How to Dry Lemon Zest

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 170 °F fan*. Or use your lowest oven setting.

Step 2

If you have waxed shop-bought lemons, rinse them with just boiled water (or very hot tap water) and scrub them with a vegetable brush to remove the wax. Or use a clean tea towel to rub off most of the wax. You can skip this step if you have unwaxed organic or homegrown lemons – just give them a rinse with cold water.

Step 3

Use a Microplane or the finest side of your box grater to remove the lemon zest. Alternatively, remove slices of lemon peel with a vegetable peeler. Try to get mostly yellow lemon skin and avoid too much white pith in your zest or lemon peels.

Step 4

Spread the lemon zest or peels on a parchment-lined baking sheet in a single layer. And place the baking tray in the centre of your preheated oven.

Step 5

Check on the zest after 30 minutes and stir. If it is not fully dried, return to the oven and check every 10 minutes. The yellow lemon zest will darken into orange, but it should not be brown. For me, this takes about 40 minutes. The whole lemon peels take longer to dry than lemon zest, about 2 to 3 hours – which is why I prefer to dry the fine zest. Check the drying lemon peels every 20 minutes or so.

Step 6

To make lemon peel powder, add the dried lemon zest or dried lemon peels to a spice grinder. And blitz it into a fine powder.

Step 7

Transfer your dried zest, peel or dry lemon powder to an airtight container or spice jar. Keep in a dark, dry space for up to one year.