How do you stockpile raw rind for candied citrus?

[orangewasabi]

Is there an efficient way to store an accumulation of lemon rinds to make the blanching process more efficient?

After juicing, can i prep the "cups" i.e. scoop out the pith and freeze em? Then thaw before blanching?

In board-search it seemed one person refridgerated their stock of rinds for a while - how long dya think they'd last?

I'd like to do this in 12 lemon batches and that's at least a week if not two weeks for our wee household.

[shallots]

Since this is a new thread, this gloom and doom may be premature, but here goes.
There are some really nasty diseases of citrus in Florida and some of the sprays that are being used to stop the spread of chili thrips and other insects from other parts of the country probably should be avoided in food.
I had planned to bring back citrus two months ago to make candied fruit, but when I talked to some ag people down there, I decided to grow my own citrus up here so I'd know what was on the rinds.
If you're going to eat it, try to be careful of the origin and treatments before it got to your grocer.
The USDA also has a warning out on spreading plant diseases via citrus fruits, and they've paid to put it on some gardening forums. (One of the diseases is called greening.)

[orangewasabi]

yeah, this is a serious point. it's definately an important issue.

[enbell]

Thank yo for the heads-up

[enbell]

I freeze, and I suppose I lose a bit of texture. I doublebag with freezer Ziplocks to guard against freezer-burn.

[orangewasabi]

Thank you so much -- it's great to have live experience.
Do you:
1/ prep the peel first i.e. scrap out the cups
2/ freeze different citrus peels together or do you have a bag for each type?

[enbell]

I have tried it both ways actually to see which was best. I think the more I handles the peel prior to freezing led to a bit drier product upon use. This dryness was not a huge issue though. My experience has also led me to believe that the flavor is more pronounced when no prepping the peel befor freezing.

I have always freezed each type separately, mostly because I'm a bit OCD.

Again, only one person's experience, hope this helps :)

[orangewasabi]

ah, TY for those inside tips.

okay, no prepping before freezing. Do you thaw, then prep then boilx3 ... or?

[enbell]

Yep. Thaw, and treat as fresh. Again, I tried thawing, boiling, and then prepping with poor results. Good luck :)

[jen kalb]

Id freeze - while the refrig rinds might keep ok for 2 weeks, I cant think that their flavor would be improved by langushing for that long.

[orangewasabi]

i am curious about what freezing does to the texture -- though I guess after being boiled 3-5 times, what difference does a little freezing make?

[LindaWhit]

That's what I was thinking - freezing/thawing won't much matter after a single boil much less five. :-)

[jaykayen]

It lasts quite a while in the fridge, if you've got pretty fresh lemons to start with, two weeks is totally fine.

[LindaWhit]

I'd think they'd dry out a bit in the fridge, so perhaps freezing is the way to go. Maybe you could test it out with one lemon?

[orangewasabi]

doh! an experiment, of course, i never considered that. *runs off to pop a lemon cup in the freezer*