Grated zest. Lemon zest - what is it and what is it for?

Lemon has been known since ancient times for its benefits to the human body. But later people learned that not only this sour fruit itself has a beneficial effect on the human body. The benefits of lemon zest are also undeniable. Therefore, when throwing away what is left of the fruit, remember that its peel can also help the immune system. Both doctors and nutritionists have repeatedly noticed the many beneficial properties of such a product as lemon zest. What are these properties? And what harm can it cause to the human body? Let's find out!

Lemon zest - what is it?

Firstly, this is one of the most obscure and at the same time frequently found ingredients in many culinary recipes. Its energy value per 100 grams is 47 kilocalories, in its raw form it contains 1.5 g of protein, 5.4 g of carbohydrates and 0.3 g of fat, and also has a large amount of vitamin C. In addition, the peel of the fruit contains such minerals as like selenium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium and copper.

Lemon zest - what is it? The thinnest outer layer of the skin of the fruit, which has a rich yellow color. It contains those essential oils that have a pleasant odor characteristic of the yellow fruit. The interesting thing is that grated lemon zest will not add acid to the dish, but it will definitely provide a pleasant aroma.

How to do it?

Helps get rid of age spots

If you regularly wipe your face with lemon peel, you will soon be surprised by the changes. With the help of the zest, you can rid your skin of acne, pimples and many other imperfections. It will be especially useful for people suffering from age spots. Many folk recipes advise putting a small piece of lemon zest on the pigment spot and leaving it for an hour. This truly magical substance tones the skin, has a whitening effect, and also makes the skin tightened and smooth.

Strengthens bones

One good source of calcium is lemon peel, and high amounts of vitamin C allow the body to absorb calcium, which helps strengthen bones. 100 grams of zest contains about 134 milligrams of calcium. If you regularly eat the skin of this sour fruit, you will be able to avoid the occurrence of diseases such as arthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatism.

Supports immunity

As mentioned above, lemon peel contains large quantities of vitamin C, which, by the way, is more in the zest than in the juice from this sour fruit and even in the fruit itself. 100 grams of lemon zest contains about 129 milligrams of vitamin C. This allows you not only to maintain the necessary level of immunity, but also to monitor your oral health. Lemon peel can eliminate unpleasant odor, prevent bleeding gums, and the appearance of various microorganisms that harm teeth.

Promotes proper heart function

Comfortable and proper functioning of the heart is facilitated by the use of a product such as lemon zest. The heart muscle is helped by potassium, which it contains in significant quantities. There are approximately 160 milligrams of potassium per 100 grams of lemon zest. In addition, substances such as polyphenols, which can reduce cholesterol levels in the body, also affect the functioning of the heart.

Disinfecting effect

Among other things, lemon zest is famous for its antifungal and antibacterial properties. These healing properties are applicable not only in dermatology. Lemon peel is used in the prevention and treatment of thrombosis and anemia. Another valuable property of the peel of this sour fruit is that it can cleanse the liver and improve blood circulation.

Lemon zest tincture has no less medicinal properties.

Harm of lemon zest

Despite the abundance of beneficial properties, some people still need to be careful with a product such as lemon zest. What kind of people are these? Those who suffer from diseases such as stomach ulcers, for example, and other digestive disorders. The fact is that due to the high content of citric acid in the zest, the mucous membrane will be irritated, which can lead to severe heartburn or general discomfort in the stomach area. Also, people prone to allergies should handle the zest with caution, since this product, along with other citrus fruits, can cause an allergic reaction in the body in the form of hives.

Lemon zest on the farm

Throwing some peels into the trash can will make the unpleasant smell go away. You can also put the lemon zest in the refrigerator. Then it will not only absorb unpleasant odors, but also fill the refrigerator with a pleasant aroma. Lemon zest will help get rid of scale that has formed in the kettle. Lemon peel can be used to increase the humidity in a room.

Before zesting, wash the citrus fruits with a brush under running warm water, then place in a colander and pour boiling water over them. This is how chemicals that are used to treat citrus fruits during cultivation, storage and transportation are washed off from the surface of the fruit.

Under a thin colored layer of zest there is white spongy pulp. It has no aroma, moreover, it can be bitter and spoil the taste of the dish. Therefore, when we say “zest,” we mean only a thin, bright, aromatic layer, without pulp.

Ribbons of zest 1–2 cm wide. Using a small sharp knife or a paring knife, called a paring knife, cut thin ribbons of zest from the fruit. The zest cut in this way is used to flavor syrups, drinks, and decoctions.

Zest shavings. Using a special zesting knife, you can remove thin ribbon-like shavings of the same width. These zest shavings are good for decorating dishes.

Finely grated zest. If you do not have a special grater for removing zest, you can grate the zest on a regular grater. Use the side of the grater with the protruding teeth. Cut a piece of foil and press it firmly against the teeth of a grater until they pierce the foil. Grate the zest, turning the fruit often. Make sure that only the zest is grated and not the white pulp.

kerescan - Aug 1st, 2015

The zest is a thinly cut yellow peel from a lemon. It contains essential oils that have a fragrant scent. It has a bitter-sweet taste, a little cloying. Lemon zest is both a spice and a medicine. Its beneficial properties are explained by the vitamins and minerals it contains.

Thanks to this, it is a good preventative against colds, a good antibacterial agent, and can be used to treat gums when they bleed. It reduces cholesterol levels in the blood and has a beneficial effect on heart function. It is advisable to use lemon zest for lovers - it is a weak aphrodisiac.

But if you mix the zest with wine, chocolate, honey or some spices, its benefits are enhanced. These spices include cloves, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, mint, and black pepper. Therefore, lemon zest is widely used in cooking. Pies, charlottes, muffins, buns, and ice cream cannot do without it. It adds a delicate aroma to sweet dishes. Lemon zest also improves the taste of salads and cold vegetable soups if it is added to a dish immediately before serving. Add the zest to hot soups just before the end of cooking or half a minute after finishing cooking. The zest is used when preparing meat and fish rolls. It is also suitable for preparing stuffed fish, jellied meats and casseroles.

Very often in culinary recipes you can find such an ingredient as lemon zest. If you have never encountered such a concept or simply want to learn more about this product, then this article is for you.

Lemon zest - what is it, how is it made and stored?

The zest is the outermost part of the peel of a citrus fruit. These fruits are designed in such a way that the top of their skin is saturated with essential oils, which can also be preserved in dried form. But remember - only the colored layer of the peel is considered zest.

To prepare lemon zest, you first need to wash the fruit very well, preferably with a brush, then scald it with boiling water for more reliable disinfection. And then you need to use either a kitchen knife or a grater.

If you decide to cut off the lemon peel, then you need to take a sharp knife and cut off a very thin layer from the lemon. If you prefer to grate, you should grate the zest using a fine grater and make sure that only the yellow layer of the peel is grated, otherwise dishes with such zest will acquire a bitter aftertaste.

Then the resulting zest is dried and placed in a glass or metal jar with a tight lid. Store without access to moisture. In addition to drying, you can use freezing if you want to use fresh zest for your own purposes.

The benefits and harms of lemon zest

Why is lemon zest so valuable? Primarily because of the aroma that it is able to impart to dishes and drinks. But this product also has many valuable properties. This thin layer of fruit skin is packed with many vitamins and minerals. The zest contains:

The calorie content of this product per hundred grams is only 16 kilocalories, so such a food additive will not affect your figure in any way, but will bring a lot of benefits.

Benefits of lemon zest when consumed regularly

What your body will get with enough of this product:

Who can be harmed by consuming the zest?

First of all, for allergy sufferers - citrus fruits are a product of increased allergenicity. Lemon, like its zest, increases acidity in the human stomach, so if you have problems with the gastrointestinal tract due to increased acidity, especially ulcers, then you should not use this product. Excessive consumption in others can lead to heartburn.

Where is lemon zest used?

In cooking

First of all, dried lemon peel is used in culinary matters.

This is an excellent seasoning for baked goods, fish and vegetable dishes. It costs from one to two grams of zest. Add to soups at the very end, before turning off the heat, and let sit for a few minutes.

You can also take regular salt and mix it with crushed lemon peel, and then add more spices and seasonings to your liking.

The same can be done with sugar. Take a Ziploc bag, a couple cups of sugar, and a fresh lemon peel (adjust the amount of zest based on how intensely lemony you want the sugar to taste).

Pour the ingredients into the bag, mix thoroughly, then open the bag and leave it like that for a couple of hours. This is necessary to dry the sugar. Then you can close the bag, mix the mixture again and put it in the cupboard.

Do you want to make a quick, refreshing drink with a hint of lemon in the summer heat? Then distribute the chopped zest into ice trays in advance, fill them with fresh lemon juice or water and put them in the freezer. They can then be used to add to drinks and cocktails.

You can infuse olive oil on lemon peels. For all this, you need to pour the peels into a glass jar, add oil, do not cover with a lid and place in a dark place for two weeks. Shake the mixture periodically. Then we strain the oil into a glass bottle and use it in cooking.

The following sandwich mixture is quite interesting: chopped greens are mixed with lemon zest grated on a fine grater and mixed in a blender with butter.

Then the mass is spread on parchment, rolled up and sent to the refrigerator. After several hours, the mass is ready for use.

You can also make very tasty lemon peel slices coated with a caramel coating:

Cut a thin layer of the lemon peel, being careful not to remove the thick white layer, it should remain on the lemon. Cut the peel into thin strips and place in a saucepan with water;
Wait for the water with the crusts to boil, boil for half a minute, pour out the water and dry the crusts with a kitchen napkin. Do the same again;
Fill the pan with water again and add sugar in the proportion of 3 parts sugar to 4 parts water, heat the water until the sugar dissolves;
Pour strips of peel into sugar water, boil water;
Reduce heat to low and cook strips for one and a half hours, stirring occasionally. The readiness of the peel is determined by its acquisition of a translucent state;
Pour the resulting syrup into a glass container for further use (you get good drinks based on it), dry the strips a little;
The zest must remain sticky, as it must then be rolled in sugar and left to dry on a suitable surface, which has been previously covered with baking paper;
After drying, the caramel strips are ready to eat.

Use on the farm

This product is widely used in everyday life, helping with cleaning:

Place the lemon peels on the refrigerator shelves and forget about the unpleasant smell.
Soak lemon zest in a glass jar with vinegar (9%) for two weeks. Then strain the mixture and dilute half with water. Now you have a remedy to combat any stubborn stains, even old grease. However, if you cannot clean particularly difficult areas with the resulting product, then you need to dilute the vinegar to a lesser extent.
Lightly soiled, greasy surfaces can simply be wiped with lemon peel, but do not forget that it contains acid. There are surfaces that are very sensitive to acidic environments.
Does your trash bin smell bad? Put the zest there and instead of a bad smell you will get a light citrus aroma.
Tormented by limescale? Take a piece of lemon peel and rub it on the problem surfaces. You will be pleasantly surprised by the result.
Lemon zest is also good as a disinfectant for kitchen cutting boards. Rub the zest onto the board, wait a few minutes, and rinse.
Many insects find the lemon smell unpleasant. Place the peel on the windows and near cracks, and most of the midges will be afraid to come near you.
To humidify the room, place the zest in a container of water and place on low heat.
Using lemon peel, you can easily clean a microwave oven: place the zest in a glass bowl filled with water, turn on the oven for about five minutes, then remove the hot bowl and wipe the walls of the microwave.

Don't want to use store-bought citric acid to descale your kettle? Then place a good handful of chopped lemon peel in the kettle, fill it with water and boil.

Lemon zest in cosmetics

As you can see, lemon zest is a very healthy product, widely used in cooking and everyday life. It can enrich our body with vitamins and beneficial substances.

Thanks to lemon peels, you can maintain cleanliness and a pleasant aroma in your home. And also keep your skin in good condition. This is the zest, a small but versatile assistant that is very often undeservedly thrown into the trash.

Now you know how many cases this product can be used in. All that remains is to try it in practice.

Description

Lemon zest is the outer layer of the lemon peel and contains a large amount of essential oils. To obtain this spice, used for culinary purposes, lemon fruits are washed, scalded with boiling water and the zest is cut off in the form of a spiral ribbon. Don't forget that the knife must be very sharp, otherwise you will not achieve perfect thinness. If the peel is cut quite thick, then the color of the zest after drying will acquire a yellowish-brown tint, but if you do everything correctly, it will remain lemon-yellow in color, practically unchanged.

In cooking, lemon zest is used mainly for baking muffins, Easter cakes, charlottes, puddings and cakes. Often added to meat dishes, salads, and, finally, just in tea. This will give your favorite drink the taste and aroma of fresh lemons. The calorie content of lemon zest is 47 kcal per hundred grams of spice.

By the way, this spice was not always popular: for example, in ancient times the benefits of lemon zest were not understood and they called it foul-smelling. Only with the advent of the Middle Ages did it begin to be considered a spice that participated in the confectionery sacrament. Having caught the delicate aroma of the yellow skin, cooks began to use it in the preparation of soups, aspic, sauces and various gravies. Interestingly, in Spain they still prefer to sprinkle this fragrant spice on veal, using it as an alternative to salt. The main secret is to add natural flavoring a couple of minutes before cooking.

Lemon zest in a slow cooker: where to use it

Lemon zest is a fairly versatile product as it can be found in many dishes. And lemon zest is added to the slow cooker when preparing various sauces for meat, meat dishes, and baked goods. For example, to make lemon pie, lemon zest is added directly to the dough, giving it a pleasant lemon flavor. Lemon jam turns out especially delicious in a slow cooker. In this case, the lemon zest is peeled from several fruits, the lemon is additionally cut into slices and the whole thing is cooked in a slow cooker along with sugar until it reaches a jelly-like consistency. The finished jam has a characteristic lemon smell and a pleasant sweet and sour taste.

Lemon zest gives the finished dish an exquisite taste, highlighting some products. It is perfect when fresh ingredients need to be given a bright aroma and an unforgettable taste. Lemon zest in a slow cooker is used not only as an additional ingredient in a dish, it is often used in small quantities as a natural flavoring.

Lemon zest in a slow cooker: how to store

Lemon zest is easy to make yourself. But you don’t have to use it all at once. Simply dry the zest and then grind it into a powder. In this form, lemon zest is stored for quite a long time, while it retains all its culinary value. Lemon zest powder can also be added to baking dough, creams, jams or various sauces for fish and meat.

Benefits of lemon zest

It is impossible not to mention the benefits of lemon zest as a strong antibacterial agent: if you have a sore throat or a purulent sore throat, just chew the peel and it will become much easier.

The beneficial properties of lemon zest are due to the huge content of vitamin C (it contains almost three times more of this vital substance than the pulp of a ripe fruit). Therefore, regular consumption of this aromatic and delicious spice in food will have a positive effect on your health, and your immune system will “thank” you in the midst of epidemics of ARVI and colds with excellent health.

Lemon zest harm

In addition to the undeniable advantages of this spice, one cannot fail to mention the harm of lemon zest, which can manifest itself in the presence of a peptic ulcer. Also, in addition to the harmful effects on tooth enamel, lemon peel can provoke allergic reactions, which is characteristic of almost all citrus plants. If you have increased acidity, you will have to either limit the use of lemon zest or give it up altogether if you don’t want to “get” heartburn.

Calorie content of lemon zest is 47 kcal.

Energy value of the product Lemon zest (Ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates):

Protein: 1.5 g (~6 kcal)
Fat:0.3 g (~3 kcal)
Carbohydrates: 5.4 g (~22 kcal)

Energy ratio (b|w|y): 13%|6%|46%

Zest is effective in preventing cancer

Salvestrol is considered one of the most important components of lemon peel. This substance, in combination with limonene, can prevent the development of cancer cells in the human body. Therefore, consuming zest is one of the ways to prevent cancer.

Helps reduce weight

The peel of this sour fruit contains a substance called pectin. Many women know it as a component that effectively helps in the struggle for a slim figure. Therefore, by regularly consuming lemon zest, you can find a reliable assistant, a breaker of excess fat that can maintain the beauty of your figure.

Removes toxins

Lemon zest is rich in a substance called bioflavonoid, better known as vitamin P. This is a very multifunctional substance. Firstly, in metabolism it can reduce the harm of some oxidative reactions occurring in the body. Secondly, it effectively removes toxins from the body, for example, those that contribute to addiction to all kinds of alcoholic beverages or a tendency to chronic overeating and excessive food consumption.

Helps maintain youthful skin

Lemon peel contains large amounts of antioxidants and free radicals - substances that play a big role in maintaining youthful and healthy skin. Regular consumption of sour fruit zest will help the skin remain elastic for a long time, resist the appearance of wrinkles, and also resist the appearance of pigmentation and discoloration. An interesting fact is that lemon zest can successfully replace a toner, which is often used against oily skin. You can also use the peel to make a body scrub.

Helps get rid of age spots

Strengthens bones

Supports immunity

Promotes proper heart function

Disinfecting effect

Lemon zest tincture has no less medicinal properties.

Harm of lemon zest

Lemon zest on the farm

Harm and contraindications

People with high acidity are not recommended to use lemon peel, as it can cause heartburn. In addition, this seasoning is contraindicated for peptic ulcers. In some cases, lemon zest can cause allergic reactions.