Lemon fiber

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1 lemon(s) (Zidrat lemon or Amalfi lemon), untreated
• 20 g sugar

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour

Texturizer, emulsifier

My apprentice brought me a citron lemon from vacation. I used it to make a puree from the lemon fiber, which I use as a texturizer or emulsifier in my kitchen. It’s known in the fine dining industry as “basic texture.” Chefs use it to save a hollandaise sauce that’s losing its emulsion, for salad dressings that need to be emulsified but don’t want to use raw egg or mustard, for sorbets that are lightly thickened and don’t lose liquid, for espumas, and so on. You can vacuum seal the lemon fiber and use the bag like a piping bag; then it will keep in the refrigerator for about 3 months. It’s also great for freezing. Preparation: (I used a thin vegetable peeler to thinly peel the lemon. I cut the lemon peel into julienne strips and mixed it with a little sugar, put it in a jam jar, and stored it in the refrigerator: It tastes great in salads or mashed potatoes.) The thick white layer, between the pulp and the peel, is the lemon fiber. I’m interested in them, so I cut them into very large cubes. Now I blanch the cubes three times. To do this, I take a large pot, fill it with water, add the lemon fiber cubes, and bring it to a boil. As soon as it boils, I drain the water and catch the cubes in a sieve. I do this three times so the bitter substances are lost. Then I put 500 ml of water and 20 g of sugar into a pot and bring it to a boil. Then I add the lemon fiber cubes and cook them for 40 minutes until soft. Then I drain them, but save about 50 ml of the water. In a food processor, I puree the lemon fiber with the collected water until a kind of purée. I then press it through a fine sieve. Done.