I thought, if we can make candied orange peel [quite similar to keat paeng] at home, perhaps I can also try candied ginger.  To know 'what is crystallized ginger?' check it out here.
Today, I saw a box of very fresh young ginger roots at the vegetable stall in the wet market.  I bought some to make these candied ginger.
Ingredients - Small Portion
250 gm young ginger roots - scrape the skin/peeled
1 and 1/2 cup water
200 gm sugar
  1. Peel the ginger root and slice into 1/2 cm thick slices.
  2. Place ginger and water in a saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat and cover to cook for about 35 minutes or until ginger is tender.
  3. Transfer the ginger to a colander to drain, reserving 30 ml of the cooking liquid.  Weigh the ginger and measure out an equal amount of sugar.  
  4. Return the ginger and liquid to the saucepan.  Add in the sugar.  Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring frequently.  
  5. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the sugar syrup looks dry [has almost evaporated and begins to re-crystallize, approximately 20-25 minutes.
  6. Transfer the ginger immediately to the cooling rack and spread to separate the individual pieces.
  7. Once cool, store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks or more.
Information on Uses of Candied Ginger or Crystallized Ginger from this site
Crystallized Ginger – dried slices of natural ginger root, cured and coated in sugar. Here are 10 great ideas for putting this sweet, spicy and comforting ingredient to work in your kitchen:
1. Chop and add to batter for cookies, such as ginger snaps, or quick breads like gingerbread, orange bread or banana bread.
2. Melt butter with diced Crystallized Ginger, fresh lemon juice and sliced green onions in a saucepan. Spoon over hot rice and serve with chicken or fish.
3. Sprinkle finely chopped pieces as a finishing touch on apple pie a la mode or a whipped cream-topped brownie.
4. Combine diced Crystallized Ginger with nuts, brown sugar and spices for a baked apple or pear filling.
5. Add chunks to a stir-fry for a sweet and spicy bite.
6. Dip Crystallized Ginger pieces in melted chocolate. Let cool and serve as a special after dinner treat.
7. Add to water and sugar mixture to make ginger-infused simple syrup. Strain before adding to drinks, such as iced tea.
8. Sprinkle diced Crystallized Ginger into fruit salad for a spicy, zesty flavor lift.
9. Add to a homemade cranberry sauce with orange zest.
10. Or, just snack on this sweet treat right out of the package. Crystallized Ginger is especially helpful for calming the stomach while traveling.

Candied Orange Peel

Saw Phong Hong's post on this recipe the time when I wanted to make  Orange Marmalade.  Normally, I don't add all the orange skin to the marmalade as my hubby is not in favour of too much zest in it.  The remaining skin is usually discarded.  This time after seeing Phong Hong's post, I put them to good use by making candied orange peel.

The cooking part is quite easy but removing the white pith from the skin is quite time consuming and you need a sharp knife for easy cutting.  I removed quite a bit of the white pith which is bitter.   But it is worth the trouble cos' the candied orange peels are good, very suitable for my mixed nuts mooncake filling and cakes.   I'm very happy that I made these cos' I have used them in several of my bakes [see coming posts].
Recipe Source - Phong Hong Bakes
Ingredients
- Orange peel from 3 oranges [I used about 150 gm]
- Enough water to cover orange peel in a saucepan
- 1.5 cups sugar [I used about 1 cup]




  1. Wash the oranges and dry them.  Slice off the top and bottom of the oranges.  Score the skin in quarters.  Keep the orange flesh for making marmalade.
  2. Remove the skin [white pith]  an cut into strips of about 1/4 inch wide.
  3. Put the orange peel strips into a saucepan, cover with water.  Bring to boil, then drain the water.  Add in water and bring to boil again.  Repeat this twice.
  4. Add water just enough to cover the orange peel, add sugar.  Stir to dissolve the sugar, then bring it to a boil.
  5. Lower heat and simmer for about an hour or until sugar mixture is thick and syrupy.  Swirl the pan every now and then to coat the orange strips with the syrup.
  6. The orange peel should be translucent and the syrup almost dried and some sugar crystals.
  7. Remove to cool on a rack then roll in some sugar to coat the peels.  Let dry and store in airtight container.
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