# Cooks, bakers and Kitchen Wiz's, lend me your brains. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-bakers-and-kitchen-wizs-lend-me-your-brains/434811 "2008-01-24T13:52:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-bakers-and-kitchen-wizs-lend-me-your-brains/434811/1 "2008-01-24T13:52:20Z")
I am making some lovely and delicious beer bread. Since I have enough of the dry ingredients ( flour, cinamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt) I thought I would make a second batch of dry goods and put it in a ziploc for future baking. My only question is that the recipe calls for orange zest. Oranges are not something I routinely have on hand ( though, today I do) **Could I put the zest in the dry ingredients or would that BE BAD?** Or, another thought, could I save and freeze the zest for future use? Thoughts on this matter are greatly appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-bakers-and-kitchen-wizs-lend-me-your-brains/434811/2 "2008-01-24T14:29:51Z")
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest] My only question is that the recipe calls for orange zest. Oranges are not something I routinely have on hand ( though, today I do) **Could I put the zest in the dry ingredients or would that BE BAD?** Or, another thought, could I save and freeze the zest for future use? . [/QUOTE] On the one hand, orange peel is one of nature’s most indestructible substances. Physically becoming rotten would be unlikely. However, zest contains oils, and oils are both volatile (in the sense that they evaporate, not explode) and prone to going rancid. For this reason I would not incorporate the zest in dry goods I planned to store. Freezing the zest would probably work fine. Any loss of texture would probably not be noticeable. IMHO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-bakers-and-kitchen-wizs-lend-me-your-brains/434811/3 "2008-01-24T14:31:02Z")
I’d vote for freezing the zest. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-bakers-and-kitchen-wizs-lend-me-your-brains/434811/4 "2008-01-24T14:31:23Z")
What **Hello Again** said, in my professional opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-bakers-and-kitchen-wizs-lend-me-your-brains/434811/5 "2008-01-24T16:26:39Z")
[From the orange’s mouth.](http://www.sunkist.com/products/buying_storing_handling.asp) It freezes very well (see grated peel). ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-bakers-and-kitchen-wizs-lend-me-your-brains/434811/6 "2008-01-24T16:39:59Z")
You could just leave out the zest and add fresh when using your stored dry mixture. If having an available orange on hand is a concern, then I would use the freeze option. There is also dried zest available in your spice isle, but either of the other options would be better. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-bakers-and-kitchen-wizs-lend-me-your-brains/434811/7 "2008-01-24T16:50:15Z")
I use the small glass jars you can collect over time to freeze small amount of stuff like orange zest. I get most of these jars from the gift baskets of Christmas. Some of the sample jelly jars can hold only a few tablespoons and are perfect for the freezing of zest. I have one warning on bread mix in ziplock bags. They are ok for a maybe a month. The longer they sit, the more moisture the flour loses. I’ve found I need to add more moisture than originally called for. ---
**Author:** ![Montgomery0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@Montgomery0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montgomery0)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooks-bakers-and-kitchen-wizs-lend-me-your-brains/434811/8 "2008-01-24T16:51:54Z")
When in doubt, keep it separate, after all, it’s only one baggie.