3 New Ways to use Lemons

I'm new to my house and I'm happy that some citrus trees came with it. Here is a photo of my lemon tree – dripping with lemons.

We picked them all, kept a few and gave away the rest. Next year we'll have lots more, and we'll get some better uses for them. Here are just a few ideas I've found, beyond the obvious food uses that we all know about. Use the comments section to add your own favorite lemon “aids”.

Refresh your food disposer.

Lemons, even just lemon peels will help freshen up your disposer. Cut an overripe lemon (works with a good lemon also) in quarters. Push all of them in the disposer, run some water and just turn on the disposer for a couple of seconds, repeat a few times, as if pulsing the disposer on and off. Just enough to grind the peels and break it down a bit, but not enough to flush it out of the disposer. I leave it there for an hour and then finish the job, grinding and getting rid of the remaining lemon. This will not only remove the nasty smells that a disposer can emit, it actually kills bacteria and helps sanitize your disposer.

Get rid of Raid – Use lemon water and lemon peel to keep bugs away.

Cut up some lemon peels (fresh pungent lemon peels work best) and place them on window sills, in corners, or any other place where spiders might be able to spin a web. For other creepy crawlers, look for any crevices or air gaps where they might find entrance points. Spray a mixture of water with lemon in these areas or any other places where you've seen or suspect insects. It's cheaper than bug spray and environmentally safe.

Keep your breath fresh

Swill half a teaspoon of lemon juice around your mouth as if you were using a mouth wash, then swallow. It kills bacteria in your mouth and reduces the pH level, leaving your breath smelling fresh and clean.