Oro Blanco grapefruits, in particular, yield more peel than juice so know that you'll have a lot more peel than you will use with the sorbet, but it makes a lovely gift to give to friends, family, colleagues, or whoever grew the citrus.
Oro Blanco peels are thick and fluffy which makes for a wonderfully soft chewy candied peel, but they can easily break down so try to avoid hard boiling and plan for a little extra blanching time and a longer cooking time at a slightly lower temp, this will help them keep their shape.
You can also adapt this for a granita if you don’t have an ice cream maker.
Makes 1 pint
- Approx 6-8 Oro Blanco grapefruits depending on size (approx 800 grams)
- 800 grams of sugar
- 830ml of water
- David Leibovitz candied grapefruit recipe
Candied Peel
- Separate the peel from the pulp by cutting into quarters and scoop out the pulp
- Set aside the pulp quarters and place in fridge (covered) while making candied peel
- Slice the peel into strips, you can go a little thicker than you would a lemon or orange peel, ½ inch is totally ok
- Place in pot of water and bring to a boil, cook for about 20 min, drain and repeat three times
- After final drain, add measured sugar and water to pot with peels and cook on medium-high until a candy thermometer reaches 225F
- Strain peels out of syrup and lay in single layer on wire rack
- Syrup should be about 1 cup, maybe more. Keep room temperature until you’re ready to make sorbet
- Let peels cure overnight and toss with fine sugar, store covered at room temperature or fridge for longer storage
Sorbetto
- Juice the pulp when you’re ready to freeze so the juice is as fresh as possible
- Combine about 1 ⅔ cups of juice with ⅓ cup of syrup, stir vigorously and chill for 30min
- Add mixture to your ice cream maker for sorbet (or pour into jelly roll tray for granita)
To serve the candied peel with the sorbet, you can briefly soak candied peel with sugar crust in warm water for 30 seconds to render it more jelly-like.
