How To Zest A Lemon
A Few Tips on How to Zest a Lemon
Many cooks have been confused when they reach a section in a recipe calling for lemon zest; if not an experienced cook, they probably don’t know how to zest a lemon. Never fear; it is an easy task to learn, and one that will add immense flavor to any food dish.
Lemons, as all citrus fruit, have a tough, leathery skin encasing the fruit that protects it while the fruit grows and ripens on the tree. This skin is called the zest of the fruit, and actually contains more flavor than the fruit itself. Beneath the zest is another skin; a thin, white blanket adhering to the fruit within. This white skin is called the pith, and is a very bitter part of the citrus. The interior is the fruit; juicy segments that are normally the goal of the person peeling the fruit. For cooking, however, it is usually the outer skin that is required for the recipe, so knowing how to zest a lemon or any citrus will enhance your culinary skills.
Essential oils permeate the citrus zest that, when scraped off, burst into wonderful scents and taste. Care must be taken, though, not to scrape too deeply; getting into the pithy white skin will create a very bitter product. Learning how to zest a lemon, for example, may take a bit of practice before the desired results are achieved. For this technique, there are several tools that can be used.
A vegetable peeler carefully pulled across the surface of the lemon removes long strips of the zest that can be dropped into soups and sauces to extract the bright lemon flavor. The zest is then removed before serving. These lemon strips can also be candied and used to decorate cakes and cupcakes, puddings and other desserts. The candied zest is delicious to eat as well as being attractive; a great example of how to zest a lemon so as not to waste any of the great flavor.
For a finer grating of the zest to include in baked goods, a microplaner or fine side of a grater is used. Showing a young child how to zest a lemon can enable you to combine other ingredients while the zest is being accumulated, and brings your child into the kitchen. Either the microplaner or the grater is extremely easy to use, and safe for little fingers. Leaving the fruit whole, simply rub the lemon skin onto the kitchen tool, turning the fruit as the white pith becomes exposed. Again, it is important not to grate the pith, which integrates bitterness into the recipe. Because the essential oils in the zest are so intense, usually only a small amount of zest is needed in each recipe to provide the fresh flavor required.
Learning how to zest a lemon is a simple technique, and one that will pay off in dividends of huge flavor.