More Lemon Peel Uses Than You Can Shake a Stick At!
To understand how I feel about lemons, you don’t need to look much further than my lemon-themed Pinterest board and its 400+ pins. But really, who can blame me? Lemons are an amazingly useful fruit, and every part can be put to good use in a myriad of ways!
In this post, I wanted to focus on the usefulness of lemon peels specifically. That fragrant, sunshine yellow zest has a lot of useful properties, which made it easy to track down some brilliant uses for lemon peels!
21 Uses for Lemon Peels
1. Make Lemon-Scented Cleaning Vinegar
If making big pitchers of homemade lemonade is a summertime staple for you, you’ll have a steady supply of lemon peels you can use to make your own lemon-scented cleaning vinegar. It’s an easy process, and so worth it (both because it smells divine and works great for all sorts of cleaning tasks!) Learn how to make lemon-scented cleaning vinegar.
2. Brighten Skin
Lemon makes a great natural skin brightener, thanks to its naturally high levels of citric acid, a well-known bleaching agent. Apply lemon peels to your hands, elbows, heels and other areas to brighten skin and tighten pores.
3. Deodorize Your Garbage Disposal
You can clean the blades of your garbage disposal and make your whole kitchen smell fresh and clean with the help of a few chunks of lemon peel. Learn how to use lemon peels and vinegar to make disposal-cleaning lemon and vinegar ice cubes that will eliminate odors and clean the blades.
4. Ant-Proof Your Kitchen
Scatter small pieces of lemon peel along thresholds, windowsills, and near any cracks or holes where ants or pests may be entering your home. Ants don’t like lemon and will be deterred by it. (This also works with roaches and fleas too.)
5. Simmer on Your Stovetop
Along with cloves, cinnamon sticks, and orange peels, lemon rind makes a wonderfully fragrant addition to a simmering stovetop potpourri. Not only is it a great way to make your home smell nice, but it helps restore moisture to dry air too!
Related: This Is the Best Way to Make Your Home Smell Like Christmas
6. Remove Stains From Coffee Cups
Put a section of lemon peel into a stained coffee mug and add water. Let it sit for several hours, then wipe with a cloth. The stains should disappear.
7. Lemon Dust Cloths
With a few lemon peels, some olive oil, and a bit of vinegar, you can make a jar of lemon dusting cloths that grab onto dust and leave behind a fresh, clean scent. These cloths makes my least favorite chore a lot more pleasant!
8. Freshen Your Refrigerator
Cut lemon in half and stash it in your fridge to absorb any lingering food odors.
9. Clean Your Kettle
For mineral deposit build up in your tea kettle, fill the kettle with water, add a handful of thin slices of lemon peel, and bring the water to a boil. Remove from heat (or turn off) and let the kettle sit for an hour, then drain and rinse well.
To clean a coffee pot, add ice, a splash of white vinegar, and a handful of sliced lemon rind to the empty pot. Swish and swirl for a minute or two, then dump and rinse.
10. Clean Your Microwave
Add lemon rinds to a microwave-safe bowl filled halfway with water. Cook on high for 5 minutes, allowing the water to boil and the steam to condense inside. Carefully remove the hot bowl and wipe away the condensation and loosened grime with a damp towel.
More Ideas You'll Love
Related: How to Clean a Microwave With AND Without Vinegar
11. Polish Chrome, Copper, Brass & Stainless Steel
Cut through mineral deposits on chrome fixtures by rubbing them with a previously-juiced half of a lemon, then lightly buff with a soft cloth. Brighten copper, brass, or stainless steel by dipping a previously-juiced lemon half in salt (or baking soda and cream of tartar) and rubbing it on the affected area, letting it sit for 5 minutes, then rinsing with warm water before polishing with a dry cloth.
12. Makeshift Humidifier
If your home suffers from dry heat in the winter, put lemon peels in a pot of water and simmer on the lowest stove-top setting to humidify and scent the air.
13. Refresh Cutting Boards
The antibacterial properties of lemons make them a good choice for refreshing cutting boards. After disinfecting give the surface a rub with a halved lemon, let sit for a few minutes, and rinse. You can remove stains from cutting boards as well, with just half a lemon, salt, and sunshine!
14. Use the Zest in Food and Drinks
Zest is simply grated citrus peel, and you can use it fresh, dried, or frozen. If you don’t have a zester, use the smallest holes of a box grater. To dry zest, spread it on a towel and leave out until dried, then store in a jar. To freeze, use a freezer-safe container. Use zest in salads, marinades, baked goods, grain dishes, etc.
For lemon twists, use a vegetable peeler or a knife to cut a lemon peel into long strips, cutting away the bitter white pith and storing in a freezer-safe container or bag. Add them to cocktails, sparkling water, or tap water!
15. Make Lemon Powder
Using the method for lemon twists described above, dry the strips skin-side down on a plate for 3-4 days, then use a blender or spice grinder to turn it into a powder. Use the powdered peel in place of extract or zest in recipes, add it to pepper to make a great lemon pepper, or add to sugar as a delicious addition to drinks or homemade cookies.
16. Make Candied Lemon Peel
Candied lemon peels can be eaten plain, or dipped in melted chocolate, used in cake, cookie, candy, or bread recipes.
17. Create a Lemon Sugar Scrub
A lemon sugar scrub not only smells delightful, it brightens and softens your skin as well. All you need is some sugar, chopped lemon peel, and enough olive oil to make a paste. Use your DIY lemon sugar scrub before shaving or showering for silky smooth skin.
18. Soothe Travel Sickness
Suck on a piece of lemon skin to soothe a queasy stomach and overcome feelings of nausea.
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19. Make Fire Starters
Bake discarded orange or lemon peels until they darken to turn them into natural, fragrant fire starters.
20. Clean Your Grater
Remove dried food from your grater by rubbing with the pulp side of a cut lemon.
21. Trash Can Deodorizer
Throw a few lemon peels in the bottom of your garbage can from time to time to keep it smelling fresh.
For even more lemon-scented tips and tricks, check out these 22 uses for lemons.
Looking For More Posts Like This?
- I’ve written dozens of blog posts about creative alternative uses for everyday items, and now there’s a quick and easy way to peruse them!
- Check out all of my “Uses For” posts here.
Do you have a favorite use for lemon peels?
Great tips! I love lemon. I started making lemon and orange vinegar for my hair before I knew it was a good cleaner! I like the smell of vinegar, but I like citrus more, and it leaves my hair with a light citrus scent, and seems to make it shinier.
It’s safe on skin and hair, though I wouldn’t spend too much time in the sun with it on since citrus oils on your skin can make you photosensitive. I’ve not had a problem, but some people are more sensitive than others. It has added nice high lights to my hair.
Any citrus peel works, lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange. My husband and I go dumpster diving and find tons of citrus, which makes me very happy since I have a constant stock of shampoo and conditioner from it! Love my citrusy vinegar, and even more so since the fruit is free most of the time.
If you’re not squeamish, and there’s no chance you’ll get into trouble, dumpster diving is a great way to get citrus in the bag since they throw the whole bag out if one fruit is bad. In just one trip, we’re over whelmed with oranges, since that’s the most popular down here. When I have vinegar, I make so much orange vinegar I run out of room to put it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I live in one of those lemon UNfriendly growing areas and where individual lemons seem to get more expensive all the time. I ALSO noticed that if you look around usually you can discover BAGS of a dozen or so lemons for MUCH less than individuals cost! Walmart usually has these but you might have to look for them or ask.
I also notice that the ones in the bag altho a tad smaller have the nice thin shiny skins and are jucier –not the large knobby thick ugly lumpy skins and almost “dried out” interiors.
For some reasons–I have a theory on this tho!!!–the limes at Walmart and other places are MUCH better quality and cheaper than lemons. (I think because there are Mexican food uses for these they are brought in by the truckload and are better quality!) And yay for that! I LOVE limes and use them for spritzing on chicken and steak–season with cumin and garlic and pepper and grill and add some shredded cheese for an amazing taco/fajita–and season with lime after cooking too! Mmmmm—-
Also great for adding to water and tea and other beverages–beer too. Will be stashing the peels now tho!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Oh and my kids are ther smae way with the vinegar smell. LOL!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.YES! I love it. I have done the orange peels and vinegar, and I love it, now I am going to get lemons and do the same, and I love the idea of squeezing the juice and freezing it!!! Thank you for sharing all your wonderful wisdom, I now want to do all of it for myself.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Would it hurt to use this to polish your furniture?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.love to use lemons for making lemon chello. very fine marzapan treats and also a bath soak with homemade bubble bath
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I am madly in love with my 2 week old Vinegar and Lemon concoction… I could not stop spraying and wiping all day… It leaves every thing fresh and clean and so sparkly.. I have always been a sucker for anything lemon… Now I can go under my cupboard and get fresh cleanser instead of the ol’ Target’… I added 10 drops of lemon oil… yummy.. thanks
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My relatives all the time say that I am killing my time here at net, but I know I am getting familiarity every day by
Please log in or create a free account to comment.reading such nice content.
If you warm the vinegar before adding to the lemon it start working faster.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.It is official….. I have to start budgeting in a “Jillee” fund…..Every time I read this blog, I end up running to the store! I love this site. So many great ideas…..Thanks Jillee!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have a rug that a cat sprayed on and i cant get the smell out, ive tried everything. Is there anything i can put on it to get the smell out??
Please log in or create a free account to comment.did you try sprinkling baking soda on it? let in sit….then vacuum up.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Cleaning it with white vinegar will do it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Have you tried Incredible? It works on a lot of stains.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I hold you personally responsible for me buying so many lemons lately! LOL
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thank you Jillee! I can’t resist buying lemons and just bought a dwarf Meyer lemon tree. What geat ideas.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Do you think this would work in a similar fashion to Biokleen’s Bac-Out? (see http://www.fireflydiapers.com/biokleen.htm) As it’s sat for two weeks, would some enzymatic activity be happening?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I also use an almost exact recipe for an all purpose cleaner-but I add fresh sprigs of rosemary to add to the scent! thanks for sharing this amazing blog with these great ideas!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Ooh – I’ll have to try that with my next batch!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.THANK YOU for this awesome blog! I stumbled upon it this morning and have been loving all these cleaning tips! I’ve been using vinegar for years to clean; I can’t believe I never thought to add lemon! Just made up my first batch of Lemon Vinegar this morning and I’m impatiently waiting for the two weeks to be up so I can use it!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.So many great ideas. Lemons can be frozen and so can the peels. I keep a ziplock bag of lemon wedges in the fridge to add to ice tea, hot tea, V-8, water and other beverages. I also squeeze the lemons and freeze the lemon juice in ice cube trays for anything I might need lemon juice for. It’s healthier than bottled lemon juice which contains sodium. Peels go in a ziplock bag in the freezer too.
When I was a little girl, my grandma used to squeeze lemons into a bowl of warm water and rinse my hair with it. Then she would let me sit out in the sun for a while. My hair always had nice golden highlights when she did this. I still do it today. It’s safe for children and also alot healthier on your hair in the summer instead of chemicals, dyes or “sun-in”.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hello Jillee;
My question is on the lemon seeds.. How can they be used? I was thinking of grinding them in the
Please log in or create a free account to comment.coffee grinder. What health benefits do they hold?
wonderful! thanks for sharing these ideas. I love lemons! I am so excited! :D
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hi Jillee–I was so excited when I saw this post and prepared a batch that was ready a couple of days ago. I kept dipping into the batch, like a child peeking at Christmas gifts before the holiday. Today I filtered the final product and sprayed it on the kitchen range hood and backsplash–holy cow, it cleaned like crazy! Thank you for sharing another “Good Thing by Jillee.”
Please log in or create a free account to comment.What great ideas for lemons. My husband and I have 13 acres of lemon trees and I am always picking lemons that won’t make it to the next harvest. I hate to see them go to waste and I love the smell so I can’t wait to use some of your ideas! Thanks.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Color me jealous!!! I would love to have lemon trees but don’t live in a climate where they would survive. :/
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I LOVE citrus vinegar. I always a a sprig or two of rosemary to my lemon for that Williams Sonoma smell after I finish cleaning. But since we use more of them, I usually make grapefruit vinegar. It has a much lighter fragrance than the lemon or orange.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.@Stephanie, I don’t see why not. I have made this with orange peels instead of lemons and it turned out great. This would probably work with any citrus peel.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I was wondering if one could use lime peels instead of lemon for the vinegar…or both? My husband LOVES lime. Thanks!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I made this lemon vinegar some time ago. I use it sparingly as I still have tons of other cleaners I am trying to use them up first. But I have used it for everything. For instance the dog had a terrible hairball and decided to displace it on top of my suede sofa. Took a dishrag and solution to it and there is no stain of any kind. No smell at all. Have wash mirrors & windows with it and left no streaks and even kept away the steam from bath mirror for a few days of hot showers. I did leave my peels in for the entire time but just strained them a few days ago. Probably set for 2 months in vinegar. Smell of solution has no vinegar scent to it at all. Have shared with friends who have claimed it fantastic as well.
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