lemon peel powder

Got lemons? Don’t waste the peels! Instead, turn them into a delicious, zesty, sweet dried lemon powder. Lemon powder is easy to make, and can be used in more ways than you’d imagine! Season your salad dressing, dips, vegetables, meat, fish, tea, baked goods, yogurt, and more. Use dehydrated lemon peel powder as a replacement for fresh lemon zest in any recipe - 1 tsp of lemon powder for every tablespoon of called-for zest.

Homemade Dried Lemon Peel Powder

Lemon peels

Wash and peel your lemons. If using thin-skinned sweet lemons (like Meyer lemons) peel them whole like an orange. For thicker-skinned lemons (such as Eureka lemons) use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer part of the rind, leaving behind most of the white bitter pith.

Lay out the lemon peels in a single layer on your food dehydrator racks (or on a baking sheet, if drying in the oven).

Dry the lemon peels in the dehydrator at 95-105°F, or in the oven on the lowest heat setting possible.

The time it takes for them to fully dry will vary depending on your individual machine and the thickness of the peels, which may be several hours to a couple of days.

Dehydrate the lemon peels until they are completely dry. The lemon peels are finished drying when they easily crack and snap in half, rather than bending.

Use a blender, food processor, or coffee grinder to churn the dried lemon peels into powder.

Optional: Pour the ground lemon powder through a fine mesh strainer poised over a bowl and sift it. Take the collected leftover hard bits and run them back through the Vitamix/blender another time to pulverize them into powder.

Store the finished lemon powder in a glass air-tight container, such as in a mason jar with tight-fitting lid.

Keep the container in a dry, cool place - such as the pantry. When properly dried and stored, your homemade lemon peel powder should last for over a year.

Dried lemon zest is a convenient and versatile ingredient. And it is super easy to make. Air dry the lemon zest if you have the time (perfect for a small amount of zest), or speed up the process with your oven.

How to Dry Lemon Zest

lemons*

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Homemade Dried Lemon Peel Powder

How to Dry Lemon Zest

Top 2 lemon peel powder recipes from across the web

The most viewed lemon peel powder recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Homemade Dried Lemon Peel Powder

How to Dry Lemon Zest

The most viewed lemon peel powder recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine