Conference turris::cooks

    Zest is the skin of the orange and lemon, the nice colorful part,
    not the white stuff that is between the flesh and the colorful part.
    
    Judie
    
    

    Thanks.  Every other cookbook calls that the rind or skin.
    
    Linda
    

    NO!  The rind includes the white part, which is very bitter.  The best
    way to get the zest is to use a vegetable peeler.  You want almost no
    white at all.

    Love the stuff.  Crucial for cheesecake, blintzes, etc.
    I also like to drop the squeezed lemon into lemonade, to get a stronger
    flavor.
    
    BUT.  Since the rinds are coated with wax, fungicides, and other
    bad-for-you chemicals, what to do?
    
    I usually coat the fruit with a thin layer of dish soap, then rub it
    under hot water, sometimes with a brush.  Dry and use.  The fruits are
    noticeably more matte after I get done.
    
    Does this really help?
    
    We've got a conflict here between the need for an ingredient and the
    need to avoid harmful additives.
    
    Any comments?
    
    Laura

    The other things you can do is wait until friends or relatives
    go to citrus producing areas, request they try and find a
    non-commercial grower, and to bring back a few fruit. You can
    produce the zest and/or rind, and freeze it. Also, the same can
    be done for the juice.
    
    Yes, otherwise I have always considered it "damned if I do damned
    if I don't" when it comes to using rind or zest. 
    
    Will the dish soap remove enough of the unwanted substances?
    
    Monica
    

    I would think if the fruit looks more matte after washing, it's getting
    some of the bad-for-you stuff off. I would say it can't hurt to wash
    the fruit, just make sure you rinse it well (wouldn't want your stuff
    tasting soapy!).
    
    beth

    
    When you wash lemons, one reason they are so noticably matte is
    because you have stripped the oils out of the skin.  They carry
    the strongest flavor, so you lose out (unless you're talking 
    strictly garnish!).  If you're that concerned about pesticides 
    and whatnots, try using lemon extract to flavor instead of rind.
    Zesting a lemon is alot of effort for diluted flavor!
    
    Of course, you COULD grow your own.  At least a dwarf tree.  
    
    dm

    A trick I use to get more flavor out of the zest is as follows.  After
    washing the lemon/orange/lime thoroughly, I peel the zest with my
    reliable vegetable peeler.  If the recipe calls for sugar (such as with
    cheesecake), I put the sugar and the zest in the food processor and let
    it go for a couple of minutes.  It infuses the flavor from the zest
    into the sugar and gives a stronger, more consistent flavor throughout
    the cheesecake or other baked goody.

Anyone know what citrus fruits are treated with which might be bad?

My position on this sort of thing is: we're all gonna go some time, and
there are some things which just aren't worth the effort to worry
about. For the immense satisfaction I get peeling off a little zest and
then eating the food which is prepared with it, I'll gladly put up with
the hopefully minuscule amount of poison involved.

On the whole, I agree completely with making some effort to avoid the
literally thousands of poisons present in our food supply. However I
tolerate some exceptions, and this is one of them. The lead in crystal
decanters is another. Heck, I even tolerate being around people who
smoke so I can engage in entertaining conversation once in awhile.

Well, believe it or not, there is a special kitchen tool for gathering
zest. I can't really describe it, but it has a handle like a vegetable
peeler, topped with a steel scraper that looks like a tiny serrated knife
blade turned 90 degrees. We have one, and I can build a pile of lemon
zest in about a minute. This zest is delicately light, moist, and packed
with flavor. When you're finished, the lemon looks sadly denuded. 

The zest thus obtained adds a flavor to food that I haven't been able to
duplicate any other way. It's decidedly lemon-ey, yet flowery (almost
perfume-like) and sweet in its own way. I suppose you'd get the same
results with oranges or limes. I only make one dish that calls for lemon
zest (it's a spaghetti sauce that includes short ribs and other things),
so I don't use the tool very often. I guess my wife might use it... she
makes the pastry in the house.

Art

Yes, I agree, there's no substitute for real zest. The flavor in zest
mainly comes from essential oils.

When we were in college, we used to get a thrill (you might consider
this a bit eccentric) by squeezing citrus fruit peels, skin-side-out,
in front of a candle flame. A small mist of oil flares up in an
impressive burst of flame, and your fingers (if they didn't get burned)
end up with the heavenly smell of citrus fruit oil. Not bad for a cheap
thrill. Try it sometime to impress party guests :-).

Re those cute little zesters, we have one laying around somewhere. The
kids dragged it out of the drawer and went to use it in their play
kitchen, and it hasn't been seen since. They do a nice job (the
zesters, not the kids), but if you don't have one, a sharp knife is
almost as good. It takes a bit longer to dice it up, and sometimes you
get a bit too much of the pithy (white) part of the rind. But I'm not
about to buy another zester for the kids to lose.

    I once consulted to a large commercial farm...  the substance on the
    outside of the fruit is just plain old parafin... just like on the
    outside of chocolates.  The machine washes the fruit (pesticides off),
    gives it a spray and often sorts the sizes... humans stand along the
    belt to pick out the rotten ones.
    
    Worry more about the clean hands of the person who squeezed it first.
    A simple rinse (without soap) will preserve the oils... better yet
    worry about the trip to the market -- now that IS dangerous.

    re .10
    
    Like the sound of your pasta recipe -- lemon, spare ribs, yum!  How
    about posting it???
    
    -ellie

    Re :.12
    
    Thanks, that's conforting information. I feel a little better
    about zest/rind now...
    
    Monica
    

You do? That information came from a commercial producer. It might be biased.

The info about paraffin causing shininess is correct (it helps protect
produce from damage during shipment), but I guess I'd like to hear from
a more objective source about pesticides. But, as I said previously,
this isn't one of the things I lose sleep over.

    I don't know about pesticides, but citrus fruit is injected with dyes
    to make them more colorful.
    
    Linda
    

    OK add some clorox to the juice to get the dye out ;@)
    
    Bob

    My zester is a bit different than what you describe.  A gift I thought
    I'd never use, but now I'd replace it in a minute if I couldn't find
    it.  Mine has about 5 little loops at the end of a handle.  You drag
    the loops across the skin, and you get jullienned zest!  
    
    Regarding the pesticides, I've seen a few recipes that ask you to
    blanche the zest first before using it for cooking.  It sounds like you
    lose what you're after no matter how you try, though.
    
    				-JP
    

    
    Re: 10, 13
    
    It DOES sound good, but...
    
    Please post your spaghetti sauce recipe under a topic for 
    spaghetti sauce.  Not under a topic for zest. 
    
    dm

    I use a mini grater, you know, those flat metal things with
    protrusions, to get zest. It seems to work fine, and I just couldn't
    see spending over $10 on a "zester". Any opinions on this? Are the real
    zesters easier to use, or do they make better zest?
    
    Roger

    I also use the grater -- tiny for fine zest and the smaller gauge for
    julienne.  It works great, is inexpensive and has multiple uses.
    
    Judy

    This source is probably also biased, but the Bread & Circus
    _Whole Food Bible_ also warns against citrus peels, saying that
    even thorough washing will not remove all the pesticides.  A list
    of appetizing chemical names in common use were mentioned.  They
    recommend simply grating a supply of zest when organic fruits are
    available and freezing them.

    Unfortunately a book like this will easily make you anxious.
    It will also make clear that citrus zests are the least of our
    worries!

    I've always improvised by using the side of a grater, though I've
    seen "zesters" for sale.

    - Jim

    How much pesticide could one possibly get from lemon zest?  I mean, it
    doesn't take a lot of zest to add the necessary flavor, and somehow I
    don't think there'd be much pesticide (assuming the pesticide is there)
    to worry about.
    
    Yes, I believe we should be very cautious about what we ingest, but
    does this sound a tad alarmist?
    
    This reminds me of the first time I ate swordfish.  It was delicious.
    The next day at work, I told a colleague, who responded "You'll get
    mercury poisoning." To which I replied "From one serving of swordfish?"
    
    I'm careful about what I eat, but not paranoid.
    
    					andrew

    After watching one of those cooking shows on PBS a few weeks ago - I
    convinced myself that we couldn't live without a lemon zester.
    Especially since our trusty grater bit the dust. I bought one on
    Friday. Guess what - I can't get it to work - there are no instructions
    - I tried pulling and pushing but to no avail. There is a little vee
    shaped thingy as well as the circular blades on the end - but I
    couldn't work our what that was for. Does anyone own one of these
    things - If so how is it supposed to work ?
    
    Frustrated of Acton

    
    I have one too, and either I'm not smart enough to get it to work, or
    it's just another useless piece of kitchenalia.
    
    A sharp knife does the job just fine for me, and I _do_ know how to use
    a knife. 
    
    

    I trust it is one of those roundish gizmos with the hole in the middle
    and a vee ...  
    
    Hold the round part flat on the rind with the little v pointy thing
    digging into the zest and draw it towards  you such that the little v
    plows a rut in the zest and curls it up through the hole in the middle.
    
    Frankly, I use a knife.

The V notch will not get you the zest without the rind.  To get just the zest,
the holes part of the tool does the trick, and yields it in a uniform fine
julienne.

Just hold the holes against the peel, press slightly and drag.  If that does not
work, try adjusting the angle and or the pressure.  Mine has only holes and the
holes are at a slight angle to the handle.  The holes work best angled down 
into the peel at about a 45 degree angle.  

It works so well, I'd buy another rather than using a knife to julienne zest!

			-jp

    Mine sounds like the one in the last reply - it has a vee and a set of
    holes. Actually I took it back - when I looked closely at the angle
    ground on the holes it was no wonder it didn't work - it was going in
    the wrong direction. I guess it was sharpened incorrectly - that'll
    teach me not to buy the most expensive one in future.
    
    Rod