how do you store fresh lemon peel

In this post, I’ll show you how to preserve lemon peel. There are a few ways to do this, but in this post, we are going to use oil and salt for this preserved lemon rind. It’s delicious! I love eating it with any chicken or fish dish or adding it to any sandwich. It lasts forever and is very simple to make.

Besides, the chickens won’t eat them and they take forever to compost, so in my belly they go.

Preserved lemon peel is a Middle Eastern/Moroccan kinda dish. In Israel, we don’t use salad dressing as much as we use it here in the U.S. Most of the time when we make salads we dress them with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt (you can watch me do it in this video).

It’s so simple, so tasty, and so much healthier than all those dressings that have a ton of mayo in them.

Unless you plan to use the zest right away, stashing large slivers of citrus peel in your freezer is a great way to preserve their flavor until the day it’s needed.
how do you store fresh lemon peel

How to Preserve Lemon Peel…

how do you store fresh lemon peel

And we eat a salad with almost every meal in Israel! So what is one going to do with so many lemon peels at the end of the week?

Preserve them, of course.

Preserved lemon peel will last pretty much forever and you can use it in many ways which we will talk about later.

Tools That We Are Going to Need…

This simple recipe doesn’t require much…

Cutting board – for preparing the lemons.

Knife – to cut the lemon peels.

Pot – we are going to boil the lemon peels so choose a pot large enough.

Measuring spoons – to measure the oil and salt.

A jar – to store the preserves lemon peels in. I used a quart jar for the peels of six lemons.

That’s all we need!

how do you store fresh lemon peel

First, acquire a few lemons. Let’s say, you used the juice for cooking or salad or whatever, instead of throwing away the peel, place it in a zip-lock bag or a container in the fridge.

how do you store fresh lemon peel

Once you have a few lemons, cut them into small pieces. We used about 6 lemons here, I think, and we cut each lemon into 8 pieces. You can go smaller or larger with your pieces, there are no rules.

Just a side note here, you can keep the lemon seeds and use them in jams since they have natural pectin in them and will thicken your jam naturally (I show how to do this in my Peach Jam post so make sure to check it out).

how do you store fresh lemon peel

Place your lemon peels in a pot and fill it with water.

how do you store fresh lemon peel

Place your pot on the stove top and bring the water to a boil. Lower the heat but keep your water boiling gently.

We want the peels to soften, this might take 30 minutes or maybe 45, depending on how thick your lemon peels are. Keep checking the softness with a fork just as you do with potatoes.

how do you store fresh lemon peel

Once the lemons are soft, transfer them to a strainer or a colander and let them dry and cool a bit.

how do you store fresh lemon peel

Once the peels are dry and cool, put them back in the pot or in a mixing bowl and add 6 tablespoons of oil…

how do you store fresh lemon peel

And 4 tablespoons of salt (preferably sea salt)…

how do you store fresh lemon peel

Mix the oil, salt, and lemon peel together…

how do you store fresh lemon peel

Until the lemons are all coated with the oil and salt.

how do you store fresh lemon peel

Then all you have to do is transfer the lemons into a jar and keep it in the fridge. They are ready to eat.

How To Store Lemon Zest For Years

FAQ

How long does lemon peel last?

You can store citrus peels in the refrigerator in a sealed container and they’ll last a few days. Orange peels tend to get soggy faster than lemon peels. In experiments I found that orange peels lasted 1 day at maximum crispness, while lemon peels could go at least 2-3 days.

Can you freeze lemon peel for later use?

Lemon zest is one of the quickest ways you can add the essence of sunshine to your dish, but sometimes you don’t need juice and zest at the same time, and these out-of-sync moments can leave you with a whole bunch of lemon rinds you’re not ready to use up just yet. Luckily, they freeze just fine.

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