Not everyone knows how to make orange zest. Meanwhile, this is the desired product, and it is desirable to have some of it in the kitchen bins. If you need to use it, the zest will be within reach.
What it is?
Surely everyone knows what a bright sunny color in orange, cold yellow in lemon and dark green in lime. The very top layer with a porous surface is called citrus zest. We clarify that the spice is precisely a thin painted layer. Many, not knowing how to make orange zest, may try to cook it simply from the skin of a fruit. But this decision will be erroneous. The zest of this plan is unsuitable for consumption.
Where is this seasoning used?
Before you make the orange zest, we find out the moments when it can be very useful. So where is this citrus product needed:
- Orange peel can also be useful for dough. How to make a flavoring supplement - be sure to find out in today's article. Zest is well manifested in buns, pastry pies. It is added during the preparation of cookies and muffins. This spice is used very often for cakes. Not only in the cakes can be aromatic orange peel, but also the cream for this dessert is flavored with it.
- Meat and fish dishes can also be prepared using a flavoring supplement.
- Wine and vodka products. Flavors based on the top layer of orange skins are used in liquors and not only. How to make orange zest, it will not be out of place for lovers of self-prepared homemade tinctures.
- Delicious is tea or coffee, if you add to the drink a certain amount of fragrant peel, properly prepared.
- The use of the product occurs not only in the culinary field. Home cosmetology - ample opportunities for the preparation of orange peel for the future. Also, short-term operation in order to aromatize soap, scrub or caring emulsion with a citrus component.
And now instructions for making orange zest and photos.
Express Additive
This method is especially good when suddenly the recipe for creating a dish says: "add the zest of a lemon or an orange." Just take a fresh fruit and, after washing it, we try to take the finest upper orange layer from it. It is logical to do this with the help of a special item that helps to clean off the top layer from the orange. But what if you suddenly didn’t have such a knife, and spice is needed right now? How to quickly make orange zest in this case? Use a regular grater. Need medium or small. Rub the washed fruit with an orange layer on a grater and the aromatic spice is ready. You can add it to the dish.
Pure oranges are the key to a healthy product
It is easy to say that citrus fruits should be washed before removing the thin top layer of the peel. But today, the surface of fruits is often processed with substances that are not very necessary for the body. Therefore, before taking the zest as a dietary supplement or using it in the preparation of cosmetic care products, it must be completely freed from the applied substances.
First, thoroughly wash the fruit in very warm water. We use a hard washcloth at this moment. To rub the surface of the washed fruit you need to persistently, but without excessive fanaticism. Thus, dirt and possible technical pollution well come off an orange.
The second important point in washing an orange will be to pour boiling water over it. One or two seconds is enough for the top layer of orange fragrant skin to become more pliable for removal.
We complete the sanitization by blotting the orange with a thick paper towel or a clean kitchen towel.
Harvesting for future use
Fresh natural flavoring is, of course, wonderful. However, it is not always possible to use just such a seasoning. Here the product prepared for the future hurries to the rescue. There are several ways to make orange zest for home use.
Powder
This zest is good if you need a natural dye. Often used in home soap making. In cooking, especially in the confectionery art, the powder also showed itself well. It can be added during the preparation of cream for the cake. For the test, this method is simply gorgeous: the resulting orange pollen will harmoniously enter the overall composition of buns or muffins.
Zest Recipe
You will hardly find the exact ratio of components in such an instruction. Oranges are taken in arbitrary quantities. One or ten does not matter.
We wash the fruits according to the recipe described above in this article. In this case, you can remove the zest in any way. A grater, a special tool or an ordinary sharp knife - these devices will cope with the task.
Remove the peel very delicately. We grab the color layer, the white layer of the skin remains on the fruit. If your orange peel has slightly grabbed the white subcutaneous layer, do not panic. A small amount of white skin will not bring tangible discomfort when using orange fragrant pollen.
So, before us appeared strips of orange with a magnificent fresh aroma. We dry these strips in any convenient way. For this purpose, a special drying apparatus for fruits and vegetables is suitable or you can use the oven. The temperature is 50 degrees. Drying time 4 hours. We are ready to cook.
You can not use the accelerated method at all, but start drying at room temperature. In this case, 4-5 days - and the semi-finished product is ready.
The final step will be grinding the dried peel. Here you can operate the coffee grinder. The powder is ready. We store it in a tightly screwed dark container in a dry place. Dishes with zest should be in the dark.
Chip Zest
This option is good for making drinks. You can add orange zest from the zest while making tea. It can be introduced as a flavor for home tinctures.
Washing oranges. We clean the zest. Again, a grater or knife - at your discretion. Now grind to the desired fraction. Dry as described above. We store dry finished zest in a glass container with a tightly closed lid. As soon as it is needed, we easily use the required amount.
Shelf life
It is better to use the resulting natural flavor and aromatic additive for two to four months. This is the optimal shelf life. Too old zest loses color, aroma, taste and good, no matter how you try to prevent it. But, frankly, before this period, there is a good chance that you will have to stock up for the future with homemade orange zest.