What is Orange zest??

brooke211, Apr 26, 10:37pm
Maybe a silly question, a recipe says add grated zest off one orange. Is this the skin on the outside? or that white stuff under the skin? THANKS! !

turn_out, Apr 26, 10:42pm
Its grated peel from the outside of the orange (or lemon). The white inside is the pith.

vtired, Apr 26, 10:42pm
It is the orange part, if you grate the white part it makes the dish bitter.

barloo, Apr 26, 10:46pm
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Kitchen/Cutlery-utensil
s/Graters-peelers/auction-286189966.htm

The black one at the botton is a zester :)

245sam, Apr 26, 10:46pm
brooke211, turn_out has very adequately answered your actual questions but something to be aware of is that the white pith is bitter so when grating the zest (from an orange, lemon or whatever citrus fruit) be careful to not grate into the white pith because of its bitterness. :-))

245sam, Apr 26, 10:48pm
oops, grate/great minds think alike vtired. :-))

cookessentials, Apr 26, 10:48pm
Zest is the outer skin of your citrus ( eg: oranges, lemons, limes) zesters can either give you fine strips of peel or they can give you a fine grate, depending on the style you have. Originally, you had a zester on your cheese grater that would do the job or you can buy fine zester/graters such as the microplane to do the job.

brooke211, Mar 7, 2:46pm
Great, thanks guys! !