Candied and glacé fruit

What it is

Candied fruit is fruit that has been impregnated with sugar until it keeps in a firm, sweet, usually dried form. Candied peel, glacé fruit and crystallised fruit belong to the same family of methods, which differ mainly in the final form of the fruit.

The method is what separates candied fruit from fruit served in syrup. A thin syrup coats the surface of a fruit, but candying repeatedly exchanges water inside the fruit for sugar, so the fruit itself becomes concentrated.

How the sugar gets in

Each steeping takes some water out of the fruit and leaves sugar in its place. Syrup that is more concentrated than the fruit's own juice draws water out of the fruit, and sugar moves in to take its place. Repeating the steeping with stronger syrup moves more of the water out. The drying at the end lowers the water that remains, and that low level of free water is what keeps the fruit.

The record does not give the concentrations, the number of steepings or the time for each one.

Historical traditions

Confectionery of this kind is recorded across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Candied peel is the best-known form, and preserved whole fruits are the other. The catalogue treats these traditions as separate from simple syrup and from the jam and jelly family, because the fruit is steeped, not cooked into a set mass.

Limits of the record

The record gives no shelf life, storage temperature or safety limit. Dried candied fruit has low free water, but its keeping still depends on drying properly and on storage that does not let it take up moisture. A product that has gone sticky, soft, or mouldy should be discarded.