Making Candied Fruit for Fruitcake

Fruitcake seems to be one of those sweets that most folks just tolerate for the holidays.  I've tasted those red and green cherry studded loaves and they really don't taste like much of anything but corn syrup with an overlay of something that just isn't quite right.

Pineapple chucks drying after candying process.

Years ago, my mother and sister and I began making fruitcake from a Ladies Home Journal recipe. It's a white fruit cake and is full of store bought candied fruit. We love it. We baked the weekend after Thanksgiving and made several cakes baked in angel food cake pans. That's a big cake but we had a bigger family then and all the old folks loved the fruitcake.

 When they were cool we wrapped them in a piece of old sheet and stored them in a round tin, dousing them a couple of times a week with Sherry until Christmas.

When I grew up and moved away from home I missed the fruit cake baking and decided to bake my own.  I was horrified to see how much candied fruit cost, particularly the pineapple. That lead me to try candying my own pineapple.  It was such a success that I've made homemade candied fruit a part of my November ever since.

Candied pineapple just off the stove

I get my recipes for the candied fruit  from a favorite cookbook of mine called Better Than Store-Bought by Helen Witty and Elizabeth Schneider Colchie.

It's an easy recipe of sugar and corn syrup and canned pineapple chunks.  I have a large shallow pan that fits perfectly on my Aga's boiling pad and it works great for two 20 oz cans of good quality pineapple.  I usually get Dole pineapple.

This year for the first time I'll be able to candy cherries from our own trees. There are no green cherries in my fruit cake just red tart ones that are used for pies.  I tried candying sweet cherries one year but they were too sweet.

Last year I started candying lemon and orange peel. They both make a delicious sugar plum like candy treat. I make extra for that purpose.

That leaves only Citron to purchase along with golden raisins, currents and slivered almonds. It's a little time consuming to make the pineapple, cherries, lemon and orange peel but it is so worth it.  The flavor is wonderful. You taste the good white cake and each of the fruit's flavor as well.  Maybe next year I'll grow Citron melons and candy them. Currents, golden raisins, why not. Too bad we can't grow almonds around here!


Transferring candied pineapple chunks to drying rack