Giada De Laurentiis' Lemon Zest Tip Is Confusing TikTok
Giada De Laurentiis is definitely a fan of lemon. From De Laurentiis' twist on lemon spaghetti to the lemony recipe a TikToker provided her for a lemon coconut sorbet to her dried lemons in the style of Instagrammer @auntraffy, the celebrity chef has a clear penchant for this citrus. Perhaps one Instagram commenter put it best when they wrote, "Wow! She really loves her lemons!!" Agreed. In fact, the Food Network star revealed to Bon Appétit that lemons are among her weekly grocery shopping staples that fill her cart, and we get it. This yellow fruit is so bright and such a refreshing flavor to add to many a dish and beverage, how could you not love the lemon?
While the lemon juice is definitely on the tart side, All Recipes notes lemon zest offers a sweeter option for your taste buds. It can be used in a variety of recipes from sweet treats to vinaigrettes. The site goes on to explain that while lemon zest is the brightly colored part of the peel, it doesn't include the pithy white flesh. The zest is quite thin. If you've ever grated the fruit with a citrus grater, then you know zesting comes with its own set of challenges — hello scraped knuckles. Enter De Laurentiis, who took to TikTok to share a lemon zest tip which had her followers slightly confused.
Giada De Laurentiis zests upwards
Minds blown may be a better description of how her fans were feeling because Giada De Laurentiis' hack is definitely a game changer. She took to her TikTok channel to ask the question, "Who else has been zesting wrong??" The "Everyday Italian" host then shared a video where she confessed she is among those who have been zesting incorrectly before turning her citrus grater upside down. De Laurentiis then began zesting upwards. The beauty of this trick is the zest remains cradled by the grater rather than getting all over the place.
One of De Laurentiis' fans wrote, "I do that except I hold the lemon still and move the microplane grater, it's easier. Rotate lemon as necessary." Still another follower wrote, "I guess I am incorrect also. I have tried the 'correct' way. Uncomfortable." And another shared, "I may keep doing it wrong to save my fingers." But as it turns out, Food 52 also suggests zesting your lemons and oranges upwards to save you time on clean-up and to preserve the zest's oil so it goes into your recipes and not everywhere else. How much lemon zest can you get from one fruit? All Recipes reveals that a medium size lemon will give you approximately one tablespoon of zest.