Zest Vs. Peel or Rind

• Lemon peel or rind is the complete skin of a lemon. In contrast, zest is the thin, colorful part of the peel that contains fragrant oils called limonenes. When grating zest or cutting thin peels of citrus for extracts or use as garnishes, most cooks don't include the soft and often bitter pith, which is the spongy white layer between the fruit and the colored part of its rind.

Fresh Zest Vs. Dried Zest and Extracts

• Dried, grated zest and bottled lemon and orange extracts often are available at supermarkets. However, some cooks prefer fresh zest to the dry product for a bright -- meaning freshly acidic and natural -- taste. Pastry chef Nicole Weston of the Baking Bites blog notes that fresh lemon zest gives her sugar cookies a "clean" taste similar to lemonade. When you make more zest than you need for a recipe, freeze the excess in recipe-size portions of 1 tablespoon, with each portion wrapped in a tiny piece of plastic wrap and stored in a freezer bag. Frozen zest doesn't need to be defrosted before use. Weston advises that although zest may lose some flavor when frozen, it tastes more natural than citrus extracts.

Making Fresh Citrus Extracts

• Another way to preserve the flavor of fresh zest is to make your own citrus extract; you can use the peels of a variety of citrus fruits. Extract results when citrus zest is suspended in a small amount of distilled alcohol with a tiny bit of sugar. The first step is to sterilize a canning jar and lid and set them aside on a clean towel. Next, mix the ingredients and heat them in a small pot on your stove top until the sugar dissolves. Then, pour the mixture into the jar, apply the lid and store the jar in a cool, dark cupboard. The extract is ready for use in a month.

Uses in Baking and Cooking

• You can easily substitute citrus extract for zest in many baking recipes. To do this, replace a teaspoon of zest with 1/2 teaspoon of extract. This is true for zest from any kind of citrus fruit. If you need to substitute one kind of zest for another, the amount in the recipe doesn't change. Some recipes for baked goods intensify citrus flavor by calling for a combination of citrus zest, extract and juice, such as in a lemon pound cake with a lemon glaze. It isn't always possible to substitute extract for zest in other kinds of recipes, such as salads to which you may want to add fresh zest for texture as well as flavor.