Today we’ll tackle another delicious part of the lemon: lemon zest, the grated rind of the lemon. The rind is the top layer or skin of the peel; the peel also includes some of the white pith under the skin.

How to make lemon zest? Simply hold a washed, dried lemon in one hand and run a zester over it with the other (we use a Microplane lemon zester in the photo, which comes in a variety of handle colors and is a fun party favor for Mother’s Day). Zest lightly: You only want the yellow rind, not the white pith underneath it.

If you don’t have a zester, you can use any kind of grater.

Here‘s an easy way to have fresh zest on hand all the time: Just freeze a whole washed lemon in a plastic bag.

Few lemons should go unzested—and it’s so easy with a zester. Photo courtesy Microplane.

Freshly grated zest can make just about anything taste better. Take out the lemon and the zester as you serve:

 
*The difference between frosting and icing is that icing is made with confectioners’ sugar (also called icing sugar) and frosting with table sugar; but the two terms are often used interchangeably (that doesn’t mean correctly!).

The lemon tree, which has the botanical name Citrus limon, is a small evergreen. The fruit is used for primarily for its juice, though the pulp and zest are also used, mainly in cooking and baking. The tart taste of the lemon juice comes from citric acid, which comprises about 5% of a true lemon.

There are many different types of lemons; but the components of all lemons include:

Kopali Organics specializes in chocolate-covered snacks: banana, cacao nibs, espresso beans, goji, goldenberry, mango, mixed fruits, mulberry and pineapple.

The products are also Fair Trade Certified, which means that the enterprise supports thousands of family farmers and communities worldwide (more about Fair Trade certification).

Plus, 100% of profits go to The Sylvia Center, a garden-to-table program that inspires young people to discover good nutrition on the farm and in the kitchen. You can feel good about your purchase.

We’re become enamored of Kopali’s Organic Chocolate Covered Banana snacks, bits of banana covered in delicious semisweet chocolate.

For a limited time, you can save more than $1 a bag by purchasing a 12-pack of Kopali Chocolate Banana (normally $3.99 a bag, now $2.92). Buy them directly from the company website.

Don’t worry that 12 bags might be too many. These treats may become your favorite snack…and are certain to earn the appreciation of any friends you share them with.

Learn more about Kopali Organics snacks at Kopali.net.
  

Research findings show compelling reasons for shoppers to buy in bulk (from the bulk bins at the grocery store). If you don’t buy organic because of the higher price, you can save an average of 89%* by purchasing natural and organic foods in the bulk foods aisle of the grocery store (we get ours at Whole Foods Market).

What can you buy in organic bulk?

*The study was conducted by the Portland State University’s Food Industry Leadership Center (FILC) on behalf of The Bulk is Green Council (BIG). Conducted in the fall of 2011, researchers studied three main areas: cost comparisons (to packaged counterparts), environmental impact and consumer attitudes toward buying in bulk. To arrive at the overall average cost savings of 89%, researchers made cost comparisons between organic bulk foods and organic packaged foods in a number of key categories, including coffee and tea, nut butters, flour and grains, dried fruit, spices, beans, pasta and confections. The percentage of savings when buying in bulk differed from category to category, but averaging the savings across all categories resulted in an average of 89% lower costs. For more information, visit BulkIsGreen.org.

 
TAKE THE PLEDGE

To help celebrate Earth Month, the Bulk is Green Council (BIG) invites eco-conscious consumers to take the pledge to “Love Bulk Foods,” for the chance to win a gift basket filled with everything needed to help create a natural and organic pantry filled with eco-friendly bulk foods.

Pledgers automatically will be entered in a weekly drawing for a gift basket.

Here’s the Love Bulk Foods pledge:

I pledge to purchase natural and organic foods from the bulk bins of my local grocer once a week during Earth Month. By purchasing bulk foods, I am helping to reduce the amount of packaging waste that enters landfills each year. I also pledge to spread this message to my family, friends and neighbors.

Don’t you feel good already? It’s a good teaching moment for the kids.
  

An expo just for hot sauce? “Hot sauce production has been rated one of the 10 fastest-growing industries in the U.S.,” say the event organizers. “The trend shows no sign of cooling off.”

If two days of fiery food is your idea of the ultimate endorphin rush, the weekend promises to be packed with live music, fire breathers, spicy food vendors, eating challenges and contests, adult beverages and the best hot sauce producers in North America.

Awards will be presented on Saturday afternoon in categories that include Chipotle, Fruit Based, Fruit Based Hot, Habanero, Jalapeño, Louisiana Style, Novelty Hot Sauce, People’s Choice, Pepper Blend, Scorpion and a category we always appreciate, Best Label Artwork.

We grew up in a household that used hot sauce for Bloody Marys. Everything else was flavored with fresh-cracked pepper and fresh herbs. True hot sauce fans shake the condiment on just about everything, from grilled cheese and other sandwiches, eggs, fried foods, French fries and hash browns, meat loaf, ribs, soups and anything else you can think of, including, of course, chili and Tex-Mex cuisine.

Dave Pace, founder of Pace Foods, who began to manufacture hot sauce in Texas in 1947, would even shake hot sauce into his coffee. Whether he added sugar and milk as well, we don’t know. But we do know people who sprinkle hot sauce on their oatmeal and ice cream. (More about hot sauce.)

Leah Hansen was one of THE NIBBLE writers who tasted her way through the media preview. “It was so much fun, and the hot sauces so terrific, that I’m going to attend the two-day Expo,” she reports.

Here are the favorites of all she tried. Even if you can’t get to the Expo, you can order the sauces online.

1. NYC Hot Sauce Co. A traditional red hot sauce with more depth of fruit flavor (from the flesh of the chiles) than the large commercial hot sauce brands. It‘s heavy on the vinegar flavor in a good way, and went really well on the mini grilled cheese sandwiches served with it. I loved the squeeze bottle too; it made it easy to squirt as much sauce you want. Ingredients: habanero peppers, carrots, onions, celery, garlic, fresh squeezed lime juice and creole seasonings. More about NYC Hot Sauce Co.

3. Big Fat’s 7 to 8. Big Fats makes an impressive array of hot sauces, all with number names. This super-hot sauce started out with a pleasant, subtle sweetness and a good depth of flavor with a big burst of citrus, quickly swirling into a vortex of spices. I really like the Trinidad 7 Pot Peppers used (they appeared in a few sauces, one of the super-hot chiles that have yet to enter commercial production). It takes a whole minute to hit you, but then the heat is pretty extreme and stays with you for a good 20 minutes. Ingredients: orange juice concentrate, onion, water, Trinidad 7 pot peppers, pineapple concentrate, garlic, pomegranate molasses, sea salt, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, and white pepper. Learn more at BigFatsHotSauce.
4. High River Sauces “Tears of the Sun.” The different fruit ingredients make this my favorite of the sweeter sauces. It’s not too sweet, with pretty high heat and a lingering aftertaste. How it got its name: “Your taste buds are greeted by the sweetness,” says the manufacturer; then the heat rises like the sun on a hot summer day.” Ingredients: habanero peppers, peaches, papaya, pineapple, mango, cider vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, red pepper, salt and garlic. More about High River Sauces.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR CHILES (PEPPERS)?

See the different types of chiles in our Chile Glossary.

What’s the deal with “chiles” versus “peppers?” Chile is the correct word, alternatively spelled chili and chilli; chilli is the original spelling in Nahuatl, the Aztec language.

When one of Columbus’ crew first tasted a chile in the Caribbean Islands, he likened the heat to the black pepper known in Europe. Hence, chilli became pepper, or chile/chili/chilli pepper.

To us purists, pepper should only refer to Piper nigrum, the peppercorn, which has no relationship to the chile plant. Capsicum is the genus for chiles, fruits that, when cut in half, have a white spine and seeds that contains the heat (or, in the case of bell peppers, no heat at all). For us, chile/chili/chilli is the way to go.

Even though we stored our brown sugar in a supposedly airtight glass canister, it invariably became rock-hard in a few weeks, its natural high level of moisture evaporating into…well, who knows where it went?

The old “Hints From Heloise” on how to soften brown sugar don’t work if you’re in a hurry. They include putting slices of apple or a slice of fresh bread into the airtight container. In a day or so, the moisture from the apple or bread will infuse into the sugar and soften it.

But if you discover, as you’re making a recipe, that your brown sugar is one big hard lump, you need a fast solution.

We subsequently came across these Terra Cotta Brown Sugar Disks. Soak a disk in water for 15 minutes, then add it to the container of brown sugar. The terra cotta (which is porous, unglazed baked clay) holds moisture, and releases it slowly to keep brown sugar or other foods moist for weeks.

You can pick up a set of Terra Cotta Brown Sugar Disks ($8.99 for three) and give the other two to friends.

Should you happen to have a small piece of terra cotta hanging around, you can try it first. We used a shard from a broken flower pot, wrapping it in cheesecloth to ensure that none of the broken surface would come into contact with the sugar.