This fruit is from certified organic sources, and comes to you as close to its natural state as can be, therefore you may see the odd bump or blemish on the skin.
No known allergens are used in any of our products, but whilst all care has been taken, we cannot completely guarantee that cross-contamination has not occurred.
We try to be as observant as we can during the preparation, but the odd pip or seed may sneak through – don’t worry, we don’t charge extra for these.
From the very first spark of an idea several years ago, we wanted TheZestCo to be as ethical as would be practicable. This included the fruit we used for our fruit garnishes. Did you know that citrus fruit, and especially orange, needs cooler night temperatures to develop from the green rind to the more familiar orange. This greenish tinge is perfectly safe, just not as attractive as the orange colour we love in our garnishes. In order to force the green to develop into orange, some growers expose the fruit to ethylene to speed up the ripening and reduce chlorophyll. In some countries the growers are even permitted to spray the fruit with a synthetic dye to supplement the orange tone. As it is widely (and incorrectly) assumed that fruit bought domestically is used for juicing or eating and peeling, it is not always labelled as having been dyed or treated in this way.
Similarly, much citrus can be sprayed with wax, which is very often petroleum or synthetic based.
If, like us, you prefer not to have these unnecessary chemicals in your food, drink and cocktail garnishes, go down the organic route.
At ZestHQ we choose to pay more for certifed organically grown fruit, and we still subject each individual fruit to a thorough scrubbing in fresh water before slicing and drying. Fruit as it should be, becoming dehydrated, sliced for gin & tonic and many many cocktails.
