You might have seen candied fruit around lately—glistening, vibrant, almost otherworldly. You’ll spot it arranged atop decorated desserts from new-wave pastry chefs, adorning sculptural centerpieces at fashionable parties, and embellishing the social media profiles of your favorite aesthetically minded food creators.
The labor-intensive curiosity, long relegated to fruitcake and other traditional sweets, is making a glittering comeback. What is it about this old-school confection that so captures our imaginations? “Candied fruit is translucent,” explains Camilla Wynne, author of Nature’s Candy—a magical effect that evokes gemstones, blown glass, or, Wynne’s preferred comparison, glowing jellyfish.
But it’s not just the look that’s precious: “There’s something amazing about the fact that you can prolong the lifespan of fruit,” she says, “just by replacing its water content with sugar.” The process is arduous, spanning days or weeks of boiling and soaking in syrup, but when sugar properly penetrates fruit’s cellular structure, not only does the appearance become almost incandescent, but the microbes that cause spoilage can’t survive.
Long one of the most beautiful ways to preserve produce, candying has existed in some form as far back as ancient China and Rome. And despite (or perhaps because of) the immense effort required, these sweets have maintained their appeal—especially around the Mediterranean, where you’ll see whole candied fruits in shops from Aleppo to Provence, and be welcomed into Balkan and Levantine homes with syrupy spoon sweets.
You’ll also see the technique illustrated in global treats like Mexican dulce de calabaza or mứt tắc or mứt quất, the Vietnamese candied kumquats. These days creative food folks are pushing the boundaries of the technique even further—take chef Alessandro Giannatempo, who garnished a cake with candied vegetables for an event during last year’s London Fashion Week. The luminous snap peas and ribbons of radish and carrot had just as much ethereal beauty as any glacé pear or citron. No matter what you candy, it’ll last for months, or even years, if properly stored, so you can treasure these jewels like little works of art.
