December 8, 2015 - 10:29am
Intro and a question
Hi,
My name is Bill and i have recently started baking breads. I am from New Jersey, but have lived in Pennsylvania for the last 40 years. For the last 10 years, I have lived in Red Lion, PA.
Anyway, I find that I have many questions about bread and baking. Many times I can find the answers on the net. But, I have a question that I can't find a satisfactory answer to and it is this: I have a bread recipe that calls for the zest of one orange. I was at the store and didn't get oranges. I looked in the spice drawer at the house and saw a jar of McCormick's orange peel. I am wondering if this orange peel is the same as orange zest but not called zest. Do you know if orange peel and orange zest are the same thing?
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Technically the zest is just the orange part of the peel. This avoids the bitterness of the white pith. That said, the dried stuff can be used in place of zest in a recipe. For bread, I would probably use juice instead of dried if I had that on hand. But many people use the dried and I am sure it will be fine. I am not sure why they don't market it as orange zest, but it might be because they cannot guarantee they didn't get any of the pith even if they tried. Either way, the dried is not bitter so I say go for it.
an orange and very finely grated. The one in spice cabinet is dried orange peel. You probably want to rehydrate the orange peel and cop it fine to get as close as you can but it won't be the same.
Welcome and happy baking
billk7457,
Maverick and dabrownman are right, the dried won't be nearly as good as the best zest; where fresh orange meets a microplane grater.
I know because I've done it (and then threw the McCormicks bottle away).
If you have any other type of fresh citrus (particualarly lemon), you could substitute that perhaps.
dobie
I appreciate your comments. Thanks.
I don't always have oranges (or lemons or limes) in the house to make fresh zest, so I keep some in the freezer. Never done a side by side comparison with fresh, but haven't ever had anything turn out noticeably different.
Arjon
I never thought of that. It's a good idea.
I do freeze (in ice cube trays, topped with water) various fresh herbs each season, but I never did citrus zest.
Even tho I almost always have fresh citrus around, nothing is absolute and your idea could be a recipe saver at times. The frozen herbs aren't quite what the fresh are, but very close and almost always better than dried (oregano being the one exception I might even like better dried than fresh frozen). I would imagine zest would be much the same, better frozen fresh than dried.
I will try some. Thanks for the idea.
dobie
I believe a large part of the flavour that zest gives is the oils that are released when you take the peel to the rasp.
Gerhard
Gerhard
I totally agree. The same with the essential oils in herbs.
That is why I think zest might freeze well also. I think oils generally survive freezes well.
That is a question, by the way, not a fact.
dobie
I was thinking that when you are making zest the oils are released and imparted to whatever you are adding it to. If on the other had you make the zest in quantity and then move it to put in a freezer container a lot that is lost. I don't know if that is the case but that is the impression that I have. My wife likes Caffé Latte with nutmeg and she prefers nutmeg freshly grated over the coffee compared to the nutmeg out of a spice bottle.
Gerhard
Gerhard
I would agree with your wife.
I guess you would call them nut/berries, but I find nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, star anise, cinnamon (bark) and the like so much better freshly grated than the bottled pre-powdered versions. By a lot.
In terms of essential oils lost in freezing, I agree that there would be a loss of some kind, (and please remember, I've not yet done this), but I think the oils are the most survivable of the flavor components.
When you think about it, when you zest it, you are smelling something (wonderful tho it may be) that doesn't end up in the mix (or freeze, to be more accurate). But I think the oils might be the last to evaporate, if they do at all.
I don't know, just guessing, Ger
dobie
I suspect frozen zest isn't quite the same, but I suspect how much that matters depends on how good a person't palate is. For me, it's a serviceable substitute for fresh, which I don't always have around.
Arjon
I totally agree. Very much so serviceable. I did some last night and tho less than 24hrs frozen, it was quite good this afternoon.
dobie
Reading the comments here, I decided to just get an orange and zest it. The original question was prompted by having the bottled stuff and not the freshly zested zest. I was making the Swedish Rye Bread recipe (pg. 100) in The Bread Bible. Hensperger, Beth. 1999. I really enjoyed the bread, and my wife said it was good. I could see how it could become a favorite bread. But, with a 1/4 cup of molasses and 1/4 cup of brown sugar, I don't think I will make it very often.
billk7457
Yes, fresh is best, but in a pinch, you gotta do what you gotta do.
I am very glad to have bumped into Arjon's idea of freezing some. Never crossed my mind before, but it does work quite well.
Typical for me is to zest 8-10 oranges (that I then cut up for salads and other dishes during the week) and cover the zest with canola oil in a small container. It lasts quite a while in the fridge that way (a couple of weeks at least). But now, I will also have some frozen away, just in case.
dobie