Making your own Lemon Zest - Lemon poppyseed cake

So i decided to try something different today and I have always been a fan of lemon poppyseed loafs at coffee shops and local bakeries. I found a great recipe and am very excited to try and maybe incorporate the recipe into a delicious cupcake one day. The recipe calls for lemon zest and instead of buying it, i decided to make my own with organic lemons and while i am at it, decided to make orange zest as well! I of course went to google to see how it's done and it's easier than i thought. Here is the recipe:

You need:

• 6 oranges, lemons or limes

Use as many or as few as you like but remember that you can make a lot of this at one time and store it in your cabinet for later use.

Instructions:

Clean and dry your oranges removing any labels if necessary.
Using a medium-fine grater, grate your fruit until only the white pith remains over the fruit. You now have Zest!
After you have grated all of your fruit, you can add it to any dish calling for it or you can dry it and store it.
Using either a silicone baking pad in a pan or the "release" variety of aluminum foil, spead you zest over your foil or pad, closely together but not in a mound. You want a flat layer of zest.
Place into a cool oven at 200 degrees or on a "Warm" setting and cook for one hour.
Using a spatula, turn the zest over once and stir slightly to make sure that the zest dries evenly.
Check after one hour to see if the zest is dry. If not, turn off the oven and allow the zest to dry overnight or to remain in the oven for at least one more hour.
If your zest is now dry, you can pour it into a clean and air-tight jar and store in your kitchen cabinet.

Cool Tip: After baking, baste the cake with a real lemon juice sugar syrup. Equal amount of lemon juice to sugar and boil til it becomes thick, stirring frequently. Baste the cake right as it comes out of the oven on all sides. Mmm.... finally found the secret to great lemon poppy seed loaf. Fresh lemon rind and lemon sugar syrup!