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Spring’s golden gift: lemons
Blooms of fruits and flowers signal the start of spring. Lemons, known for their bright yellow color and sour citrus taste, are the best to have during this exciting season. Here are five things you can do when life, quite literally, gives you lemons.
- Make refreshingly cold lemonade
This is a classic, go-to option. If you have juicy, ripe lemons, why not treat yourself and make some lemonade? This refreshing yet not too sweet not sour drink perfectly accompanies a sunny spring day. You can take it out to picnics, set up a lemonade stand or drink it with your favorite after school snack.
If making lemonade sounds like too much work, adding a slice of lemon to your water is also an option. In fact, the robust amount of vitamin C within the fruit makes it a healthy alternative to other additives, while still adding a fresh and healthy taste to your water.
- Make your own homemade lemon-y desserts
For a real treat, try making some candied lemons peels — small lemon pieces with hardened sugar around them.
This simple but delicious treat only requires sugar and water aside from lemons. Simply slice the lemons, make a syrup by melting sugar and finally dip the lemons and wait for the combination to harden. These are perfect to munch on or use them as decorations for other sweets. When properly candied, they’re not only translucent and glossy, but can also be preserved for at least a month when stored in the fridge.
Lemon sorbet is another wonderful addition to the long list of possible sweet treats derived from the fruit. To make it, combine sugar and water over heat, then juice the lemons while waiting for it to cool. Add the lemon juice to the sugar mixture and chill for 2-3 hours, and finally put the mixture in the freezer and stir every 30 minutes for 3-4 hours.
Although this may seem like a tedious recipe, the ingredients list does not extend from what you need to make candied lemons. The only difference is that it requires a freezer and only a tad of patience. It’s also a bonus for our lactose intolerant friends: There’s no dairy in it.
- Make a luxury scrub
If a $20 body scrub doesn’t sound very appealing to you, you can make it at home yourself for less than half the price. As long as you have coconut oil, sugar and lemons, you can make yourself a luxurious sugar body scrub. All you have to do is melt the coconut oil and then combine everything together. Indulge in a spa night with the bright, citrusy scent and satisfaction of saving money — all using ingredients straight from your kitchen.
- Go blonde a natural way
Looking for a pre-summer glow up? Why not try bleaching your own hair using just lemons? Squeeze some lemon juice into a spray bottle, spray it on your hair and sit under direct sunlight for about an hour. Reminder: make sure to wear sunscreen while waiting in the sun (no one wants skin cancer).
Be sure to rinse your hair thoroughly with cold water afterwards and repeat the process if it’s not to your desired color. However, for those with darker hair, the results may not come out as noticeable as you would like. In this case, the only option would be to splurge a bit more and buy some box dye — or if you’re feeling even fancier — get it professionally done at a salon.
- Generate some electricity
Last but not least, you can go back to your elementary days and make a lemon battery: This was our go-to idea for science fairs. Grab a lemon, some wires, a small LED light, two different conductive metals and you’ve made a personal lamp. Who knows? This trip down memory lane might bring back some nostalgic memories.
Next time, when life gives you lemons, get creative! This versatile fruit has much more to offer than your original (but always good) option of lemonade.
