How to Zest a Lemon Without a Zester?
Being a good cook or chef will mean knowing how to cook, having the right appliance and knowing how to use them. There are a lot of appliances that we make use of in helping us cook the exact food we in tend to make and one of these appliance is the zester, a kitchen tool used for the zesting of lemon and other citrus fruit. Having one in your kitchen just makes the peeling of your lemon and other fruits easy and fast, but sometimes knowing how to zest a lemon without a zester comes in handy when you don’t have one, can’t find yours in the kitchen or plainly you are not the kind that make use of kitchen appliance while cooking.
Zesting a lemon with a zester can be tricky so it is required you know the procedure on how to go about it before attempting it. Knowing how to zest a lemon without a zester seems such of a hard work and time wasting, but it is indeed fast and also allows you to enjoy your cooking, as you did get more passionate when making use of your hand and just a sharp kitchen knife in zesting. However, is no complicated procedure either, all you did need is a vegetable peeler and a sharp knife.
Below are the steps on how to zest a lemon without a zester
Step-1 : Hygiene first, so the first step is to thoroughly rains or wash your lemons with hot water. The lemons should be placed in a round circular bowl and a mild soap should be used in washing off dirt and wax from the surface of the lemons. The washing could be done with a coarse sponge.
Step-2 : Working from top to bottom, make use of a vegetable peeler to carefully and gently peel off strips of the lemon. Peeling should be taken with care here as we do not want to entirely peel of the skin of the lemon but only the topmost layer of the lemon. To be exact, peeling should be ¼ inch to 3/8 inch wide.
Step-3 : Place a strip of the lemon peel on to the cutting board making sure the outer part of the lemon is facing you. Use your fingertip to smoothly flatten the peel and cut it into thin strips. Strips should be 1/16-inch-wide and are known as the zest. Creating the zest will require a lot of attention and effort, so keeping the tip of your knife down slowly rocking it in motion and lowering the handle. This technique gets your zest done well and fast.
Step-4 : Once you have created your zest, you did need to make if fine, and you could easily do this by the use of your sharp knife to chop the strips of zest you created crosswise, still making the same rocking motion. The chopping should not be in only one direction, but also chopped on at all angles but rotating your cutting board. Chopping of the zest should continue till you are satisfied with the fineness.
Although making use of a zester in the zesting of a lemon would be what most individuals would like, it is to know having one of the best zesters at home can still be of no use when you did like your lemon fine in a particular way in which your zester can’t produce. Zesters do come in sizes when it comes to the zesting of fruits and sometimes you did want your lemon zest in a smaller piece as compared to what the zester makes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lemon Peel the Same as Lemon Zest?
While both Lemon Peel and Lemon Zest are made from the zest of lemons, they have different purposes. Lemon Peel is used to add flavor to food while Lemon Zest is typically removed during juicing or baking.
What Is the Easiest Way to Zest a Lemon?
If you are looking to zest a lemon without having to get messy, there is an easy way. First, make sure that the fruit is unsprayed and has no blemishes. Then Using your thumbs and index fingers, curve them around one end of the lemon like you would do when unscrewing a light bulb.ADVERTISEMENT Next, use your other hand to twist the top off by pulling it towards you until it pops off.
How Do You Zest a Lemon by Hand?
ne that can be answered with a little bit of practice. Here’s how to zest a lemon by hand:
1. Cut off one end of the lemon with a sharp knife.
2. Make a small X-shaped cut in the lemon skin so that the inner part is exposed.
3. Use a citrus zester (available at most grocery stores) to remove the zest from the lemon skin in tiny strips. Be sure to use caution – the zester can be quite sharp!
