Gluten free cooks, like all home cooks, can get stuck in a rotation of making the same old dishes. (Boring!) In this post, How To Use Citrus Fruit and Zest, I want to get you to think outside the box and try something new.
- Eat a type of citrus you haven't tried before (blood oranges, satsumas etc),
- Use as much citrus zest as you can. From meatballs to muffins, citrus zest adds a bright fresh taste wherever you use it.
- Make a new citrus recipe (Grapefruit Avocado Salad, see more ideas below).
Citrus fruit year is available year round but when it's in season the fruits are at their peak of juiciness and there is more variety to choose from. Juicy Cara Cara oranges, blood oranges, satsumas, clementines, ruby red grapefruits, Meyer lemons and Key limes and more are all waiting to be tried.
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🍊 How To Cut Citrus Supremes
I've been cutting oranges and grapefruits like this for years but never knew they were called supremes. It's simply a method of cutting to remove all the membrane and pith from the outside of the fruit. The last step is to remove each section from the membrane and you have citrus supremes.
In my kitchen we think it's worth the effort. Just give it a try!
🍋 How to Zest Citrus Fruit
The zest is the coloured part of the peel only, none of the white pith. It has a high amount of fibre and vitamin C and adding a small amount can perk up meatballs, pasta dishes, muffins and more.
I use an old-fashioned hand zester with several holes at the top to make long strips of zest like you see in this video. I freeze the strips then use it right out of the freezer chopped as fine as I need for each recipe.
Of course I have a rast, the popular tool you see on cooking shows that people often call a Microplane grater. Microplane is actually the brand name. There are many other brands available as well as different sizes to choose from.
I use my rast when I'm finishing a dish with a little zest on top. Hold the rast firmly in one hand and rub the fruit back and forth across the holes of the rast. Bang it on your cutting board to get any zest that is stuck to the blade.
A rast can also be used to grate Parmesan cheese, chocolate, garlic, ginger and more.
Adding orange zest to muffins, pancakes, cookies and scones provides a r. Adding lemon or lime zest to marinades, roast potatoes, fish dishes or chicken is heavenly. Try it in anything, you can’t go wrong.
🥶 Freezing Citrus Zest
Zest citrus fruit as often as you can. I try to remove the zest of oranges, lemons and limes before I use them for anything. I put that zest right into the freezer and always have some on hand when I need it. It will keep for months but try and use it.
I have a small container in my freezer for each type of zest and they stay there whether they're full or empty.
🍊🍋 15 Citrus Recipes; Lemon, Lime, Orange & Grapefruit
Let me know in the comments below if you found something new you want to try.
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