What Is Lemon Zest?
Many of you might have come across the term “lemon zest” while preparing food in your day-to-day lives. But do you really know what is lemon zest? Well, if you do not know, this article would surely prove to be of great help to you. The outer yellow skin of lemon is referred to as lemon zest. This layer of lemon is rich in volatile oils that make it very flavorful. This is why you find lemon zest as an ingredient in many recipes along with lemon juice.
The method of peeling away this zest from lemon is known as “zesting”. You may look for necessary tools at kitchen supply shopping stores that are especially designed for zesting purposes. You may also zest any citrus fruit like orange with these tools as they are not specifically made to zest lemons. So, you can easily infuse immense flavor to your dishes by zesting several citrus fruits.
Peel of every citrus fruit including lemon contains two layers on the top – pith and zest. Zest is a textured, bright colored, and shiny outer surface that is easily visible to the eyes. Pith is the fibrous, white-colored membrane that is present just below the layer of zest. It protects the fruit from inside. Pith of lemon and other citrus fruits are usually bitter in taste. So, while zesting, one should be careful to separate zest from pith to ensure an edible dish.
There are various ways in which a lemon can be zested. A few zesters are similar to graters, so the zest is delicately shredded and you can then remove the tiny flakes. Other zesting tools take off zest in the form of long strips. It is a good idea to use these zest strips as decorations for your desserts. You may even experiment with them as you fry these strips or make them candied. Many adventurous cooks also suspend them in custards.
Deft cooks are talented people who can easily remove zest from lemons with the help of a vegetable peeler or paring knife, though one needs to have a skilled light hand if you wish to remove zest and that too without pith.
In case you wish to add lemony flavor to your finished baked food products, you can do so with lemon zest. This will infuse flavor to the food item and will also treat consumers with an immediate lemon flavor burst as the individual lemon zest pieces are cracked open under their teeth. Lemon zest is also added to several beverages and mixed drinks, and is also used as seasoning on many foods.
Many recipes prefer that you use fresh zest of lemon, though candied lemon zest would work as well, at least in some of them. Candied zest of lemon normally contains pith also. The candying process normally softens pith, thereby making it extra flavorful. So, inclusion of pith doesn’t remain objectionable anymore.
You can also mix lemon zest with a few spices such as lemon pepper. Now, let it dry as the oils are released during crushing. If you have some good lemons with you, simply zest them off and freeze the zest for future use.