Cleaning with Lemons

I have a large lemon tree in my yard here in Arizona.  Every January and February I look for ways to utilize the lemons I have.  I have lots of lemon recipes, but every year I look forward to cleaning with lemons.  I realize that most people don't have a lemon tree, but even 5 or 6 lemons can clean a good part of your kitchen.  Here are 4 ways to clean in your kitchen with lemons.  In fact, if you clean in this order, you can use the same 5 lemons to clean it all. 

1.  Clean Cutting Boards

Start with your wooden and plastic cutting boards.  Cut a few lemons in half and using Kosher salt, scrub them thoroughly.  Citrus acid will disinfect and the coarse salt will scrub impurities.  It also works well on plastic cutting boards.

2.  Clean the Microwave Oven

Now for the microwave.   If you have dried on food on the inside of your microwave (no judgments) you will love this trick.  Cut 3 lemons (including the one you just used on the cutting boards) into small pieces.  Use all of the lemon, including the peel, and place them in a microwave-safe Pyrex dish.  Fill with water and microwave 3 to 5 minutes until boiling hot.  When it's done, don't open the microwave door, but leave the dish in the microwave for 5 minutes.  The hot water creates a steam that breaks down the crud on the inside of the microwave.  After 5 minutes, just wipe down the microwave with a damp cloth and voila!

3.  Clean the Sink
I wasn't done with the hot water and lemons just yet.  I filled both my sinks with hot water, threw in a couple of tablespoons of baking soda and then dumped the hot water and lemon mix into the sink.  I also chopped the remaining lemons for this task.  I admit I had a lot more than 5 lemons for this part, but it doesn't necessarily require this many lemons.

Let that sit for about a half hour, and you will find this disgusting mess.  Lemons do a great job breaking down grease that might still be in your sink.  Now you're ready for your final trick.

4.  Clean the Garbage Disposal 

For my last trick of cleaning four parts of the kitchen with lemons, just open the drain with the sink full of lemon bits and turn on the garbage disposal as it empties.  The baking soda and lemon juice will deodorize it a bit and with running the hot water and the lemons through will clean the blades.  Because I had my other sink full of lemons after this sink emptied, I took those lemons and threw them into the garbage disposal with a little more baking soda and let them sit a little while.  Then, using hot water, grind the last of the lemons in the disposal and you're done!

How about that?  Easiest cleaning I've done in a while and all natural!

cindy