Few kitchen items are so versatile that you can use them for cooking and cleaning. One home cook discovered a foolproof cooking hack using lemons to keep their stainless steel cookware clean.
The scoop
Sharing on the r/LifeProTips subreddit, the original poster described their chance discovery of the lemon cleaning hack.
"I used a pan with some discoloration to cook down some lemon peels while making an oleo and noticed the cleanliness of the pan after the process," the OP wrote. Testing their lemon theory, they squeezed some lemon juice directly onto the rainbow discoloration and rubbed it around. They were amazed at how fast the lemon juice worked.
"What I'd previously sometimes spent an hour trying to clean cleared up in literal seconds. And it works consistently, and doesn't take a ton of it," the Redditor said. They noted that in the past, they had tried scrubbing with distilled white vinegar or using products like Bar Keepers Friend, but none of them compares to the simplicity of a kitchen staple food.
How it's helping
This lemon cleaning hack saves cooks hours of scrubbing and cleaning, dissolving the sheen layer on discolored stainless steel cookware in just seconds. It is also a cost-effective and natural way to clean, saving consumers money on popular store-bought cleaning products, which can contain chemicals harmful to human health, especially when mixed with other cleaning products.
One TikToker soapmaker made an effective all-natural lemon juice cleaner to use safely around the home by steeping lemon juice and lemon peels in vinegar for two months.
Another cook uses lemons and salt to clean and disinfect their wooden cutting board.
If you run out of your usual kitchen cleaning products, try using staple ingredients you already have at home, like lemons or vinegar, to make a DIY cleaning product that is just as effective, and even safer, than store-bought cleaning products. This also helps reduce single-use plastic waste at home.
What everyone's saying
Folks testified to the success of this life pro tip, sharing their cleaning experiences.
"Whenever I juice lemons, I keep the peels to clean stainless. For staining or built up gunk, sprinkle on water and baking powder and let it sit, then scrub away with the pulpy (juicy) part of the peel. Works as a really good scrubby," one commenter wrote.
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Saves money 💰 "It's the Citric acid, we use it in the brewing industry to decalcify tanks and filters," another user commented.
"And baby oil is the best for stainless steel kitchen appliances like oven door, microwave door etc," a third user suggested.
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