Dried citrus peel

I was inspired by crunchy chicken's post today.

I love the idea of using every last bit of food so that nothing is wasted. I especially love the idea of taking something that would go into the composter and turning it into something usable (in a later post I'll share a pickled watermelon rind recipe that's divine!). However as much as I like candied peel (really), I'm trying not to use too much sugar. So I've decided to make dried peel out of the lemons that I use for my hot honey and lemon drink (below). Turns out there are all kinds of uses for this dried peel. You can:

• add it to rice as it's cooking


• grind it up and add it to recipes or add it to pepper to make lemon pepper


• put it in simmering water to make your house smell nice


• add it to other dried herbs to make yummy herbal tea

Here's how you do it:
-peel your citrus fruit using a vegetable peeler so you get the rind and not the pith
-leave out to dry on a baking sheet or plate
-this will work the best in times of low humidity (i.e. not the summer months in the Ottawa Valley)
-once the peel is dried (5 days max), store in a jar.

*note: use only organic, pesticide free fruit for this recipe