Homemade lemonade takes quite a few lemons to make a deliciously tart and refreshing beverage but is there anything else that can be done with spent lemons? Absolutely there is! Read on to find a few new ways you can stretch and have zero waste from lemons.
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How can I make a healthy lemonade?
Let’s be honest: lemonade is lemons, water, and SUGAR. Is it super healthy? Not particularly BUT you can make changes to the recipe to make it a little healthier.
First, the powdered versions of “lemonade” may be the furthest thing from actual lemonade ever. The dissolvable ingredients are NOT healthy.
Lemonade from actual lemons is the very best! And you get to play around with the tartness and sweetness of your lemonade when you make it from scratch.
Not a fan of refined sugar? Change it out for local raw honey. Still a sweetener, still a sugar but more natural and you’ll also get the added benefits raw honey offers such as allergy relief and probiotics.
Thoughts on homemade lemonade
Homemade lemonade is a labor of love! Also, it’s an arm workout.
This is a beverage that is refreshing but it’s what I have to remind my children is a “sipper” not a “guzzler” drink. We can house a pitcher of lemonade in no time so we have to pace ourselves by sipping on this treat of a drink to savor it.
Stretching every cent from organic produce
Grocery budgets in 2024 might possibly be in your family’s top 3 most expensive budget line items. It definitely is for us, anyway. Right behind the mortgage.
It’s wild living in 2024 and trying to save money so I make it my mission to not be a wasteful (a good mission for all humans) and try to recycle something at least 2, sometimes 3 times. Finding new ways to use something before finally letting it give up the ghost.
The goal is zero waste from lemons because there really are some creative and beneficial ways to recycle lemon peels.
In my kitchen, food scraps rarely go to waste. We have a small scale homestead with chickens, a dog and cat who eat human food (Shock! Gasp!), 3 pigs, and a compost system. All of these things need to eat.
Lemons and citrus are frowned upon in the composting world. At least for some composters.
Some say citrus is antimicrobial which could negatively impact the soil biology of your compost bin or heap. Other says citrus peels in the compost is fine as long as it is cut up into small pieces so it can be broken down faster.
I say do you.
Pigs can eat citrus peels in moderation but for me, the peels usually end up in the compost after what I used them for.
When life gives you lemons, make an herbal lemonade!
Spring and summer time is ripe for the lemonade making.
Here’s a fantastically floral lemonade option that can be edited with whatever herbs are growing nicely in your garden right now.
Lavender, mint, lemon balm, rosemary, even roses! Try this LEMONADE recipe. Then come back here with what to do next.
How to recycle spent lemons
Now that you’ve made lemonade, what do I do with the lemon peels?
Don’t throw them away!
1. Infuse some water
Take those lemon peels and rinds and toss them in a large pitcher along with some of your favorite rinsed off herbs. Add water and allow your water to be infused with the goodness of your spent lemons and fresh herbs for at least 8 hours in the refrigerator.
It’s best to bruise your fresh herbs a little before adding them to the pitcher. This allows the oils to be released from the leaves which adds a ton of flavor to your otherwise bland water.
Serve over ice and enjoy guzzling this beverage that cost next to nothing to make!
You can reuse these herbs and lemons for at least 2-3 pitchers of infused water.
2. Make a simmer pot
Your infused water can last about 3 days of refilling the pitcher before the herbs and citrus has just tapped out of most flavor.
Instead of discarding the lemon peels just yet, here is another option: Dehydrate the peels to use them later in a summertime simmer pot!
Here is my dehydrator.
What’s a simmer pot?
Simply put, a simmer pot is a pot of water on the stove simmering all day with (usually) cinnamon sticks, orange slices, cloves, apples, etc. to add a fantastic fragrance to your home that is comfy and cozy. Lots of people make simmer pots in the winter.
This simmer pot is for spring and summer!
Lemon peels, mint, rosemary, thyme, lemon balm, whatever is growing nicely in your garden. These can be added fresh or dried.
How to finally be done with these lemons!
Now is the time to finally allow the lemon to give up its ghost.
3. Add your simmer pot contents to the compost bin or the pig bucket! My chickens aren’t fans of citrus so these are my two available options.
What can I do with lemon peels if I do not have a compost bin?
Do you have a garden? Go dig a hole and bury your scraps! The soil biology knows what to do. And your garden will love the added nutrients. Over time, your kitchen scraps will be broken down by earth worms and microscopic organisms that will turn those scraps into soil.
More Zero Waste Ideas from My Kitchen to Yours
What do to with:
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