Tuesday's Tip ~ Citrus Zest

To see how to zest ....The “zest” of any citrus fruit (such as lemon, lime, grapefruit, and orange) is only the outermost colorful edge of the citrus. It is important to understand exactly where the zest is because just underneath the
surface of the zest is what is known as the pith of the rind, which is extremely bitter. The zest is considered the most flavorful part, and can be used to infuse citrus flavor into a wide range of recipes. Using
the zest as opposed to the juice allows you to extract the flavor without sacrificing the consistency of your recipe, which would otherwise “break” or curdle if the juice were added to the recipe’s other ingredients,
such as cream or milk.
A great “trick” is to run the side of the citrus along a microplane, because the small, sharp teeth will gently scrape off the zest without cutting deeply into the bitter skin. The microplane should remain stationary
(over a bowl or measuring cup), and only the citrus should be scraping up and down the sharp surface of the plane. When scraping the citrus against the microplane, roll or rotate it in your hand so no one area of the citrus is over-zested. If the recipe calls for large strips of zest, use a vegetable peeler to remove the large strips. If the strip of zest contains white, bitter pith, place the strip zest side down on the edge of a cutting board, and hold the knife parallel to the zest. Press the blade against the zest and, with large strokes,
shave off as much of the white as possible.
If you are succeeding at this “trick,” you will notice that the area where the zest was removed will appear to be smooth and have a lighter shade of the citrus’ color. For instance, if you are zesting a lemon
after running and rolling it over the plane, you will remove the bright yellow outer edge, but a lighter tint of yellow should remain. If you are over-zesting, you will see the white pith of the rind exposed.