Five Cleaning Uses for Lemons and Lemon Juice in the Kitchen

Over a short period of time we were noticing that our light-colored dishes and mugs were coming out of the dishwasher with yellow-brown stains.  

As I mentioned above, I discovered that this was due to high iron or manganese content in the water (I suspect it was mostly iron in our case), and the suggestion was to run the dishes through the dishwasher using citric acid crystals rather than detergent.

Instead, I soaked the dishes in a solution of about 1/4 c. of lemon juice in a couple gallons of water for about 1/2 hour.   You can see the results on one of the stained plates, below.

This was an easy and inexpensive solution.  We always have a bottle of lemon juice in the refrigerator, and using the lemon juice solution worked well.

This is an amazing way to remove tarnish from copper-bottomed pots and pans. 

Cut a lemon in half, sprinkle it with with salt, and scrub it over the copper bottom.  The tarnish will disappear quickly with very little effort, leaving a bright copper finish.    The salt is necessary for this to work quickly, due to a chemical reaction between the salt and the lemon juice.  I tried rubbing with just a lemon half, and nothing happened.

Soaking the copper bottom in a lemon juice / water mixture also works, but not nearly as quickly. 

Make sure to rinse the pots well afterward, and then dry them, otherwise the copper oxide and salt will combine to form a blue-green color. 

This also works for other copper and brass objects. Try it on your brass candlesticks, but make sure they are real brass and not just brass-plated.  Lemons and anything acidic may remove brass-plating.

Cut a few slices of lemon and boil them in water in your teapot.   Let sit for a couple of hours, then rinse well and dry.

This also works for cleaning your aluminum pots.

A nice side-effect of this cleaning method is that it also acts as an air-freshener for your kitchen and nearby rooms.

If you've been cutting onions and garlic or other strong-smelling food on your wood cutting board, you can neutralize the odors by rubbing the board with a lemon half and letting the juice soak into the wood.   You don't need to rinse it.

If your cutting board is stained, rub a paste of baking soda and lemon juice into the stain and rinse.  You can also try a lemon half with salt (as shown with the copper-bottom pot, above), although I had quicker results with the baking soda / lemon juice paste.

I tested this cleaning method with my own wooden cutting board, shown below. I spilled a little coffee on the left side and a little red wine on the right and let it dry.    Dish soap and water didn't remove the stain, but the paste worked quickly for me. It actually turned the wine side a grayish color to begin with, but a little more scrubbing got rid of that too.

Note that this baking soda / lemon juice paste will foam the same way as adding vinegar to baking soda.  The foaming action helps to deep clean into the cuts and scratches in the cutting board.

Whether you have been cooking or cleaning with lemons, throw your used lemon peels into the garbage disposal to keep it smelling fresh and to clean the disposal blades. 

Or sprinkle 1/2 cup baking soda into the drain and add lemon juice.   It will foam for awhile, loosening up any grunge on the blades.   After 5 - 10 minutes, rinse with hot water while running the garbage disposal.

You can see that these methods for cleaning with lemon are all variations on a theme.  Try them out for yourself.   What else can you clean with lemon?

If cleaning with just a lemon half doesn't work, add salt or baking soda to it.   Or make a paste with lemon juice and baking soda or salt.

I'd love to hear what works for you and what doesn't!