The Trick to Getting More Zesty Flavor when Grating Citrus Peel | Healthy Kitchen Hacks

The trick to help you get more zesty flavor out of your lemon, orange or lime peel…without loosing any knuckle skin on the grater. (:

It’s Healthy Kitchen Hacks Wednesday – the day we share our favorite time-saving kitchen tricks and cooking shortcuts to help you make healthy and delicious meals. 

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Now…onto today’s featured Healthy Kitchen Hack:

The Trick to Getting More Zesty Flavor when Grating Citrus Peel

There is one super, simple thing you can do to amp up the flavor in your grated lemon for Lemon Coconut Scones…and your grated orange for Orange Rhubarb Sauce …and your grated lime for Lime Creamsicle Ice Cream Pie.

The trick to getting more flavor from your grated citrus zest is to simply grate it directly into your dish; do not measure it first. 

You see, when you grate peel (also known as citrus zest) into a measuring spoon, a good amount of the flavor- and aroma-rich essential oils found in citrus peel stay in the measuring spoon. But it’s those essential citrus oils that you want to end up in your scones or your final dish.

This does lead to a bit of a challenge: you will need to eyeball estimate the amount of grated peel called-for in the recipe. Don’t worry though, after a while, you’ll get the hang of it. If in doubt, lean toward grating a bit more zest than what appears to be the recipe-called-for-amount. Having gone to the (small) trouble of zesting your lemon, you certain want to taste more zest, instead of less.  The trick to getting more zesty flavor from grated citrus rind #HealthyKitchenHacks via @TspCurry Click To Tweet

And there’s another bonus from grating citrus zest directly into your ingredients: one less measuring spoon to wash!

The best way to grate citrus peel:

1. Wash and dry your orange/lemon/lime/tangerine. (A wet piece of fruit is nearly impossible to zest.)

2. If measuring peel into already-measured dry ingredients, use your teaspoon (or the amount called for in a recipe) to indent the flour into a teaspoon shape to help you estimate the correct amount. (see photo below)

3. Use a microplane to grate peel directly into your ingredients. The microplane will yield soft fluffy curls of peel that mix in easily. Using the small wholes on a box grater often results in clumpy shreds that stick together.

Note: It’s easiest to eyeball-measure peel into the dry ingredients. But when adding citrus into the liquid ingredients, zest the citrus into a small bowl first and add the wet ingredients on top, then mix. Mixing will incorporate all those citrus essential oils into the liquid ingredients.

Do you grate more lemon, orange or lime peel? Would you try this hack?