Wednesday, January 28, 2015

When Life Gives You Lemons, 10 Fresh Uses!

We have a lemon tree in our yard, and I have been trying to figure out how to use all of these lemons. I was looking for some new and different ideas, besides 'make lemonade' or 'make lemon chicken'. I have already done those, and I still had so many lemons! Here are a few of my ideas, hope you like them!



1. Make your own lemon essential oil. Lemon essential oil is useful for a variety of things, including making natural cleaning products and relieving heartburn. I think I might need to do a separate post, just on the uses of this essential oil.

2. Clean a cutting board. You can use fresh lemons to clean your stained cutting board. And bonus, it smells great too!

Photo source: www.allkindsofyumm.com 

3. Remove hard water stains. You know those spots on your shower and tub hardware, that you can't get off? Lemons can get those off! You just cut a lemon in half, and rub it on the hard water stains! Here are full instructions. This falls into the category of a 'life hack.'

4. Dye your hair. Don't live in sunny Southern California? Or don't have time to lounge in the sun? Or don't want to spend money to lighten your hair? Try lemon juice!
Photo source: www.wikihow.com 

5. Make lemon bars. These are delicious! For a variety of other ways to use lemons in cooking, check out this recent article

Photo source: www.allrecipes.com 
6. Get rid of acne. Sounds weird, right? Lemon juice contains L-asorbic acide, a natural astringent which dries out the acne, as well as antibacterial compounds that fight acne-producing bacteria. There are some guidelines, so see this site for details!

7. Clean your garbage disposal or sink. You will need a few other items, like baking soda and vinegar. This is a great use for the lemons, since you need to clean the sink regularly to keep the germs and bacteria out of your kitchen sink!

8. Make sore throat tea. This mixture of fresh lemons, and honey with boiling water make a wonderfully natural and soothing sore throat tea!

Photo source: www.herbs-info.com
9. Freeze them. When you pick so many lemons that you can't possibly use them all, but don't want them to go bad. This is a great option.

Photo source: www.gardenbetty.com 
10. Make limoncello.  For an adults-only treat, here is a recipe for an Italian favorite. If you can get your hands on Everclear! 
Photo source: Good Cocktails

What have I missed, have you done anything else with lemons?

3 comments:

  1. no you didn't miss anything, my dear - i forgot that lemons are good for cleaning bathtubs and stuff :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Or a citrus pasta sauce. I've done chicken and gnocchi in a lemon based sauce recently that was the bomb! I'm in love with lemon in my hot tea, and the honey too, when I'm sick. I really believe that they make a difference in soothing, compared to just plain hot tea without. I've never tried lemon for removing stains from my cutting boards, next time I use a lemon, I will. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would love to have a lemon tree in my yard. I would make lemon curd with them.

    ReplyDelete