Do you love cooking? Then you must have used lemon zest to increase the flavor of your dishes. The tangy flavor must have increased the taste of your dish, which leaves everyone in a Wow moment. But sometimes we don’t find a fresh lemon in our home and even don’t have enough time to go to the market and buy it. Today, the article on lemon zest substitute will give you all the possible solutions that will help you complete your very tasty dish at the last moment. So, let’s Start!!
Table of Contents
What is Lemon Zest?
Some of us are learning to make new dishes and don’t know about lemon zest. So here is the simple meaning of it. Lemon Zest is nothing but a finely shredded skin of lemon or citrus fruits like orange. You can also buy dried lemon zest from the marketplace. However, the taste of fresh lemon zest cannot be beaten by anything. Also, you can make dry lemon zest on your own
The lemon zest flavor is strong than its juice. It is used for both sweet and savory dishes. If there is no use of lemon in your dish, you can also experiment by adding a small portion of lemon zest to it. visit here
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How to make Lemon Zest?
It is easy to make lemon zest at home. You just have to use a zester to make lemon zest. In case you don’t have zester use a grater that is commonly available in our homes and stroke the lemon skin against it with a light hand. Make sure to turn the lemon in all directions in order to get the yellow part only. You can also use a peeler or paring knife to scrape the lemon skin. However, it will not give you fine shavings of the lemon.
Lemon zest is the yellow outer portion of the lemon skin. The zest is used without lemon juice or can be used with it to give a tangy sharp taste to the dish. The zest gives more tanginess to the dish than the lemon juice. Lemon zest usually used in baked dishes like pancakes, cookies, cakes, etc.
Uses of Lemon Zest in day to day life
There are plenty of uses of lemon zest and lemon zest substitutes. These can be used in the kitchen for dishes as well as for cleaning purposes. The versatility of lemon also contributes to skincare and beauty purposes. The amazing taste with antibacterial properties makes it a perfect fit for fighting and killing germs. Moreover, its low pH level and Vitamin C concentration are best for skin and, when applied directly on the skin, help to lighten the dark spots. Below are the lists for its uses. visit here
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For Kitchen
- Lemon zest is a prominent source of Vitamin C. It is one of the best ways to add citrus food to your dish. You can add zest in baked foods, yogurt, salads, or you can add frozen lemon zest to soups, marinades, dressing, etc. It can also use to add color for plating the dish. Moreover, you can also add the zest in desserts and stuff the chicken and meat. The tangy flavor can go both in terms of savory and sweet dishes. It also adds nutrition along with amazing flavor.
- Lemon peel is also used in making drinks. It will give an amazing flavor. Use the lemon peel to make citrus-infused vodka. Pour the equal parts of lemon peel and vodka into a glass and leave it for 3-5 days. Gently shake the drink daily and serve your guest’s delicious and tasty drink. You can also try this drink with other citrus fruits like oranges.
- As you know, lemon has a tangy flavor; that is why it is used in very small amounts. So, you will have a lot of leftover pieces of lemon in your freezer. Try to peel the lemon and freeze them for later use.
- The other way of using the lemon zest is to use it as lemon sugar. It is an amazing way to add the zest of citrus fruits to cookies, cakes, and other baked dishes. You can also prepare lemon sugar at home.
- Lemon Marmalade contains those recipes that use zest and fruit to give extra texture and flavors to it. You can add orange along with lemon or simply swap the classic orange recipe with tangy lemon Marmalade to make these recipes. You can eat these tangy flavored preservers with your morning toast which tastes like jelly when cooked.
For cleaning Purpose
Lemon zest is not only used to make tasty dishes but also used for cleaning purposes. Moreover, you will be shocked to know that it is also used for whitening teeth. Yes, you read correctly!
Clean and sparkle dishes: You must have many ads on television of dish wash bars that solely advertise on the basis of lemon. Now you can easily understand why these ads say that the dish wash bar contains lemon. It is because the citric acid in lemon helps to remove stains. Use lemon rinds along with the pulp to clean the grease from silver and glass and make them sparkle.
Clean your coffee pots: If you love coffee, then you must have noticed its stubborn stain on the pot. Do not worry because lemon, along with a few tablespoons of salt, helps you to clean those stains. To do so, add lemon peel and salt, and a few cups of ice cubes. Twist the ingredients for several minutes in a coffee pot or leave it for a day if the stains are really stubborn. Rinse the coffee pot before use.
Clean bathtubs and sinks: To clean the bathtub or sink, use baking soda and half-cut lemon and scrub on the wet surface.
Removing rust: Lemon peels also help to remove rust stains from the bathroom sink where the shaving cans or any other iron bottle leave the marks. Rub the half lemon with salt on the stain and leave it for hours and rinse with water.
Vinegar citrus hair wash: If you want shiny, healthy hair, then you must use vinegar as it gives a splendid result. However, if you have an oily or greasy scalp, then add lemon zest substitute in it, which will resolve your hair issues like dull hair. To do so, add lemon to a jar along with the apple cider vinegar and leave them for 1 to 2 weeks. For conditioning, the hair uses this homemade citrus vinegar solution with water. Add 1 tablespoon in 1 cup water and rinse with it after the shampoo.
Teeth Whitening: The citric acid in lemon helps to brighten and whiten the yellowish teeth. Rub the half-cut lemon on your teeth for a few minutes and rinse it with water.
Toning and Brightening the skin: Lemon is also used for skincare routine. Use the half-cut lemon directly on your affected area of dark spots and sunspots to lighten them. Allow the lemon juice to absorb in your skin and rinse it off after 15 to 20 minutes. Moreover, use a honey and gram flour mask to close the open pores.
List of Lemon Zest Substitutes
If you do not have a fresh lemon zest substitute at your home to give a touch of tangy taste to your dish, then you must try these substitutes. As finding substitutes for lemon zest can be difficult for you. A complete pack of sharp tastes which can give your dish a fine finish. You know that the lemon has two layers. One is the yellow layer which is used as lemon zest by grating the lemon and the second layer is the white layer which is known as pith. You will find the aromatic lemon oil in the yellow layer, which gives your dish freshness and exquisite taste. Below is the list of the most suitable lemon zest substitutes.
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- Lemon Juice: It is the most suitable substitute. However, you must be thinking that if there is no lemon available at your home, how is it possible to have lemon juice. But, in an Indian fridge, you will get at least 3-4 half-cut lemons. You cannot use their zest due to the pale yellow color of the lemon zest, but you can use its juice. One tablespoon lemon is equal to ½ teaspoon zest.
- Lemon Extract: It is also a great lemon zest substitute. The lemon extract is made by drenching the lemon peels with alcohol. The extract obtained from it will give the exact flavor as the lemon zest gives. Nonetheless, the extract is more intense in taste; therefore, ½ teaspoon lemon extract is equal to 1 teaspoon of lemon zest. The extract is perfect to use in cakes and muffins. Moreover, it also works perfectly in marinating grilled lemon chicken, fish, etc.
- Orange Peel: If you don’t have lemon in your pantry, orange zest can also be the substitute for lemon zest. The same amount of orange zest can work. However, it changes the taste of your dish. The orange zest is used to give texture to your dish, basically for the baked recipes like cakes and muffins. You can also use other citrus fruits other than orange as a lemon zest substitute. Moreover, while using substitutes, always keep in mind whether the substitute will go smoothly with other ingredients of the dish or not.
- Dried lemon Zest: you can use this great lemon zest substitute for your dish. However, the tangy taste of the lemon in this state is intensified; therefore, it is used in less quantity. Use ⅓ teaspoon of dried lemon zest when you want to use 1 teaspoon of lemon peel. It can work perfectly both in savory as well as sweet dishes. You can make dehydrated lemon at home.
Do not use lemon zest substitutes if?
In some recipes, you should not use lemon zest substitutes as they will not smoothly blend with the other ingredients. Sometimes, you do have substitutes but still, go to the marketplace to buy fresh lemon because some recipes require a large amount of lemon zest in them. If you somehow added the lemon zest substitutes to the dish, either it will change the taste, which will not give you that good finish that lemon zest can give, or the consistency of the recipe will change. Moreover, it can also react with baking powder and baking soda, which can change the overall texture of your dish.
Skip this step if the lemon zest substitute doesn’t go well with other ingredients, as you can skip the small amount of lemon peel in your recipe. It will not ruin the taste of the food. You may feel something is missing, but still, you can eat it without ruining the texture and consistency of the dish.
Quantity of the lemon zest
If you do not have any idea how much you extract zest from a single lemon. To your knowledge, a medium-size lemon will give you around 1 tablespoon of lemon zest. You can also extract more lemon zest and store them in a freezer for later use. Grate the entire lemon and extract the zest and keep it in a safe ziplock bag and freeze.
Conclusion
I hope you find the article on lemon zest substitute useful and informative. I tried to cover everything in the article. Right from what lemon zest is to the uses of lemon zest. Also, how much quantity of the zest you will get from a single lemon. Now get ready to make your favorite dishes and try new dishes by using lemon zest substitutes. Always keep in mind that the substitute should blend with other ingredients too to give the perfect smooth texture along with the delicious taste. For more updates on this article, save the page for future reference or bookmark us for more such articles on cooking, which will also guide you to basic knowledge.
