Agree! The right amount of lemon zest can be very tasty by perking/brightening up the flavor. There's acid in the tomatoes, so you just don't want to over do it. Also, I often add a splash of red or white wine vinegar to soups and stews. A couple tablespoons of red wine vinegar at the end really adds a nice, subtle zip to something like a big pot of vegetable beef soup.

Depemnds on the tomatoes....some home grown fresh off the vine tomatoes need the added acid.....some canned definitly do not.

Absolutely something to use when the tomatoes/sauce are bland. I've used vinegar but just never thought of lemon zest.... So aromatic.

Definitely aromatic. Lemons are so nice for so many things. Our lemon tree keeps me very happy. :-)

My kitchen fridge freezer has a small pullout drawer that keeps tid-bits of herbs, compound butters, parm rinds, ginger, a Myer lemon and some half lemons, (woody herbs like sage and rosemary freeze beautifully from fresh). Garlic herb butter w/olive oil. Pesto. A bag of roasted garlic, etc. It is my go-to for perking up so many things. Handy being so close to my prep area. I had a good Thai basil harvest I packed in a 1/2 pint in EV oil. Not as good as fresh but I can get the flavor with a teaspoon scoop since oil never freezes solid.

Lemons can get expensive here so having a bit to grate from the freezer for just that reason is often what is needed. Perky flavors.

"Lemons can get expensive here..."

They never get that cheap even here in Southern CA where lemon trees are everywhere you look. We can't even give all of ours away, yet they never get much below 50 cents each at the markets, at least for nice ones. Places like TJ's sell them in those net bags for less, but they're pretty small.

I love using lemon rind....but only from organic lemons. It brightens the flavor of sauce.

I like TJs chili lime seasoning ... nice bright kick to stuff.

bragu, I like it, too.

Thank goodness lemons grow on trees!

Especially when the tree's in our own backyard. :-)