When life hands you lemons, don’t just make lemonade

Versatile citrus can brighten your hair, help you clean, more.

When I planted a lemon tree in my yard a decade ago, it seemed like a great idea. Eventually, I figured, I’d have all the lemons I could handle.

And how. After several years of modest harvest, the tree exploded last year. This season, there are at least 50 lemons on it — and these are Meyer lemons, sweeter than grocery store lemons and nearly the size of grapefruits.

Last year, I juiced the entire crop. I made lemon- poppy seed bread, lemon- marinated chicken and gallons of lemonade. A bunch of it was frozen, and I was still dropping lemon ice cubes in my tea glass well into summer.

But you can get a lot of juice out of a bucketful of Meyer lemons. Two dozen lemons produced nearly a gallon of juice, and a quick perusal of some cookbooks found very few recipes calling for more than a few tablespoons of the stuff. So what to do with it?

Some suggestions:

■ Clean your microwave:

Put sliced lemons in a bowl and microwave it for five minutes. You should be able to wipe the inside of the microwave clean afterward and be left with a lemony- fresh scent.

■ Add s ome s hi ne t o your hair: Add juice of one lemon to an 8- ounce glass of warm water, then use it to rinse your hair after shampooing to add a shine. But be careful: Too much lemon juice and not enough water will lighten already light hair and add an orange tinge to darker hair.

■ De- stink your house:

Throw a few l emon peels into the sink, then flip the

switch to neutralize odors. You can also clean wooden cutting boards and utensils with lemon juice to reduce odors. Or soak a sponge in lemon juice and put it in your refrigerator for a few hours to absorb smells.

■ Look younger: Mix a tablespoon of plain yogurt, two tablespoons of ground oatmeal, a teaspoon of turmeric and a t e aspoon of lemon juice, then apply to age spots for 30 minutes. Repeat weekly.

■ Banish the scum: Cut a lemon in half and dip it in kosher salt. Use it to scrub hard- water stains and soap scum from your shower door.

■ Clean your cutti ng boards: White plastic cutt i ng boards l ook g re at — until someone cuts carrots or st rawberries on them. Scrub your white plastic cutting board with half a lemon, then set it out in the sun for a few hours.

■ Make “buttermilk”: Don’t you just hate it when you’re halfway through a recipe and find you don’t have any buttermilk? Mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice into a cup of milk. The acid in the lemon juice will cause the milk to start to curdle after about five minutes, which means it’s ready for you to make pancakes.

■ Make your stainless steel sparkle: Mix the juice from one or two lemons with 4 or 5 tablespoons of hot water and use it to wipe down your stainless steel appliances.

■ Write secret letters: Remember that t rick you learned back in first grade where you write a note in l emon j uice, then expose it to a heat source to reveal the message? It still works. Use white paper and a mild heat source — a lightbulb, a steamless iron or a candle — for best results.

■ Make a h o u s e h o l d cleaner: Fill a half- gallon container with lemon peels, then top it off with white vinegar. Store in a cool, dark place for two weeks, strain and you’ve got a grease- cutting cleaner with some antibacterial properties.

■ Make lemonade: You don’t re al l y even need a recipe to make lemonade. Just mix lemon juice, water and sugar until you find the mix you like best. Note that Meyer lemons are sweeter t han most, s o you might not need as much sugar as you think ( straight- up Meyer lemon juice is a little harsh, but it’s not bad when mixed with water and no sweetener at all). Try agave syrup or honey instead of sugar, or add a little mint.

COURTESY Fill a half- gallon container with lemon peels, then top it off with white vinegar. Store in a cool, dark place for two weeks, strain and you’ve got a grease- cutting cleaner.