Candied means coated or preserved in sugar, which makes food sweet, shiny, and often chewy. When you candy something, you cook it slowly in sugar syrup until the sugar soaks in and creates a glassy coating. Candied apples at the fair have that hard, red sugar shell. Candied yams at Thanksgiving dinner are sweet potatoes baked with sugar or marshmallows until they're sticky and caramelized.

The process works because sugar acts as a preservative. Before refrigerators existed, people candied fruit to help it last longer. Candied orange peels, candied ginger, and candied cherries can sit in your pantry for months without spoiling. Fruitcakes are famous for being packed with candied fruits that help them stay edible for a long time.

You can candy many foods: nuts, flowers, even bacon. The sugar transforms the texture and intensifies the sweetness, creating that distinctive chewy or crunchy quality. When something is described as candied, expect it to be much sweeter than its natural state and to have that telltale sugary coating or glaze.