No-Waste Tips To Make The Most Out Of Citrus Peels

Home cooks love having citrus on hand for any number of reasons. Besides being tasty and refreshing eaten on its own, it can be a powerful flavor booster when added to other dishes. Citrus fruits are also a great source of Vitamin C and other nutrients, and from a practical perspective, are great to have on hand because they're keepers; their thick, leathery peel protects them from the elements, so they stay fresh longer than other, more delicate fruit.

If you've ever zested a lemon or orange for a baking project or carved out a strip of lemon or lime peel for a cocktail, you know that citrus peels also smell amazing — to some, better than the juice of the fruit itself. In addition, they're even more nutritious than the rest of the fruit, if you can get past the bitterness; a single tablespoon of orange peel offers three times as much Vitamin C as the actual fruit.  But unless you're making recipes that specifically call for it or are making a batch of cocktails, folks are far more likely to toss citrus peels than take full advantage of the flavor and nutrition they offer. Here are some fun ways to keep citrus peels out of the landfill while adding flavor to drinks, desserts, and more. Be aware, however, that much commercial citrus is coated in wax; while this is food safe, you'll get the best results if you wash it off first.

When most people imagine the signature aroma of a lemon, lime, or orange, what they actually have in mind is the scent of the oils in the peel.  This is why many recipes for citrus-flavored cakes and other baked goods call for grated zest along with juice — while the juice alone will provide some aroma and tartness, it won't be enough to lend a truly distinctive flavor. This is also why many recipes call for citrus extracts when they really want a concentrated citrus flavor to come through.

Most supermarket extracts, however, taste and smell pretty generic; there's nothing wrong with them, but nothing special about them, either. But if you're lucky enough to find fresh citrus with a distinctive aroma you'd love to capture for future use, you can do this by making your own citrus extract. All you need to do is combine citrus zest and vodka, place it in a clean glass jar, and store in a dark area for about two months, shaking the jar occasionally to ensure the zest and vodka are combined. While proportions of citrus and vodka can vary, one recipe calls for the zest of three lemons and half a cup of vodka. Once it has reached your desired strength, strain it into a clean container for future cooking projects.

Marmalade is arguably the classiest of the common fruit spreads. Its hint of bitterness under an intense citrus profile makes it feel more grown up than pedestrian strawberry jam or grape jelly, as does its gentle orange hue. At the same time, it is sweet and accessible enough to be enjoyed by kids — there's a good chance that your first introduction to citrus peel as an edible substance in its own right was a serving of marmalade on toast.

If you have a lot of citrus on hand and sustainability on your mind, marmalade is also a delicious way to ensure every bit of your citrus stash (except, perhaps, the seeds) gets put to good use. Just grind your citrus into a coarse pulp in a food processor and cook slowly with an equal weight of sugar. You can use any citrus or combination of citrus you like. Your finished marmalade can serve as much more than a sandwich spread — it can add flavor to plain yogurt, liven up a slice of pound cake, and serve as a flavorful addition to glazes for both sweet and savory dishes.

When serious cooks want to be sure a cut of meat will be tender and flavorful all the way through, they turn to brining. The practice of brining — allowing meat or other food to soak in heavily salted, seasoned water — not only ensures every bite is properly salted (not overly salty, if done correctly), but transforms the texture of the meat. The salt denatures and partially unravels the meat's proteins, enabling the meat to better hold moisture and giving it a more tender texture. 

Brining is also an easy way to add flavors, since whatever flavorings you put in the brine will be absorbed into the meat. Common additions to brine include sugar, spices, herbs, and/or fruit juices. If you're planning to add citrus juice to your brine in any case, why not add some of the zest as well? This will not only enable you to get more mileage out of your cut-up fruit, but further enhance the taste and aroma of your final dish.

When people think of breaded foods, a few adjectives come to mind: crispy, toasty, perhaps a bit decadent. At their worst, they can be heavy and stodgy. In either case, they are unambiguously rich, which is why they're so often served with something bright and acidic for contrast, such as malt vinegar or ketchup.

A squeeze of fresh lemon juice is another useful accompaniment to breaded foods. But if the breading is already heavily seasoned or the food itself is strongly flavored, that little squeeze of lemon might register as a mere hint of tartness rather than as truly lemony. If you love lemons (or whatever citrus you're using) and want to embrace the interplay between the rich breading and tangy citrus even more, try adding some finely grated citrus zest to your breading before you coat and fry your food. The zest contains a more profound concentration of citrus flavor and aromatic compounds than the juice,  contributing a lively touch of flavor and brightness to your finished dish.

Cooks know it's not that hard to make homemade mayonnaise. But many home cooks don't bother because for most purposes, the store-bought stuff works and tastes just fine. Ditto pantry staple sauces such as ketchup and mustard; you can theoretically make them yourself, but unless you're seriously into canning or culinary experimentation, it's probably not worth the trouble.

Dependable as these kitchen warhorses are, after a while they can get a bit boring. The ever-increasing lineup of flavored ketchups and mayonnaise variants on supermarket shelves speaks to a craving for a change-up. It's fun to see, but frugal cooks can't help perusing the condiment aisle thinking "why should I buy Sriracha-flavored ketchup when I already have bottles of Sriracha and ketchup at home that I can mix together?" If this sounds like you, and you want to add your own personal touch to condiments without the commitment of a day-long canning project, here's another easy hack: add finely grated citrus zest to whatever bottled sauce you're using. The added freshness and flavor will make your familiar pantry sauce taste new again.

Your first sip of a well-made limoncello can feel like some kind of crazy miracle. How can the essence of a freshly picked lemon be so perfectly captured in a glass of liqueur? The answer is lemon peels — lots of lemon peels. 

Since the peel is where most of the essential oils that give lemons their aroma are concentrated, smart mixologists figured out long ago that it was more efficient to use them, rather than plain lemon juice, to create a powerfully-flavored drink.

Making limoncello is easier than you might think. First, you'll need the zest of 10 lemons and a bottle of vodka — the stronger the vodka, the more efficiently it will pull the flavors from the zest. Combine the zest and vodka in a 1-quart glass jar, cover, and allow to infuse in a dark space for between four days and a month (infuse longer if you want a more intense flavor). Strain the mixture and sweeten the infused vodka to taste with a simple syrup made from equal volumes of sugar and water. 

Once your limoncello is sweetened to your taste, bottle it and store it in the refrigerator or freezer. This could be a fun, easy side project for reducing waste if you're already making something that requires a lot of lemons, such as a pie or large quantity of marinade.