I have a thing for lemons.
It’s pretty rare that I don’t have a couple lurking in the fridge. Lately, I’ve been finding more and more ways to fuel my addiction. Lemons are not only packed with antioxidants and rich in vitamin C, but they are detoxifying for the body and are said to contain cancer fighting compounds. You can read much more about them (along with limes) over at World’s Healthiest Foods.
Today, our mission is to compile the world’s biggest list of the many ways to use lemons. Or at least a long one! I started us off at the bottom of this post, but it’s up to you to add to it if you’d like.
But first, I’m sharing with you one of my all-time favourite ways to use lemons with a couple ingredients you probably have lurking in your pantry. I’ve been making variations of this hand scrub for a couple years now and it never lets me down!
My hands (and elbows, feet, knees, etc) can get very dry and this scrub exfoliates and seals in moisture like nothing I have used. I like to keep a jar in the fridge and whip it out a few times a week to give my hands a good scrub. It also makes an amazing facial scrub and body scrub too!
You can make a basic scrub using just a few ingredients. I personally like using:
- 1 part oil
- 2 parts sugar
- lemon juice + zest
Glowing Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub
Print, Email, or Text this recipe. (update: Sorry guys the recipe isn’t loading in Recipage at the moment!)
Adapted from my previous scrub.
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup olive oil (or oil of choice)
- 2/3 cup sugar (see tip)
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 1.5 tbsp)
- pinch of two of lemon zest
1. In a jar or small container, stir together the oil, sugar, lemon juice, and zest. Store in the fridge with a lid for maximum freshness. Feel free to use this scrub on your hands, feet, elbows, knees, face, and total body whenever it needs a burst of moisture and shiny glow.
Tips:
The finer the sugar you use, the less rough your scrub will be. I like using a fine white sugar if I’m using it on my face and hands since those parts tend to have thinner, more delicate skin. If I’m making a body scrub, I like using a coarser sugar like brown or turbinado or even coarse sea salt.
If using this on your face, be sure to use a cleanser afterwards to remove the oil.
You have to try this.
Rub it all over your hands and give yourself a good massage!
My hands aren’t normally very soft, but this scrub makes them feel like a baby’s bottom! Or maybe even softer…
I used it yesterday morning and I can still feel the difference on my hands this morning. Truly amazing.
Looking for others fun uses for lemons? Check out this list I compiled below. Special thanks to Green Living Tips and Eco Knowledge for some of the tips.
Other ways to use lemons:
1) Homemade detox drink. Juice a lemon and mix it with water. Drink it on an empty stomach as soon as you wake up. It will aid in digestion and give you a great start to your day. Just be sure to drink it with a straw as the acidic nature of citrus can wear the enamel of the teeth.
2) Clean silver, chrome, and tarnished brass.
3) Clean your microwave: Juice 1 lemon and add to a bowl of water. Place in the microwave and heat for about 5 minutes on high. The steam will help soften any gunk on your microwave so you can easily wipe it down afterward.
4) Freshen your garbage disposal. Instead of throwing out your lemon scraps, toss them into your garbage disposal to freshen it up and deodorize.
5) Make potpourri.
6) Scrub your kitchen. Mix lemon juice and salt together for an all-natural kitchen scrub.
7) Deodorize your humidifier. Add some lemon juice to your humidifier water to deodorize.
8.) Prevent spoilage. Add some fresh lemon juice on an avocado or fruit salad to prevent browning.
9) Homemade fruit and veggie wash. Mix 1 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp vinegar, and 1 cup water together to make a natural fruit and veggie cleaner.
10) Chop, chop. Use lemons to clean your chopping boards.
11) Baking and cooking. The obvious one here, but lemon is a fun ingredient in many recipes. One of my favs are these Tropical Lemon Cranberry Chia Bars! I also have 53 recipes that contain lemons!
What are your favourite ways to use lemons? Do you ever make any homemade scrubs or other beauty products?
I make a lot of homemade beauty products. LOVE, LOVE this post! I’m going to get my aromatherapy license now that I turned my thesis in!!
Great ideas Angela! When I feel like I’m coming down with something (or actually get sick), I pour hot water into a big mug over half of a sliced lemon, fresh ginger, and a spoon full of honey. It’s a great hot drink to help battle colds and flus. Or to just warm the soul. :)
anything to get that glow on! i love these ideas Angela, they’d make a really thoughtful gift, too!
my favorite ways to use lemons: home decor (like on the movie: The Break-Up) and lemon bars!
You can leave the olive oil on after if you want. Olive oil is great for your skin as a moisturizer. It is also great at removing make up!
i love cleaning and baking w lemons too. here’s my recipe for a liz lemon bread pudding!
http://theactorsdiet.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/what-would-liz-lemon-do/
I haven’t made any scrubs or DIY beauty products but I am getting more natural all the time! I do use vinegar in my smelly gym clothes to get the stink out! :)
this post couldn’t have come at a better time for me…i was just looking at the state of my dry hands this morning wondering just what i was going to do with them! so thank you thank you! i didn’t have enough olive oil so i used coconut oil and i think it turned out fine. it smells amazing and i had to taste a tiny bit too. ha!
I made a scrub like this with my friends last summer and it worked so well! Thanks for the tip about cleaning microwave – I’ve actually been putting that off because there is goop caked on it and I’m dreading the task! :P
My favourite way to use lemons is in dressings for salads. I’m actually eating one right now with lemon, Bragg’s soy seasoning, and EVO for the dressing!
I have a pretty sweet job – part of it consists of doing marketing for a certain citrus oriented company. I won’t name it, I’m not trying to promote anything. Just wanted to share. Before I started this job, of course I was into fruits and veggies, but after being immersed in citrus this and citrus that – you’d think I’d hate the stuff. But my citrus obsessions get curiously stronger. My new favorite color is orange, I seek out new varieties, and am always cooking with the stuff. I think I need an anonymous support group. I’ve had to make myself a fountain of lemon facts and home tips. Lemons can be used in gardening for plants that need acidity, removes discoloration in tea kettles, it takes odors off cutting boards – and one of my favorite tips…rub your hands with lemon after handling chilis. It neutralizes the enzyme that causes the burn. (My hands are magnets to my eyes after I forgot I’ve been cutting chilis. That is real pain.)
Thanks for the post and the recipes. Clearly, I need more lemon stuff. You’re really just feeding my habit.
haha awesome tips Sarah!
I needed that tip about using lemons after handling chilis! I made salsa yesterday and even though I washed my hands after chopping the jalapenos, I rubbed my eyes later, burn baby burn! Thanks!
mmm loving citrus lately, although it’s been limes for me. I add it to tons of dishes and my water- thanks for the teeth enamel tip though I should be careful with that.
making a paste with baking soda to rub on yellowed nails helps lighten it up a notch, i start first by soaking in lemon juice and then scrubbing!
That hand scrub sounds like an absolute treat! Nice list of lemon uses too!
love this post! I’ve been meaning to try the water with lemon mix in the mornings but never knew why it’s “good”…now I know!
love love love the smell of lemon hand stuff. makes me think of lemon meringue pie. mmmm…
speaking of, can you make key lime pie vegan???? **dont know how i related lemon meringue and key lime..
I love drinking a hot cup of lemon “tea” in the morning. I boil some water and squeeze in a hearty squeeze of lemon juice, drop in a slice of lemon and sip it as I get ready for work. It wakes me up and warms me up!
Lemon is also a natural disinfectant!
I use to drink lemon in my water all the time! Thanks for the reminder. Also I’ve been having a smelly garbage disposal problem and lemons are the perfect solution. Thanks for the excellent tips!
I love making homemade scrubs. Brown Sugar scrub is my fav! I used to have my own business making all natural lotions, soaps, scrubs, lip balm and more. It was so fun!!
Hello Angela,
thank you for your encouragement and suggestions when I asked you about tofu last week. I bought some natural firm tofu and made something very similar to this recipe:
http://weekofmenus.blogspot.it/2012/02/honey-soy-tofu-stir-fry-when-your.html
except that I didn’t have scallions, and made my sauce just mixing soy sauce and honey and ginger. I also added some nuts and green beans…
and it was DELICIOUS! I was amazed. So I’m gonna try again, maybe your recipe next time.
Thank you again,
have a lovely week
Valeria
Yay! Glad to hear that :)
Thanks for posting this! I too, LOVE love lemons. I like to clean my tub and shower with baking soda and lemon juice. I halve lemons, squeeze the juice, and then use them for scrubbing the baking soda. Works like a charm. I can’t wait to try this scrub. I could have used this in the winter! My hands are always so dry. I love the idea of using lemon rinds as a non toxic air freshener! That’s great!
Love it! I always buy and use lemons for multiple things, but sometimes I have ones that go bad in my fridge. No more! Thanks for all the brilliant tips and that delicious looking recipe!
Angela,
We husband loves lemon and using it in everything including soup!
I make scrubs, but this lemon one is by far the easiest.. can’t wait to try it. I just pinned it!
I LOVE this! Quick questions: do you leave this on for a few minutes and then rinse it off? Do you wipe it off with a damp cloth? What type of cleanser do you recommend?
I love homemade beauty scrubs with brown sugar and honey, with olive oil and essential oils.
I just made lemon bars the other day – definitely one of the best ways to use them, in my opinion ;). This was my first time as a vegan making lemon bars (before I was – I used to have a recipe that involved eggs), and they are a hit!! There’s only a few left, so I better hide them from the husband!! :D
Love this! I often add lemons to the garbage disposal and to mop water. Love the way lemons freshen up a space!
I was just thinking that I should do a lemon sugar scrub (on my body) this morning while showering. Quite the coincidence that you posted about it!
I’m not sure if anyone has said this or not yet, but some people use lemon scrubs on their face if they have freckles and want to lighten them. Every few months I’ll add lemon juice to my face scrub since it does feel great, but otherwise… I want to keep my freckles! :)
Well dang, who knew you could do so many things with lemons! Lol, I will have to try that sugar scrub, nothing beats the lingering scent of fresh lemons.
How long should you keep the scrub mixture in your body though? I tried the detox morning routine once, but I think I might have done it wrong since it didn’t made a difference on that week.
My homemade scrub has oats, honey and olive oil. I should add some lemon but I think honey and oats both have something special that is good for your skin, I can’t remember why but I read about it in a magazine. I love this post by the way.
BEST SCRUB. Wow! just went out and bought a lemon for this, absolutely amazing! My boyfriend complains my feet are ‘rough’ (I run a lot), this smoothed them out completely! (and my hands in the process!)
Thanks so much OSG,
now-baby-soft-hands.
So glad you like it as much as I do Amy!
I use lemons for a ton of stuff
Hair rinse after washing with baking soda: 1/3 honey, 1/3 lemon juice, 1/3 water.
cleaning cutting board: put a little salt on the board, take a half lemon and scrub
Scrubs. just rubbing one over my hands to get garlic smell out, cooking, in my water. to lighten hair in summer.
Anytime you make sorbet or fruit salad add a little squirt of lemon juice to make it extra yummy.
To clean tub: Take a half lemon or grapefruit, sprinkle with baking soda and scrub tub.
Great tips Heather!
wow what an awesome thread. i am definitely going to try this scrub and lots of the other tips too. thanks so much for all the good ideas. the only thing i do with lemons is add it to hot water, grated ginger and honey for a warm winter drink. mmm.
I LOVE lemons, eating them, smelling them…the scrub would also help to get off a bad spray tan! Thanks for the ideas!
Fantastic! Best ever. I will share with all my friends
Does the oil solidfy in the fridge? Thanks :)
Does this mixture solidify when kept in the fridge?
For the tropical lemon bars cis it ok to substitute agave with raw honey?
i cant see why not!
I love your post and your beautiful pics! I’ll have to try this lemon scrub. I’ve been making a similar scrub, but with honey instead of lemons: http://www.ourhomemadehappiness.com/2012/04/homemade-face-body-scrub.html
I use limes for a homemade rust remover and cleaning the build-up on my stainless steel pots and pans. But I think lemons would work too since they have citric acid in them as well:
http://www.ourhomemadehappiness.com/2012/04/homemade-rust-remover-and-stainless.html
i wish i had like 4569834 lemons right now! so many different ideas bouncing around my mind right now… can’t wait to try this scrub/drink later ! totally craving lemonade now.. as for the laundry idea, i’m so happy summer is almost here so i can try that!!!!! thanks for the ideas! this blog never fails when you are bored looking for something to do! :`)
running to the store to buy all their lemons,
hannah :)
Awesome idea! Disclaimer for those who live in hotter climates– RINSE all of the lemon off before going into the sun. In Texas, I once got lime juice on my hands– after drinking a few Coronas ;)– and then sat outside all day. The result was a gross blistered sunburn that lasted for several weeks. Citrus fruits are photosensitizers so beware!
yikes! Good to know. Thanks for the tip Ally.
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Great and informative posting, thanks!
How come sugar help is getting the soft skin?
Does it act as exfoliator?
If yes then why?