Choosing Fruit for Infusing

Often in infusing, you will be using the zest of fruit.  This is most common with citrus flavored infusions.  Here are a few tips for picking citrus fruits to zest:

The condition of the outside of the fruit is what's important when choosing fruit for zesting, since this is the part that you want to use.  Try to pick citrus that has a bright color and few blemishes on the skin.  Most citrus will have a coating of food-grade wax on the outside, and may have pesticides. 

Organic fruit is available at most supermarkets and it won't have pesticides.  If you can find fruit that hasn't been coated in wax, use that.  However, this will be hard to find unless you have a farmer's market.  Even the organic fruit that I have found in stores has been coated in wax.

If you can't find wax-free or organic fruit, you can use any fruit available.  Just make sure to thoroughly wash the fruit as I explain in Tips on Zesting.