Candied Lizard Skin

My Lizard Skins are based off of two different recipes. I liked the Martha Stewart recipe because she doesn't peel the zucchini and I think that adds visual interest, but probably not in the way Martha intended.  I didn't think it would look as gross peeled and for this I wanted gross.  

Her recipe calls for just sugar, water and zucchini and I knew I needed something to mask the zucchini flavor which led me to this recipe that uses Kool-Aid.  It also uses a dehydrator, which I don't have.  Martha's just relied on air drying (I think rather unsuccessfully because the recipe warns you to serve it immediately.)  I dried mine using the lowest temperature on my oven, 170 degrees.  You could try speeding things up by going up to 200, but I wouldn't go higher than that.

As I mentioned in my Craft Party post, my zucchini are looking a little different this year.  If you like the yellow peel contrast yellow summer squash would work as well.

 

The baking time listed is more of guess. The reality is I would bake it for about an hour, turn the oven off because I had to leave the house. Come back flip it, bake it some more, have to leave, turn the oven off. I think the second batch I left in the oven, turned off, overnight. It's not rocket science and obviously there is a lot of wiggle room, so don't feel like you have to dedicate a whole day to watching zucchini dry.

The real question is how does it taste. Opinions varied. Some liked it, some thought it was pretty good for zucchini, some went back for seconds or thirds, others didn't care for it or were satisfied to just try it once for the novelty.  I had expected the artificial flavoring to overpower the zucchini and it didn't. In fact then general consensus was that it tasted "sweet".  For flavor I used one packet of unsweetened lemon-lime Kool-Aid. I would have preferred a straight up lime, but couldn't find any. Maybe using a different flavor or two packets or some other form of concentrated flavoring would have made a difference. 

I think this is one of those recipes that are fun to make once, but I can't say I'm dying to make or eat it again.  It's definitely something different to do if you are drowning in zucchini and it has a great Halloween look to it.  

Candied Lizard Skin

2-3 zucchini

1 ½ cups water
1 ½ cups sugar
1 pkg unsweetened Kool-Aid
Additional sugar for coating

Use a mandolin to slice zucchini into thin even strips.
Lay slices between paper towels to wick out excess moisture.
Heat water and sugar together stirring until sugar completely dissolves.
Add kool-aid, stir until combined, bring to boil.
Add zucchini. Reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes. Gently stir occasionally.
Remove from heat and strain. (Liquid can be saved to make another batch)
Pre-heat oven to 170.
Once zucchini is cool enough to handle, lay strips in a single layer on cookie sheets covered with parchment paper.
Bake for 2 hours, flip zucchini bake another 2 hours. If using more than one cookie sheet, switch positions. The zucchini shouldn’t feel sticky. If it does bake it a bit longer.  If it's just a little tacky that's fine.
Let it cool then toss with a tablespoon or so of granulated sugar in an air tight container or ziplock bag. This will keep it from sticking together.  

Here are a few food label ideas, the two I used and two blue varieties in case you're in a blue raspberry kind of mood. Font is You Murderer BB by Blambot.