5 Kitchen Hacks for Fresh Lemon
Fresh lemon can be an all-purpose superstar in your kitchen. Try these five hacks where lemon substitutes for hard-to-find ingredients, helps with kitchen cleanup and more.
1. Clean Your Cutting Boards
Scrub stubborn stains and bacteria from wooden or plastic cutting boards using half a lemon and coarse salt.
2. Make Buttermilk
Don’t have any buttermilk on hand for pancakes and salad dressing? Stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into a cup of low-fat milk; allow to sit for 5 minutes before using.
3. Make Ricotta Cheese
Lemon acts as the acid needed to curdle a steamy combo of milk and cream. Strain and voila — the best-tasting ricotta cheese ever!
4. Replace Soy Sauce
Try lemon as a sodium- and gluten-free alternative to soy sauce! Once it’s incorporated into dishes like a stir-fry or sesame dressing, you’ll get a similar sensation, since sodium and citrus activate the same taste sensors.
5. Tenderize Meat
The pungent pucker of fresh lemon also helps to tenderize meat and poultry. Add fresh lemon juice to marinades or even use it to “cook” seafood in a ceviche recipe.
Dana Angelo White, MS, RD, ATC, is a registered dietitian, certified athletic trainer and owner of Dana White Nutrition, Inc., which specializes in culinary and sports nutrition.
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