Infused oils make a great base for dressings, marinades, casseroles,
sautes, and baking recipes. Oils infused with citrus peels, however,
make an excellent polish bursting with scent for wooden furniture,
cutting boards, and toys. Ever thought of making your own salt or sugar
scrubs? Use this lemon infused oil for an energizing addition. Recipes
of this sort to come...
Before you make this oil, you'll want to check out the article Juicing Lemons the Right Way so that you've got plenty of peels to work with.
Making the Infused Oil
What you'll need:
Glass pint or quart sized mason jars with lids
Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I get it at Costco)
Kitchen shears or a good knife
Get
to work cutting or chopping all of your lemon peels into small pieces.
You could also run em through a food processor, but be careful because
you don't want it pulpy or mushy. Just smaller than a dime is a good
average size for each piece. Fill your jars about 2/3 full with peels,
and then pour the olive oil over them up to the shoulder of the jar.
Use a metal or wooden spoon to stir, making sure the peels are
completely submerged. There is no exact science to this, so you can
play around with the strength of infusion by using more or less peels to
oil as you desire.
Cap the jars, and let them rest out
of direct sunlight for about a month, giving them a good shake every
couple of days. This is called Maceration. It's important to
get into the practice of labeling your concoctions so that you know
what's there and when you started it. Believe me, once you're doing a
lot of this home-made stuff, you will forget what's what and when. It
happens to all of us at least 1 or 5 times.
After the maceration period, strain the oil into a clean and dry glass jar, and you're ready to use it! You can keep it in the refrigerator or in a brown glass bottle in a dark cupboard.
Enjoy!
