Candied Meyer Lemon Peel

As I have mentioned, we have a meyer lemon tree that produces the most fragrant, sweet lemons I have ever tasted.  While I was making the Tartine tart a few weeks ago, I decided to try the candied zest in order to make use of the entire fruit. 

Things seemed to be going well. 

The lemons were easy to peel in strips. 

Until the whole thing cooled into a brick.  It was supposed to stay syrupy - but I must have gotten the sugar too hot.  Here are the little peels immersed in their sugar cement. 

Well, this weekend I decided to melt the sugar again and rescue them.  Here they are.  This book mentions that the sugar replaces the water in the cells of the rind, which I thought was interesting.  It tasted like homemade candy. Definitely captures the aromatic quality of the rind, but I don't really know what to do with it now... or how long it will keep without its sugar syrup.

Overall - my vote is that it wasn't worth the effort.