Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Tuesday's tip: Freeze citrus zest

I'm fond of the phrase, 'Waste not, want not', so have decided to start sharing the tips that help me get more out of my time and resources. The following kitchen tip does both.

If a recipe only calls for the flesh or juice of a citrus fruit, don't waste the precious rind. Give your fruit a good scrub and then zest the rind into a container you can store in the freezer for later use.

After the zest has frozen, give the container a shake to break up any clumps, and you'll have basically free-flow zest on tap. My freezer currently houses one container of lemon zest and one of orange zest.

Saving your zest also prevents any waste that might occur if a recipe only requires the zest and not the juice or flesh or a fruit, as fruit will quickly dry out without its protective rind.

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Kim, for passing on this great tip.

5 comments:

  1. Awesome idea - and a great way to make use of our lemon tree when it's fruiting in huge quantities!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh do you have a lemon tree Katie? Jealous! I think I need to plant one for myself. I've got a little one in a pot but it only grew 4 lemons last year - and that was a good crop!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for sharing this tip! I was just starting to think about a pile of lemons I scored from my mum's tree- after I read it I rushed to the kitchen and have just finished zesting and juicing- now off to the freezer :) Looking forward to trying the plum cake recipe you shared as well- that's how I found your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Em, thanks for commenting. I see we're on a similar journey when it comes to gardening and caring for the environment. Nice to meet another Kiwi eco-sister!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting Craving Fresh, and for taking the time to comment. Your feedback is so important to me.