I don't like candied citrus in my fruitcake so I don't make them.
I DO use my homemade dried fruit (apples, plums, cherries, cranberries, pineapple, etc.).

For the first time this year, I made Zucchini candy (lemon, lime, orange and black cherry flavors) and I'm using that for the bright colors in the fruitcake.

It's almost time to try one!!!! LOL
I made 2 full size loaves and 3 minis! We'll eat a small one just to make sure everythings "OK". :-)
I'm pretty sure it's all going to taste a lot like the Cherry Brandy I've been basting with for the last 5 weeks!

Deanna

Same here - we don't like candied fruit so we use mixed varieties of diced dried fruit in our cakes. We make white fruitcakes.

Dave

I'll bet the homeade stuff is a whole lot better than the store bought. The color drives me right off of that stuff, plus it has a chemical taste. I'll bet homeade candied cherries are the bomb!

I agree, L, I bet the homemade stuff is way better than that store bought stuff. It's so nasty, I pick it out of stuff if I do happen to get something that has it in there.

I don't know about homemade candied fruit, but homemade maraschino cherries ARE "the bomb", LOL, Readinglady sent me a jar and they were delicious!

Annie

I recently made fruitcake out of dried fruit too. I used some of our dried figs and dried apricots. I forgot one should use candied. I did use our candied citrus rind though. Other ingredients included currants, yellow raisins, cranberries, prunes, crushed hazelnuts, and marzipan paste. Brandy too of course. I sent a large fruitcake to a party and none came back, so I have to assume it was good (I know, I should have gone to the party...). I have a couple more soaking in the brandy cheesecloth, will taste them closer to Christmas. It smells so wonderful I really doubt it will taste bad....

I am posting to give the approximate recipe for the syrup and candied rind, since i have been using them quite a bit. To make the syrup and candied rind here is what I did. Mix equal parts sugar and water, heat until sugar is dissolved, and put the zested rinds of a basket full of minneolas after carefully washing them. Sorry, i did not measure, but you will see when enough is enough, when the mix turns a pretty orange color and you see lots or rind on the syrup. Boil for about 30 minutes and let the whole thing sit overnight or a few hours. Strain the rind and keep them in a separate container. The strained liquid should be orange and taste like minneolas. Or, any citrus that you want to preserve. My oldest (and most productive) trees are a giant Minneola, which is probably over 100 years old, and a not so large looking but incredibly prolific Meyers lemon tree. Both of them are super loaded (again). I am thinking about a similar Myers syrup and candied rind combination.

I have used the syrup as a flavoring in citrus wine, to make the zucchini candies that were posted here, as a mixer with vodka, will use to soak the non- brandy cheesecake....and that will be it (not much left so it will be gone after that). The candied rind is used every time I make zucchini muffins, every time I make fig bread, and I used some in the fruitcake.