HomeCooking Methods & Food Reviews Using Citrus Zest When Cooking & Baking

Using Citrus Zest When Cooking & Baking

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Using Citrus Zest When Cooking & Baking

When a recipe calls for “zest” of a citrus fruit, it’s referring to the colorful outer part of the skin, not the inner white part, which is known as the pith.

You can use the zest of oranges, lemons, and limes, among many other citrus fruits, to bake and cook with.

The zest of citrus fruits contains all of the aromatic citrus oils and provides a hint of citrus tang to the recipe.

A simple method of obtaining a fine zest is by rubbing the fruit against the smallest holes of a cheese grater.


Besides Zest, Lemons Have Many Other UsesThe Many Uses Of A Lemon


The Solution To Having Zest On Hand When You Need It

After squeezing or juicing lemons or oranges do not toss the peels.

Freeze the peels or rinds in a freezer bag and whenever you need zest of a lemon or orange, you can grate it from the frozen peels.

grating lemon zest
Zesting Frozen Citrus Peelings

The flavor is just the same as if the peel were fresh.

It will save a trip to the store just to buy a citrus fruit for a small amount of zest.

Besides freezing the citrus peelings, here are some other ideas as to what you can do to save zest for baking and cooking.


Read More Here About The Benefits Of The Orange Peel


Blanch The Zest

Immerse peels in cold water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Drain the zest. This technique allows to remove their bitterness.

Make Zest Powder

Set zest ribbons to dry for 2 days. Next, place zest in a preheated oven (250-300 degrees) for 5-10 minutes.

Let cool and grind them into a powder using a mortar or a grinder. Ideal to finely season any recipe calling for zest.

Try some of our favorite recipes using zest.


More Deliciously Yummy Recipes

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