{Above: Candied applie peels, not kelp}

As I mentioned in a previous post, there’s a candy-Ethiopian spice store combo down the block from us that attracts an eclectic group of customers. Whenever I send one of my boys to buy a loaf of bread or a bag of milk at the adjacent grocery they invariably make a clandestine visit to stock up on radioactive colored sweets.  There is an unwritten pact between them that whoever is sent on this errand always buys enough to share.

 I advocate healthy food but have never been neurotic enough to fuss about those wrappers they try to hide. There are some things in life they have to learn themselves. 

So when my middle son walked into the house looking like he caught the biblical plague I had a pretty good idea why. “What did you eat?” was my first question. He went out to buy pizza with the gang so that was the obvious answer. With a bit of probing he also admitted to downing two bright red slurpees and a couple of those sweet and sour belt candies produced in a country with no FDA equivalent.  He was messing with truly hard core stuff. The outcome of course was a magnificent eosinophil reaction; crimson splotches all over his face and body. From his point of view, this health scare was on the verge of critically embarrassing.

Did I say “I told you so?” ? Probably, but I didn’t tell him to stop buying candy- he’ll do that anyway- hopefully he’ll know which ones to avoid.  At their age, there is no point micro-managing everything that goes into their mouths (obviously I wouldn’t be so nonchalant if there was a bigger risk involved).

So while I can’t tout the following recipe as health food, at least you’ll be able to show your face in public after eating it.  

Seriously long candied apple peel

 

I didn’t want to throw away the beautiful spiral apple peels left over from baking pies (I used this nifty kitchen gadget for the peeling job). Instead I decided to candy them like I do lemon or orange rinds. The outcome reminded me a bit like those forbidden sour candies but my son thought they looked like seaweed.  “I’m not going to eat that!” Of course they did.  

The peels of 9 apples

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

Juice of one lemon

½ cup granulated sugar

In a small pot add the water, lemon juice and sugar. Heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the apple peels, mixing so they are coated. Continue to simmer until the sugar syrup thickens, about 15-20 minutes. The apple peels should be slightly translucent at this point. Do not let syrup brown. Transfer peels to parchment paper until cool (save simple syrup for flavoring tea or cocktails). Meanwhile pour about ½ cup granulated sugar in a high sided tray. Add the apple peels and toss until coated.

There really isn’t a tidy way of eating these peels and that’s the fun part about it.