FRC. Just above the recipe for Coconut Cake on the Baking Bites site, is a long discussion ......

A

aajay

Well-known member
re: lemon zest. It carefully explains how important it is not to include the white pith when zesting as it is so bitter. Practically every known recipe says the same thing. Well, I'm here to tell you it's not so (as I've long suspected). Recently I peeled a thin layer of peel from an orange leaving the white pith. I then cut the orange into quarters and while eating them out of hand managed to include chunks of the white pith. It was not bitter; granted it didn't have a lot of taste but I understand that white pith contains a lot of nutrionally important elements. In fact, if you test the zest and the pith separately you will find that it is the zest which is bitter. I don't know how cooking the pith affects it but raw it is not bitter. Would like to hear from others on this.

 
On second thought, I've always included the pith when making canding peels so it's ok cooked.

 
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