Drying the lemon peel - from peeling to storage

Dry lemon peel is natural, fragrant, and long-lasting

Use untreated lemons

Even if the lemon peel is mostly used as a fragrance in modest quantities in cooking, it should be of pure quality. Pollutants cannot be completely removed even by washing.

Dry only the outer yellow peel

The flesh of the lemon is wrapped in a thick skin that is completely edible. The white inside tastes bitter, however. That's why only the outer yellow layer, which has the typical citrus scent, is peeled off to dry.

Rub, peel or tear zest

How you get the yellow from the whole lemon is up to you. You can grind the lemon peel finely on a kitchen grater or tear off fine zest with a zest ripper. If you don't have either of these to hand, you can peel off the lemon peel thinly with a sharp knife.

Tips

Untreated lemons have come a long way too, so they should always be washed well.

This is how the lemon peel can be dried

Depending on how quickly you are in a hurry, you have three options for drying lemon peel.

in the air
in the food dehydrator
in the oven

Microwave drying is also possible, but has a negative effect on the fine citrus aroma.

Air drying

Place the lemon peel on a wooden board or on a sheet of kitchen paper. Put it in a dry and warm place for about two to three days. Turn the peels over and over so they dry more evenly.

Drying in the oven

The oven removes all moisture from the citrus peel within about three hours.

optimal temperature is 50 ° C
The baking sheet must be covered with baking paper
Spread lemon peel evenly on top
Do not close the oven door completely

Drying in the dehydrator

Lemon peel dry gently in a dehydrator at low temperatures. The handling of the different models is similar and is described in more detail in the associated instructions for use.