- Hey, everyone, in today's video we're gonna talk about
how to zest lemons.
So before I get into that,
something to think about when it comes to lemons
is you want to pick the best lemon for zesting.
A good lemon makes good lemon zest.
So how do you choose the right lemon?
So you wanna start with lemons
that feel heavy for their size.
That's really important.
It also should be firm.
So if you give them a little bit of squeeze,
they should give, but bounce back.
Those are two main things for picking the right lemon.
And then lastly, you want a lemon peel
that's yellow all over.
There should be no green whatsoever.
So that's how to choose the perfect lemon.
And while I'm talking about choosing lemons
let's talk about storing them really quick.
So when you bring your lemons home,
while they look great on the counter,
in a centerpiece in a bowl,
it's the worst way to store lemons.
You don't wanna store them at room temperature.
They like being cold, just kind of like I do.
So you wanna put them in the fridge in an open bag
in the crisper drawer if you can.
Stored that way, lemons can actually keep fresh for
about six months.
(upbeat electronic music)
So what is lemon zest?
Before we get to actually zesting it.
So, when you have your lemon, here's a peeled one,
here's an unpeeled one.
So the zest is the yellow rind part.
That's what you're removing from the lemon.
You don't want the white pith.
That's the difference between lemon peel and lemon zest.
So it's that yellow rind, that's what you're removing
and adding to your recipe.
The pith part is really, really bitter.
The zest is full of those essential oils
that kind of give you that nice, beautiful,
citrus zing from the zest.
The first thing you wanna do before you zest lemon though
is prepare that lemon for zesting.
And I mean by that is you wanna wash them.
So the best way to wash a lemon is to just soak it in water
with a little bit of baking soda for about 15 minutes.
It's been proven that baking soda is better
at removing pesticides and everything else
from produce than even bleach.
So it's just a really nice easy way
to clean those vegetables.
Soak the lemons for 15 minutes
and then rinse them thoroughly.
And now we're gonna get to zesting.
So there's a few tools that you can use for zesting.
One of the most common ones is the channel knife.
This is used for also creating fun little
peeled-type swirls for cocktails.
The channel knife is a great way
to pull zest from the lemon.
Though it is a specialty gadget, it really only has one use.
You can only really zest citrus with it.
That's about it.
The best thing you can do is a microplane.
The microplane is great
because not only can you use it for zesting the lemon,
you can also use it for grating cheese.
It has a few other uses than just like the channel knife,
which only has the one use.
Still, both of those are kind of not common tools.
You probably have a box grater of some sort
for grating cheese.
The large holes on one side, small holes on the other side.
You can actually use a box grater easily
for zesting a lemon.
You can also use a vegetable peeler.
Now the vegetable peeler is a little bit more difficult
in the sense that you're gonna peel away peels
from the lemon and then you're gonna have to chop it
with a chef's knife afterwards.
But if you don't have the first three items
it makes a really easy way to zest a lemon.
And then lastly, you can just use a pairing knife.
Use that knife to peel away the peel from the lemons
and then, again, chop it up with the chef's knife.
So with the channel knife, you wanna take the channel knife,
press it into the side of the lemon,
and then just pull the channel knife towards you,
moving away that peel from the actual pith.
Don't go too deep.
You don't want to grab the pith, you just want the peel.
That's how you use the channel knife to remove the zest.
If you have a microplane, just take the microplane,
holding the lemon in your hand,
being careful, mindful of your fingers,
move the lemon back and forth over the microplane,
kind of rotating it, working around the whole peel.
Again, trying not to pull off the pith
but only the peel of the lemon.
The box grater is similar to the microplane.
It's just the holes are a little bit bigger.
So like using the small side of the box grater,
take the lemon, being mindful of your fingers,
move it up and down,
rotating the lemon to remove all of the peel.
And again, not the pith.
And if you're using a vegetable peeler or a pairing knife,
these are the more complicated ways to get lemon zest,
but they're still totally doable.
The vegetable peeler, you just peel away the peel
like you would for a cocktail.
Again, not removing too much of the pith.
And then you'll use a chef's knife to mince that peel.
Same thing with the pairing knife.
Take the lemon.
Cut off the end of the lemon so it'll sit flat.
Take the pairing knife down the sides of the lemon,
removing the peel.
Again, not too much pith.
Are you tired of me saying that yet? Not too much pith.
And then take that peel and mince it with a chef's knife.
The thing about fresh lemon zest
is it's not gonna last that long.
So if you're using it for a recipe,
you can keep it in the fridge for about a day.
If you wanna just zest a bunch of lemons,
you can actually store fresh lemon zest in the freezer.
Put it on a lined baking sheet, let it freeze,
and then transfer it to a freezer-safe container,
and store it in the freezer.
Lemon zest can actually keep for up to six months.
If you wanna keep it on even longer,
you can actually just put it on a lined baking sheet
and let it dry out at room temperature
for about a day or two and then stored that way
the dried lemon zest will keep for up to two years.
The one thing to consider is once you remove the peel
from the lemon, zested, or however you're using it,
these lemons are not gonna last that long.
So stored in the fridge, lemons can last up to six months,
but once you peel it
you're only gonna last for like about three days.
So you want to store this in an airtight container
if doing so.
So that's how you go ahead and zest lemons.
(upbeat electronic music)