If you’re wondering why lemons and lemon juice are often recommended for cleaning, you’re not alone. I had the same question, but a quick search confirms this is down to the properties found in citric acid. These help lemon juice function as an antibacterial, antiseptic, and bleaching agent.
This is also what makes lemons so great in a kitchen, where you’re bound to confront a wide variety of messes in all of these categories and more, from grease to rust.
Cleaning My Countertops
We live in a rental, and—if I’m being honest—our countertops are not my preferred finish. They’re a black granite that instantly shows any crumb or mark, and can easily look scuffed and stained. Paired with hard water, the area next to my sink is constantly dull and covered in white limescale rings.
Usually, we tackle these with either an all-purpose spray or white vinegar, both of which work fine—though I’m not the biggest fan of the vinegar smell.
Because lemon is supposed to be great for removing these stains, I decided this was a good place to start. I simply cut a lemon down the middle, and used one half as if it were a sponge, wiping in a circular motion around the whole area. The end result?
Not too bad, actually! It removed the rings, and smelled great. This is definitely something I’d do again, especially if I had a leftover lemon I could use rather than toss.
Killing Bacteria on Wooden Accessories
Like many kitchens, most of our cooking utensils and cutting boards are wooden. Because of the aforementioned antibacterial properties found in citric acid, I learned that wooden kitchen accessories take well to being cleaned with lemon. Naturally, I decided to take the second half of my countertop lemon and scrub accordingly.
Once again, the lemon smelled great and it certainly didn’t seem to harm anything (with no suds and no shiny, sparkling end result, I honestly can’t be sure if it worked).
I think in the future, this would be a great option to quickly clean after cutting veggies or stirring pasta water with my wooden spoon. Though for anything with real bacteria—such as raw meat—I’ll stick to more traditional dish soap.
Removing Odors From a Microwave
For my next lemon-flavored trick, I cut a second lemon in half and squeezed all the juice into a Pyrex measuring cup full of water. Then, I popped the glass container into my microwave and blasted it until it was boiling.
After a recent family movie night that left our microwave smelling extra buttery, this was my favorite hack so far. The odor was completely cleared, leaving only the scent of lemons in its wake.
This is one I’m sure I’ll do again and again.
Leaving Glassware Streak-free
I let this microwaved mixture cool in the fridge, and then poured it into a spray bottle and tackled a few drinking glasses, wiping them down with the solution. While I was promised a streak-free shine, I was dubious about this tip—and I was right to be.
The end result wasn’t particularly streak-free, and I decided to revert back to my normal cleaning methods for glass moving forward.
Conclusion
Out of the many natural home cleaning hacks I’ve seen and tried – this makes the top of my list. I loved the way it made my kitchen smell, and in a few places, it was incredibly effective. My favorite, hands down, was to remove the odor in my microwave.
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