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1
cut the oranges in half & juice them. (fresh orange juice for the whole family!). Using a spoon, scrape out the flesh from the inside of the orange peel, but leave the peel & pith (the white part) intact. Cut the remaining rind into strips of the desired length & thickness. Don't go too thin with them as you don't want them to be flimsy.
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2
place the strips into a large pot & fill with cold water until the rinds are covered. Bring the water to a boil & allow to boil for 5 minutes, drain the water. Repeat this step 3 more times (4 times altogether). Strain the rind strips & set aside.
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3
Put the sugar, vanilla bean powder & 500ml of water into the pot & bring to a boil. Once the mixture reaches 120C, add the orange peels back to the pot & reduce the heat down so the mixture simmers. You will want to boil the peels in the sugar mixture until they become translucent, this will take between an hour & an hour & a half.
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4
Make sure to check on them every 10 minutes or so & give them a good, but gentle stir. Once the rinds have become translucent, remove the pot from the heat. Be very careful at this point because boiling sugar burns BADLY!
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5
using tongs, remove the strips one by one & place them on a wire cooling rack to dry. Make sure the strips do not touch otherwise they will stick together. Also, place a sheet of parchment under the rack as this will make cleanup easier.
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6
The strips can take between 30 minutes & 3 days to completely dry, this will depend on the temperature outside & the humidity. You want them to be dry before you dip them in chocolate.
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7
Place the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave & melt carefully. Once melted, dip the strips one by one & shake gently to remove excess chocolate. Place the dripped strips onto a piece of parchment until cooled & hardened. The quantity of chocolate recommended will dip half the strips.
