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Dried Citrus Zest (What to do With Citrus Rind/Citrus Peel)

Dried citrus zest is a perfect way to save citrus rind/peel. When you grow organic citrus fruit, it’s a shame (or a sin) to throw away the beautiful peel!

Dried citrus zest in bottles

My mother kept grating the zest from my navel oranges and Meyer lemons and freezing it in little packages when she was here over the winter.

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However, one day it occurred to me as she was making something “citrus”, that it would be great to dehydrate the zest instead of freezing it. So we gave it a try, and in only minutes, the zest was dry and ready to be stored!

citrus zest in a bottle

It can be used “as is”, but you could also put it in a mortar and pestle to powder the zest. We’ve since used it in cakes, cookies, and even to decorate kumquat cupcakes. 

Decorated kumquat cupcake with kumquats

It couldn’t be any easier, just grate, dry and store! If you don’t have a dehydrator, just put the zest in the oven after it’s cooled significantly after use. How great would a little jar of zest be as a gift, too? Possibilities are endless.

Dried Citrus Zest

recipe by Christina Conte

Ingredients

  • your choice of organic, oranges, lemons, limes, or grapefruit

Special equipment: fine grater like these

pic of lemon and graters

Carefully grate the zest from the fruit and place on a parchment paper lined baking tray.

grated peel on a tray

Place in oven on dehydrate setting, or when almost cool after being in use. Check after 10 minutes, mix if needed, keep in until crisp and dry. Alternatively, use a dehydrator. Remove from oven when dry and crisp. We did orange and lemon on the same tray here.

orange and lemon peel on parchment paper

Cool completely before placing in a completely dry, airtight container.

Dried citrus zest in a bottle

Store in pantry or decorate with a ribbon and/or label and give as gifts.

bottles of dried citrus rind

Love citrus? Try this mandarin orange cake recipe!

piece of mandarin orange cake on a fork

bottles of citrus zest

Dried citrus zest in bottles

Dried Citrus Zest (What to do With Citrus Rind/Citrus Peel)

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Dried citrus rind from organic fruit for use in baking, or as a lovely food gift.
4.8 from 12 votes

Special Equipment

  • 1 fine grater

Ingredients

  • 1 piece organic citrus fruit (oranges, lemons, grapefruit or limes- as needed for the amount of zest you want)

Instructions

  • Carefully grate the zest from the fruit and place on a parchment paper lined baking tray.
  • Place in oven on dehydrate setting, or when almost cool after being in use. Check after 10 minutes, mix if needed, keep in until crisp and dry. Alternatively, use a dehydrator. Remove from oven when dry and crisp.
  • Store in airtight container.

Notes

  • Special equipment needed: fine grater

Nutrition

Serving: 1/16 tsp | Calories: 5kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Sugar: 1g

My friend, Valentina from Cooking on the Weekends has a great collection of citrus recipes ~

27 of the Best Citrus Recipes!


Christina’s Cucina is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

4.84 from 12 votes (12 ratings without comment)

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31 Comments

  1. In the use of rind zest, have you used it as a substitute to salt? I am on a sodium free diet and I’m trying to find substitute for the salt required in the recipes.. Putting the amount of salt . Have had it on a steak by accident and experienced a semblance of the salt tast. I know the it seems like a 1/2 tsp of salt in a whole recipe doesn’t sound like much but it raises the sodium to a point so 2% or greater which means 97 to 147 mg per serving and defeats the diet.

    1. No, I totally understand having to go salt-free and how difficult it is to make so many things taste good (I had toxemia when I was pregnant and had to go to zero salt). Granted, it was short-lived, but I have a good perspective on your situation.

      To answer your question, no, I haven’t tried it in place of salt, but if you ground it down very finely, it would probably be your best bet. Here’s a suggestion, and I will preface with I am not suggesting you buy this, since it contains salt, however, what about making your own version of this seasoning without the salt? Combining all the herbs and maybe some of the dried citrus and see how it goes? Here’s my affiliate link for Herbarmare (in case there are others reading this who’d like to try it)