When it comes to rarely used and rarely taught skills zesting a lemon defiantly falls on that list. I distinctly remember my first experience zesting a lemon. We were in our middle school home economics class and instructed to cook a dish for the teachers of the school. I dug through the cookbook and decided to make a lemon meringue pie. A rather humorous choice as I came from a family that didn’t cook unless it had come from a box, car, or the freezer section. There I was reading the directions to zest a lemon. Something I had never done and to be honest I had never even see a lemon zester before. So there I was in a classroom full of kids that seemed to know their way around a kitchen asking the teacher how to zest a lemon.

How to zest a lemon

When you need to zest a lemon you will need a lemon zester. you can get this in one of two styles. A micro grater that has many other uses or a traditional citrus peeler.

Wash your lemon well before beginning. A veggie scrub brush is a great way to get the dirt out of the lumps in the lemon. Seeing you will be eating the outside of the lemon in this case you need to be certain it is clean.

Drag the citrus peeler across the outside of the lemon removing the bright colorful layer. Stop before removing the bitter white pith under the top layer of lemon.

Use this lemon zest to add flavor and texture to your favorite lemon dishes.

Recipes using fresh lemon

When I set out to start this post I realized you may have your questions solved but odds are you want a bit more form your time then just learning how to zest a lemon. So I decided to ask some blogger friends for some of there best recipes using real lemons to share with you. Each of these yummy recipes will help you work on learning to cook with real lemons while you enjoy the summery flavor we all know and love.