What Can I Do with Lemons – Let Me Count the Ways

I don’t know why, but I was not raised with lemons in our house. My parents only occasionally needed a little bit of lemon juice for cooking (usually at Thanksgiving to mix a little with the apples for homemade apple pie). What they needed they obtained from a little yellow, plastic lemon shaped container picked up at the market and stored in the fridge. Was this you as well? Needless to say, when my husband’s grandmother began giving us bags of lemons, I had no clue what to do with them all.

Oranges, now I knew what to do with those! But lemons… I had no clue. Of course, I would try to find people to share them with, but grandma had a prolific tree so we would have more than I could give away. Like I mentioned before I never really learned to cook with lemons and I was not a big fan of sour tasting foods or drinks (ha-ha, our taste buds change over time. Lemonade is my go-to drink now). The only foods I knew that contained lemon were lemonade, lemon meringue pie and people squirting fresh lemon on fish. So, what was I to do with all these lemons? Thus began my journey into discovering the versatility, usefulness and lovely flavor of this yellow citrusy fruit.

“When life gives you lemons, keep them, because hey, free lemons.” – Ricky Gervais

Quickly before we begin with a list of good uses for lemons; lets discuss the best way to store them until you’re ready to use. First of all, examine the current status of your lemons. The softer they are, the further along they are and the more readily they need to be used. Now you can store lemons in the fridge for 3-4 weeks depending on their condition. It helps to put them in a paper bag and even put a paper towel in with them to absorb excess moisture and stave off mold. It is not a bad idea to at least check on, if not even change the paper towel out every week or so.

Another couple of ways to extend the shelf life of your lemons if you don’t have too many, is firstly, to store them in a jar of water in your fridge. Secondly, it is possible to vacuum seal your lemons before putting them away in the refrigerator. Just be very careful about stopping before the pressure begins to squeeze the juice out of the lemons. Wedges in particular can be tricky. Because you have removed the air, they will last longer in the fridge than without doing so.

Now some people suggest not washing them before putting them in the fridge. They say that it cuts down on possible moisture issues. I have done that, and it is fine especially if you have purchased your lemons from a store where they have already been cleaned up a bit. Admittedly I have even done that with lemons straight off the tree. However, in the past where my fresh off the tree lemons were dirty or I sensed moisture on some of the lemons, I have washed them before refrigeration. Lemons can be moist from dew, from rain, from watering or if you have a punctured lemon that is oozing juice. So even if you choose not to wash them first, at least check them for moisture before putting them in a bag in the fridge.

If you are going to wash them first, I suggest washing them in a bowl of water (if they are non-organic store-bought lemons, I suggest making a solution of 1 part white vinegar to 4 parts water to help wash any chemical residue off of them), then lay them out on a towel and pat them dry. After a few hours move them onto a dry towel and leave them for a day to finish air drying. And again, I will say you want to check them to make sure they are completely dry and not damp before putting them in your paper bag and into the fridge or vacuum sealing. Obviously, there’s no need for them to dry before putting them in water.

If you want to preserve lemons for an even longer time frame or give yourself the availability of lemon flavoring or it’s cleaning power for months to come, there are three primary methods of doing so. Those three are: dehydrating, canning and freezing. If you are interested in finding out more about any one of these methods click here to visit my blog post – What to Do with a Lot of Lemons – (When They Have Taken Over Your Kitchen) Part 1.

Now on to the main event – what you can do with a lemon…

Bake with It – I have now learned that lemon meringue pie is not the only lemon dessert out there. There are also breads, cookies, cakes, pies, cheesecakes, tarts, and more, that are made with our sunny yellow fruit.

Cook with It – Lemon is a good flavoring in many dishes and you do not even need to cook it to use it on salad or to make salad dressing.

You can candy it – For a tangy sweet treat, candy sliced lemons. To do this, you cook them in a sweet syrup, then let them dry until brittle. They look particularly tempting when dipped in sugar crystals as well.

Make Drinks with It – Lemonade is classic and can be flavored so many ways! Blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, peach, mango, lime, passion fruit and even lavender. Lemonade is not the only way to drink lemons. I have a friend who makes homemade Limoncello (an Italian alcoholic drink made with lemon.) You can make lemon tea or add it as an extra boost of taste and vitamin C to your regular tea. For a refreshing flavor enhancer, simply add a squirt of fresh lemon juice to your water bottle or cut up a lemon and make an entire pitcher of lemon water.

Use it in Canning and Preserving – Use it to help preserve other foods especially those with a low acidic content of their own.

Keeping fruit looking fresh – I always add some lemon juice to my fresh fruit when I am packing it for lunch, especially on apples and bananas. The acidity helps to keep them from turning brown. Just make sure to thoroughly coat them in it. To keep your unused portions of guacamole from turning brown, squeeze fresh lemon over the top and cover it with plastic wrap (make sure the plastic wrap is pressed in flat against the top of the guacamole).

Use it to fight colds – Hot lemon juice and honey is good for fighting colds and sore throats.

Air Freshening – Use it fresh or dried, sliced or even just the rinds, by itself or combined with cloves in boiling water to make your house smell pleasant. Cut it in slices and stick it in a bowl in the back of the refrigerator to absorb odors and fill your fridge with citrus scent. For an even more effective odor reducer, hollow out a lemon and fill it with salt or baking soda and again put it in a cup or bowl in the back of your fridge. Some people even cut a lemon in half and put it (in an open container) under their kitchen sink to help absorb musty and moldy smells. Just don’t forget about it when you put it down there, you don’t want it to turn moldy itself after being left too long.

In Clothes Washing – Lemon can be used as a more natural alternative to bleach (But NEVER combine the two. Use one or the other. Combining the two will make toxic chlorine gas). You can soak white clothes in hot water with lots of lemon juice overnight or just try adding 1/2 cup to the wash (yes you can put it in your bleach tray if completely pulp free). It can be used as a stain remover especially if applied to stains and then put out in the sun. I usually only do this on whites because of its lightening/bleaching effect. You don’t want to turn a stain on colored fabric into an off-color spot instead.

Lighten your hair or put highlights in it – Speaking of lemon’s highlighting effect, this is how they did it in the old days before chemical hair dyes and the lighteners we have today. Granted this works best with a lot of natural sunlight, time and repetition. Its effectiveness may also differ depending on your type of hair and natural color. Although brown at the roots, my hair lightens pretty well on its own with sun exposure. Adding the lemon just speeds the process up greatly and enables me to add highlights to more specific areas. Granted now that my hair is graying, I use a more chemically based hair dying process.

Freshen Up Your Garbage Disposal – Cut a lemon in half and feed each half, one at a time, to your disposal. This is something I used to do regularly.

“Lemons clean everything. It’s the greatest disinfectant. When we smell a lemon, we know something’s clean, it lifts your spirit too.” – Sandra Bullock

Clean with it – This was one of my favorite discoveries, the power of the lemon to clean. There are many ways to clean with a lemon, one of the simplest is to just cut it in half, douse a little baking soda on the area you want to clean and then lightly scrub with your lemon half. The acid in the lemon is a good degreaser so it makes it very useful in the kitchen. It’s great for cleaning pans and surfaces. I cleaned the white grout on my old kitchen’s tile countertops with lemon, baking soda and an old toothbrush and it worked great (there was a little elbow grease involved too)! I also used lemon and baking soda to clean my white plastic outdoor chairs. That was a great success! The lemon, baking soda and sunlight mix really renewed the fresh white of those chairs. Too bad I don’t have pictures of them to share. Just so you know, lemons have antibacterial properties, but they are not full disinfectants (Sorry Sandra). If you want a lemon disinfectant click here for Bren Did’s informative tutorial on making a lemon/alcohol disinfectant that will even kill the coronavirus.

Breaking down hard water stains & soap scum – The lemon acid is good at breaking down limescale and mineral deposits as well as the dirt and grease in soap scum.

Decorate – Let’s just admit it, they are so bright and cheery, just having them in a bowl in the house is like bringing in a little bit of sunshine (not that you want to let them go to waste once they are there).

Use Lemon in the Garden – We’re not talking about just growing it in the garden (though that is great too if you have the right climate) but we’re talking about the fact that some insects like ants and spiders don’t particularly like the smell of the peels. So don’t throw them in the trash, throw them in the garden whether it be the flower or veggie type. What is not to love, the smell is great, it chases bugs away and it attracts butterflies. Supposedly mosquitos do not like the strong smell of the peels either so try rubbing the peels on your skin to transfer the oils. When the rinds decompose, they put nutrients back in the soil and make the soil pH better for acid loving plants like azaleas and blueberries. Vinegar is a natural weed killer and lemon juice can be used as well but it works better mixed with the vinegar. The strong smell of lemon may discourage deer. Though every time someone says deer don’t like this or that, someone else has a family of tenacious deer to prove them wrong. But if you’ve tried everything else why not try lemon!

So, now don’t you agree? The lemon is a pretty amazing little piece of gold with such a wide range of uses. Hopefully this gives you some great ideas. Let me know what you tried or if you know of other creative uses for lemons (or delicious recipes you feel like sharing).

Until next time,

Zee