Lemons, beware! Oxo Citrus Zester makes the job zestfully easy
Written: Oct 11 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good Grips handle, easy to use
Cons: none I can think of
The Bottom Line: Citrus zest in seconds!
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| arianej's Full Review: Oxo 5.5" Citrus Zester (black) |
I'm a bit of a klutz in the kitchen sometimes, and some jobs--like zesting lemons--are beyond my abilities if all I have to work with is a sharp paring knife. Now, I've gotten zest from lemons using a paring knife, but it took ages and ended up wasting a lot of the zest while I was trying to pare off the bitter white pith. The Oxo Citrus Zester looked like a good shortcut.
Description
In terms of looks, the citrus zester is pretty unimpressive. It's mostly black rubber handle, about 5.5 inches long total, with a metal head that has five small holes in the end. When I actually received mine, I was skeptical about how well it would work simply because it looked far too basic to do what I thought was a complicated, messy job like lemon zesting. The zester is dishwasher safe, and Oxo has a lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects.
How it works
Well, I can see why people buy this thing! The handle is soft rubber and very easy to grip whether your hands are dry or wet, and the size makes also makes it very simple to manuever--even for a kitchen klutz like me. All you do is hold the zester so that the slightly curved metal head follows the curve of your lemon, then draw it over the surface. It doesn't require much pressure, and tidy curls of lemon zest come off so easily. The pith is left behind so it doesn't ruin the taste of your baked goods, and it's all done with laughably little effort.
Now that I can get citrus zest without so much cursing and effort, I find it's a really nice addition to many baked goods. A bit of lemon or orange zest adds a new twist to an old blueberry muffin recipe, in waffles or quickbreads, and it can even be a nice addition to meat marinades. My favorite so far is Lemon Orange Sour Cream Cookies, from Rosie's Bakery Chocolate-Packed, Jam-Filled, Butter-Rich, No-Holds-Barred Cookie Book, by Judy Rosenburg. It yields a moist, cake-like cookie where the bright orange and lemon flavors are highlighted and make an amazingly refreshing dessert.
Lemon Orange Sour Cream Cookies
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp. cake flour
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. butter, room temp
1 cup minus 2 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. grated orange zest
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 large egg
1/2 cup plus 3 Tbsp. sour cream
Glaze:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line several baking sheets with parchment or lightly grease them.
Sift both flours, baking powder and soda, and salt and set aside. Using mixer, cream butter, sugar, zest and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Add egg and mix. Add sour cream and mix. Fold in flour mixture by hand, then blend with mixer on low speed 5 seconds. Scrape down bowl and mix on low speed until batter is smooth and velvety, 10 seconds. Give batter a stir or two with spatula.
Drop batter by large rounded Tbsp. 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies have puffed up and are firm to the touch, just beginning to turn golden around edges, 10 minutes. Let cookies sit 2-3 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare glaze by blending butter and lemon juice with sugar until smooth and creamy. Once cookies have cooled, drop generously rounded 1/2 tsp. glaze onto each cookie and spread. let sit until glaze hardens, about 2 hours. Or pop in fridge 1 hour. Store in airtight plastic container at room temperature for first day, then in fridge for nxt day, or in freezer for up to 2 weeks. Makes 24 cookies.
Recommendations
It may seem like a waste of money and space to buy a kitchen utensil that only has one function, but in a case like this, I make an exception. The citrus zester is so easy to use and clean and saves so much time, it's worth the roughly $5-6. It also allows me to get the most out of every lemon, since I use the juice as well as the zest.
If you use a lot of lemon or orange zest in your cooking, this is a great little tool to make the job easier, and merits a small space in your gadget drawer.
Note: This review was written under duress as part of the Free the Epinions Kids Payoff Challenge held by those dastardly villains, the Home and Garden people. Any inaccuracies due to poor writing is strictly their fault, I swear.
There is no need to state the obvious superiority of the Books and Magazines crowd...so I won't!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
arianej
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Ariane
Location: Ohio
Reviews written: 230
Trusted by: 214 members
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