Candied Lemon Slices

you know i've made lemon pound cake last week right? you do remember about the candied lemon i said too, don't you? well, this is the candied lemon recipe that i will post today, as a reward of your remembrance. however, for those who forgot or even don't know about it at all. here is a quick recap, last week i posted lemon pound cake recipe (link on your left) which contains candied lemon inside of it, and it was made from scratch. so here's the scratch i'll tell..

this candied lemon is just too easy to make, however it takes a lot of patience and care. you should understand that you are going to work with boiled sugar which is very hot, so be cautious. you too should know that the pith is very bitter at first and as you boil and rinse them frequently, all the bitterness will go away with those water and replaced by the sweetness from the sugar syrup. well, more on that later in the recipe. another thing that i wanted to show you is, i just stumbled upon an interesting picture on google, it's about lemon and its anatomy and i find it very insightful for some reason. i hope you find it useful..

Candied Lemon Slices

2 lemons, washed thoroughly and sliced thinly

3/4 cup water

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

dash of Cointreau

directions:

1. cut the lemons crosswise into very thin slices. pick out and discard any seeds.
2. put the lemon slices in a heavy-duty, nonreactive saucepan and add enough water to cover them by a few inches. bring to a boil, turn down the heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
3. drain the lemon slices, return them into the saucepan, add more water and blanch them again for another 15 minutes. you can repeat this process once more to completely remove the bitterness, or if you don't mind a slight bitterness you can process to the next step.
4. drain the lemon slices again. return them to the saucepan and add the 3/4 cup water, 1.5 cup sugar, and salt. bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and cook for 20 minutes or more until the liquid reduced to a thick syrup.
5. if the syrup is too frothy to check whether the slices are done, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for a moment. the lemon slices should be translucent and the syrup should be thick and shiny and not caramelized. remove from the heat and pour all of them into mason jar. let cool completely, uncovered.
6. when it has cooled, add the cointreau and stir gently to the mixture. keep it covered in fridge for about 3 weeks.