Get ready to pucker up because you’re guaranteed to fall in love with lemons this summer! It turns out that this sunshiny fruit isn’t quite as sour as its reputation might suggest. While it’s true that lemons are acidic, it’s this acidic quality that makes lemons one of the world’s most versatile fruits. Read on for lemons recipes that are sure to come in handy around the house.
12 Ways to Get Sweet on Lemons:
1. Highlight Your Hair– For natural hair highlights, use lemon juice directly on your hair before going out in the sun.
2. Brighten Up Your Décor– Lemons are great for decorating on the cheap. Fill a glass bowl with lemons for a sunny centerpiece. Or, display a row of them along a windowsill.
3. Kill Weeds Naturally-Believe it or not, you can use lemon juice instead of harmful weed killers to get those hard-to-remove weeds that always come back, particularly in the cracks of your sidewalk or driveway. For more efficiency, put the lemon juice in a garden hose filter, and soak the area thoroughly.
4. Prevent Produce from Browning– Nobody likes brown produce. Lemons can help prevent the browning that occurs when fruits and veggies sit out too long. Sprinkle apple or pear slices with lemon juice before serving, or squeeze a bit into guacamole and give it a stir.
5. Use Lemons as an Emergency Deodorant– Caught smelling less-than-fresh, with no deodorant around to save the day? Cut a lemon in half (or snag a wedge from your drinking glass) and rub it under your arms. The citric acid in lemon juice will reportedly kill odor-causing bacteria. In fact, you could use this trick to ditch conventional deodorants altogether.
6. Deter Insects– Many insects are highly sensitive to smell, including spiders, ants, fleas and cockroaches (eww!) Squirt lemon juice in windowsills, the thresholds of doors, along baseboards and into any cracks where insects might get into the house. Add lemon juice to your floor wash for even more insect-repelling action.
7. Remove Stains– Sweat, mildew, berries, wine, oil — pretty much any substance that leaves a stain on fabric can be removed with good old-fashioned lemon juice. Durable fabrics can be rubbed with a paste of lemon juice and salt while more delicate fabrics might require a gentler touch, saturating the stain with lemon juice and then washing it out.
8. Brighten Laundry– Just as it removes stains, lemon juice can act as a natural, non-toxic alternative to bleach. Add a quarter cup of juice to the washing machine to brighten whites. Hanging the treated laundry up to dry in the sun further heightens lemon juice’s stain-removing power.
9. Soothe Itchy Skin– Apply full-strength lemon juice to unbearably itchy skin rashes, like poison ivy or insect bites, to soothe them and keep them from spreading.
10. Stop Hangovers in Their Tracks– The next time you’re groaning in pain the morning after enjoying just a tad too much alcohol, try drinking a little lemon juice squeezed into warm water or tea. Not only does it help you re-hydrate, but also the lemon juice can reportedly help balance the pH levels in your body and replace the vitamin C lost in the binge.
11. Make Wilted Lettuce Crispy– Got soggy lettuce? Don’t toss it way – You can “revive” it by squeezing half a lemon into a bowl of ice water. Soak the soggy lettuce for about an hour. Rinse and dry the lettuce before serving in a salad or sandwich.
12. Add Flavor to Summer Drinks– Freeze lemon juice in ice cube trays to use in summer drinks. Get simple 8 Refreshing Summer Drink recipes.
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