Does anyone know how to make homemade candied fruit like you use in a fruitcake?  I would like to make a fruitcake but I don't want to use that nasty mess they sell in the grocery store.  Thanks~~

 I just made some. If it's hard fruit like orange rind, you need to cook it until it's barely tender, but soft fruits can go right into the syrup. Make the syrup of one cup sugar and one cup water. Put the fruit pieces into the syrup and simmer until they're saturated, about 45 minutes. Cool on wax paper.

Thanks Pat...that sounds good AND easy!!

WOW...That does sound easy....Im going to try it too-I love fruitcake

and this way I know that the fruit is fresh !!!

 It really is easy. I made 4 fruitcakes over the weekend using this method. Last year for Christmas I made candied orange peel, then dipped it in melted chocolate. They were so good they didn't last until Christmas.

Pat,

When you made candied orange peel, did you use all of the pith? Why it is necessary not to cook the orange rind all the way through? I am inspired! I must try this recipe! Thanks!

PS: What other candied fruits did you make?  

Gigi, I just used the peel as it came fresh from the orange. If you cook it all the way through, it gets too limp in the syrup. I'm not sure it would affect the taste, though.

You really want to know what I candied?   Green tomatoes. Yup, they're a fruit. They did ok, but they cooked in the syrup and got pretty limp. That was fun.

Besides that, I've tried apple pieces (not good, they turned to sauce - need to be dried first), cherries and lemon peel, which you do like orange peel.

 My grandma always added some of those cheap orange slices to her fruit cakes. They're the jelly candy ones with powdery sugar on the outside. I know they're not homemade but they're better than the yucky store stuff. I wish she'd passed on her recipe as it was the only kind of fruit cake I really liked alot.

Gigi:

I am guessing that the more sturdy the fruit, the more success for candying them.

I think that's it, Gigi. What I candied this year went into fruitcakes, but I didn't think of carrots! That might be interesting in a fruitcake.

I've never made cranberry sauce because fresh cranberries (frozen, too) are expensive here. It's cheaper to buy it already made and I don't eat enough to make a fuss about it.