When Life Gives You Lemons
Citrus season in California is unbeatable. There’s few places in our country that have a climate temperate enough to create a hospitable growing environment for these beloved winter fruits. It’s not uncommon to have lemon trees growing in public parks, college campuses, and your neighbor’s backyard. By February, we’ve got raining lemons everywhere! It’s hard to think of all the ways to use them- especially in bulk. So many recipes call for 2 lemons here and a few tablespoons there. Below, we’ve got a few creative ideas of how to use your mountains of winter lemons before they go bad.
DIY Lemon all-purpose cleaning solution
Ingredients & Materials:
-A spray bottle
-Large closable container for steeping (i.e. large mason jar)
-Fine strainer or cheesecloth
-Lemon rinds (about a half gallon filled, the more the better)
-White Vinegar (enough to fill your chosen jar)
-*optional* 1-2 cups water if you want to dilute
-*optional* a few drops of unscented liquid castile soap
Method:
1) Pack your large container with lemon rinds. Seeds are okay to keep in. Make sure to squeeze out all the juice from your lemons before putting rinds in your jar (other citrus like orange and grapefruit rinds work great too!).
2) Pour white vinegar into your jar to fill all the holes and cracks around your lemons. Seal tightly, and place by a sunny window to infuse for 1-3 weeks (the longer you wait the better it smells).
3) After steeping is complete, strain your solution over cheesecloth or strainer into your spray bottle. You may want to strain a few times before putting it in your spray bottle to make sure all the chunks are removed.
4) Before screwing on the top to your spray bottle, you can choose to dilute the spray a little with water (if you want more solution) or add a few drops of unscented liquid castile soap.
5) Shake and use!
Bottles can be stored at room temperature and used on any surface other than granite, marble or wood. Vinegar is great for durable surfaces like countertops, toilets, fridge shelves, and even for a few spritzes in your laundry or dishwasher.
The Best Strawberry Lemonade
Makes 1 gallon of strawberry lemonade
Ingredients:
-1.5 cups of fresh squeezed lemon juice
-8 cups filtered water
-1-2 cups of chopped frozen strawberries
-1 cups of white sugar
-optional: 1 bunch of mint leaves, torn
-One gallon glass pitcher
Method:
1) Squeeze all your lemons and mix with water and sugar in a one gallon container. It may take a few minutes for the sugar to dissolve since the water should be cold or at room temperature. This is a great stirring activity for your kids to do with a wooden spoon!
2) Remove strawberries from the freezer and roughly chop. Frozen strawberries are great to hold onto from the previous summer and fall for this recipe. We’ve found that frozen strawberries seem to diffuse better in the lemonade to create a great flavor.
3) Dump frozen strawberries into the liquid, mix and add mint if desired. Put in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours so that the strawberries and mint can diffuse. Serve over ice and enjoy!
Homemade Lemon Essential Oil
This lemon oil recipe is great to use in diffusers, making candles, recipes, adding to baths or cleaning sprays. While you can choose to make an oil with the ‘let it sit for 3 weeks’ method, you can also do this fast and easy 1 hour recipe.
*For inspiration and recipes on how to use your oil to make homemade candles, visit www.canlescience.com*
Ingredients & Materials:
-3 cups of a carrier oil (can use coconut oil, almond oil, grape seed oil etc)
-6-10 lemons, yellow skin shaved off only (keep pulp and juice separate)
-vegetable peeler or cheese grater
-double boiler or 1 large and 1 small pot
Method:
1) The natural oil of a lemon is found only in its yellow skin, not the white pulp or fruit. Make sure as you peel the skin off for this recipe, that you try to only shave off the yellow portion. Once you’ve shaved off all your yellow skin, put it in a small pot with your carrier oil.
2) In a separate, larger pot, bring water to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Once simmering, place the small pot with lemon and oil mixture over the large pot to create a double boiler. Cover and steam on low for 3 hours, pressing and stirring lemon mixture every 30-40 minutes to extract the most oil possible. The steam from the outside pot should slowly heat and infuse the oil. Make sure that the oil does not boil, though it should get very hot.
3) After 3 hours of slow steaming, remove the mixture, and let cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 6 months.