The sour, refreshing aroma of lemon peel is always useful in the home. Bad if you don't have a fresh lemon at hand. It's good if there are a few dry lemon peels in the pantry. Dry it yourself, of course.

Grated organic lemon zest can be used as a tasty spice

Use unwaxed lemons

Even though lemon zest is mostly used in modest quantities as a fragrance when cooking, it should be of pure quality. Pollutants cannot be completely removed even by washing.

Dry only the outer yellow peel

The flesh of the lemon is encased in a thick peel that is completely edible. However, the white inside tastes bitter. For this reason, only the outer yellow layer, which carries the typical citrus scent, is peeled off to dry.

Grate, peel or zest

How you get the yellow off the whole lemon is up to you. You can finely grate the lemon zest on a kitchen grater or use a zester to tear off fine zest. If you don't have either of these to hand, you can also use a sharp knife to thinly peel off the lemon zest.

tips

Even untreated lemons have come a long way, so they should always be washed well.

This is how the lemon zest can be dried

Depending on your hurry, you have three options for drying lemon peels.

  • in the air
  • in the dehydrator
  • in the oven

Microwave drying is also possible, but has a negative effect on the fine citrus aroma.

Air drying

Place the lemon peels on a wooden board or a piece of kitchen paper. Put it in a dry and warm place for about two to three days. Turn the shells frequently so that they dry more evenly.

Drying in the oven

The oven extracts all the moisture from the citrus peels in about three hours.

  • optimum temperature is 50 °C
  • Baking tray must be lined with parchment paper
  • Scatter lemon zest evenly on top
  • Do not close the oven door completely

Drying in the dehydrator

Lemon peels dry gently in a dehydrator at low temperatures. The handling of the various models is similar and is described in more detail in the associated instructions for use.

tips

You can finely grind part of the dry zest, so you always have a lemon spice on hand.

durability and storage

Dry lemon peels keep their aroma promise for several weeks. For this they need to stay protected in a well-sealed box.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Vegetable garden