We love lemons. These fruits are bright, refreshing, smell divine, and hold a great store of wonderful health benefits. When life gives you lots of lemons, don’t just make lemonade! The versatile little citrus fruit can do so much more for your health, your home and beyond. Check out 6 uses for your stash of lemons, leftovers or not.
Water can rev up your metabolism, and even more so if its combined with lemon! Lemon is a common detox ingredient for good reason – its citrus peel is loaded with an antioxidant called D-limonene that stimulates liver enzymes to flush toxins from our bodies. Pop the peel into your glass of plain water for some cleansing freshness or jazz it up with some drops of lemon juice and a few sprigs of mint. To really turn it up a notch, check out our Heart Shaped Lemons.
Tweak your teacup and add lemon to your cuppa to tea-tox. Brew a cup of tea (Rooibos is a winner) and add some lemon juice or a slice of lemon, instead of your usual milk. The powerful combination of black tea and lemon loveliness can balance out the pH in our bodies, and shore up the benefits of both tea and lemon.
Good for soothing sore throats, colds and coughs, honey lemon tea fights the sniffles and makes an excellent health tonic. Honey is nature’s liquid gold so add a generous spoonful to warm lemon water for a healing drink. The next time you fall ill and can’t ignore a raw ache in your throat, head straight to the kitchen for this terrific natural therapy and have it at least twice a day to rid of the infection.
When humid days roll around, quench your thirst with an iced version! With a perfect balance of sweet and tart, honey lemon tea calls for minimal prep and maximum enjoyment. No added man-made extras and nasties too.
You’re a fish fan but sometimes, fresh fish smells like the ocean and you loathe it. Most of that pungent fishy smell comes from chemicals in the fish, which are derivatives of ammonia. Reek no more for we know just the kitchen trick.
Have an odour makeover for your fresh catch and zap those smells away with some lemon. First, rinse your fish under water and then squeeze a generous amount of lemon juice on it to banish the odour. Otherwise, cook it on a bed of lemon slices for a similar effect. Lemon is acidic and will cause the said chemical compounds to break down, ergo the common use of lemon with fish.
After all those food explosions in the microwave, have you ever wondered how to thoroughly refresh, clean and deodorise the inner surface of your appliance? Here’s how.
Heat some water in a microwaveable bowl and half a lemon on high. Let the water boil so that the steam fills the microwave. Have the bowl sit for 15 minutes before you open the microwave door, then clean off the grime and grease with great ease.
In a similar vein, run the cut side of the other lemon half over faucets, sinks and drains to remove grime, stains and soap scums. Finish with a rinse of cold water and make your fixtures sparkle and shine once again. Time to forget expensive kitchen and bathroom cleaners forever.
Put your can of insecticide down and replace harsh chemical-based ingredients with lemon. Give those pesky bugs the ingenious lemon treatment because insects hate the natural lemon scent. Be sure to squirt some lemon juice or scatter small slices of lemon peel on door thresholds, windowsills and little cracks around your house. Thereafter, watch the ants, roaches and spiders flee. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Celebrate the brilliant yellow fruit now because there seems to be nothing the humble lemon can’t achieve. The whole lemon, with its pulp, juice, rind and zest, may be used for countless purposes – what more can we ask for?