Christmas Treats: Glazed Oranges

I got down to my last glazed orange slices 2 weeks ago,  making a birthday cake for the lovely Silva, and I decided I just couldn't stand doing an online order for glazed oranges when there were perfectly good, even beautiful oranges in the shops (and often on the trees) in Alice Springs.  And I use glazed oranges a lot: ricotta cheesecake, orange cake, paneforte,  orange slices dipped in chocolate..etc... and Christmas is coming closer and closer....

 I had looked for several years for a good glazing recipe but had not located one.  I mentioned the problem to my lovely Mark and to my astonishment,  he found a document, and emailed it to me... As is often the case with electronic communication from those who are part of our daily lives, I had ignored it... or perhaps, overlooked is a better word.  Well, when I found and read this article, I was overwhelmed.  It made perfect sense.  The glazing process takes several days, and the glazing mixture includes corn syrup (or in my case glucose syrup) and sugar.

The recipe I first used was for Citron (cedro), and it didn't work for oranges.. for a start I overcooked them, and then I didn't need to cook them everyday.  So here's the recipe for what I did do, and succesfully (check out the photo).

Ingredients

Sliced oranges (I prefer Valencia, don't use navel), with seeds removed (or not, as can be seen by my photo)
Pinch salt
1.5 litres water

700 gm sugar

60 gm glucose syrup

Time

Method

1. Slice the oranges cross-wise into slices, about 7mm thick.  Discard the ends and remove any seeds.
2. Places the oranges in a large saucepan of water, add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil.
3. Simmer for between 20 and 30 minutes, taking care that the oranges do not overcook.
4. Carefully remove the oranges, or pour through a strainer.
5. In the same, or another saucepan add the water (1.5 litres), sugar and glucose syrup and bring to the boil.  
6. Add the orange slices and simmer for 20 minutes.  Put the lid on the saucepan and leave the oranges to soak.
7. The next day, repeat this process, ie. Bring the saucepan with the oranges to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes with the lid off.
8. Carefully remove the oranges and place on a cake rack.  Allow to sit and drain for around 12 hours.  You may want to put a sheet of baking paper over the top.  
9. Test the orange.  It should be sweet and not too tough and not too fragile.
10. Place in a sealed container and leave in the fridge.