Are Chemical Cleaners Bad?

YES!!! VERY BAD! …okay, maybe I’m overreacting… Let me just say right now, I have Bleach and Comet (Natural version here) and even Windex in my house right now that I use. Now, you are not going to keel over and die from them as your spray your window to clean it. With the chemical store-bought cleaners the danger is in long term exposure. 

Lets use bleach for example. Breathing in bleach fumes irritates your lungs. Sometimes while cleaning with bleach you might cough a little, feel a burning in your noes or throat… that is the chemicals burning your lungs. The feeling might goes away with a drink of water or some fresh air but that doesn’t mean there’s no damage. Healing is needed. Breathing in bleach everyday keeps the healing from happening. The more chemical burn your experience the longer its going to take to heal. Then you get a cold… and your lungs struggle. The coughing hurts, it turns in to bronchitis and then it goes crazy and you have lung cancer. It’s the constant damage, without healing that causing tissue and cell damage. To learn more read “Is Breathing in Bleach Bad?“

Yes, I keep these bad cancer causing chemical cleaners in my house. No, I do not use them daily, or even weekly. My daily and weekly cleaning needs are met with all natural cleaning products.

Benefits of Lemon Vinegar Cleaner

Lemon Vinegar Cleaner is Natural

Both lemon and vinegar are natural products that you can literally consume. Not just are they edible but good for you! Although, I do not recommend drinking this cleaner, that would be gross. There are also different types of vinegar, and some are better to consuming over others. The best vinegar to use when cleaning is called cleaning vinegars. You could also use distilled vinegar or white vinegar. Apple cider vinegar, or cooking vinegar is not recommended for cleaning.
When you clean with lemon and vinegar you are not breathing anything harmful into your body. Nor will this citrus vinegar cleaner irritate your skin with like other store-bought cleaners can.

Lemon Vinegar Cleaner is Cheap

Another added benefit is that making your own cleaning products is so much cheaper. Like by a lot. 

Lets do some math…
1/4 gallon, Lysol All-Purpose Cleaner, Sanitizing and Disinfecting Spray, Lemon Breeze Scent, 32oz – $2.58
2.5 gallons, Homemade Lemon Vinegar All-Purpose Cleaner – Lemons free from my tree, Cleaning Vinegar 64oz – $2.62

So right there the vinegar is about 1/2 the price of the cleaner. But don’t forget, we are going to dilute the vinegar with water. The directions on the Cleaning Vinegar bottle say 1/2 cup vinegar to a gallon of water. With that math you can get 8 gallons of cleaner for lesson than $5 (depending on if you need to buy lemons or not). The Lysol cleaning is $2.28 for a quarter of a gallon.

Myself I don’t dilute the vinegar that much. I do a 2:1 ratio of water and vinegar. This gets me about 2.5 gallons of homemade vinegar cleaner for the cost of 1/2 gallon (64oz) of vinegar. That’s 10 times the amount of the Lysol bottle. To buy 2.5 gallons (320oz) of Lysol that would cost about $40.

So yeah, its cheap.

Lemon Vinegar Cleaner is a Antibacterial

Lemons and vinegar are both acidic creating a hostile environment for bacteria making them inactive but not always killing the germs… There’s a lot of different thoughts on this. We are all taught and know that there are good germ and bad germs but its not always easy to know when to kill germs and when to embrace them. This cleaner is simply a cleaner, not a disinfectant, but it still has antibacterial properties. Disinfectants kills all germs both good and bad. Cleaners remove dirt, debris, grime and germs, making some germs inactive but does not kill them. Cleaners make it so germs don’t grow. 

If you want to make your vinegar cleaner a disinfectant you can add rubbing alcohol.

How to Make Lemon Vinegar Cleaner

Step 1: Juice Your Lemons

For the cleaner we only need the lemon rind (peel). So juice your lemons and make some lemonade! If you are interested in more things to do with your lemon juice, I have more idea’s here.

Step 2: Place Lemon Peels in Jar

After you have juice you lemons, take all the lemon rinds and put them in a quart or 1/2 gallon size jar.

Step 3: Fill Jar With Vinegar

Fill the jar up with vinegar to the top. You want all the lemons rinds to be fully covered.

Step 4: Wait 2 Weeks

Seal the jar with a lid and let the lemons and vinegar sit for two week before using.

Step 5: Dilute with Water in Spray Bottle

Once all the oils have released from the lemons the vinegar is ready to use. Pour Into a spray bottle 1/3 full. Fill it the rest of the way with water. Use a strainer when pouring just in case any little lemon pieces get in and clog the spray bottle. Now you are ready to clean!

FAQ

Can I use any vinegar to clean with?

There are lots of different types of vinegar and not all of them are ideal for cleaning. Cleaning Vinegar, or distilled white vinegar are you two best vinegar for cleaning. I personally wouldn’t use Apple Cider Vinegar, or Rice Vinegar, or any other cooking vinegar for cleaning with.

What types of lemons are best?

Any type of lemon works for cleaning. I have a Meyer lemon tree and although the rinds are thinner and the lemon less acidic then most it still cleans great. Meyer, Citron, Eureka they all work the same.

Can I use other Citrus in place of lemon?

Yes! You can use any type of citrus peels, orange peel, lime peels, and even grapefruit peel for you natural cleaners. 

Can I use essential Oils in place of citrus rinds?

Yes! You can use any citrus essential oils instead of socking the rinds in the vinegar. Use 10 to 15 drops of essential oils in your 1/2 cup vinegar and 2 cups water in a reusable glass spray bottle. Here are more essential oil cleaner recipes.

Do I need a glass all purpose cleaning spray bottle or can I use plastic?

No, you don’t have to use a glass spray bottle for your lemon vinegar cleaner but I do recommend it. The vinegar and acid from the lemon will brake down the plastics over time. If you use essential oils in your cleaner be sure to use a reusable glass spray bottle, or the power of the essential oil will absorb into the plastic.

Can I add soap to a vinegar cleaner? 

Yes, Castile soap is a great way to boast the cleaning power of your homemade lemon cleaner. Just add a tablespoon of Castile soap to your spray bottle and remember to mix/shake your own cleaning spray bottle before use.

What can I NOT clean vinegar with?

Vinegar is an all purpose cleaner but there are a few things to avoid cleaning with vinegar.

• Natural Stone. The acid in the vinegar can cause pitting in natural stones like Marble or Granite.
• Grout. Vinegar can cause deterioration of grout.
• Stainless Steal. Again, the vinegar can cause pitting the the steal.
• Waxed or unfinished wood should not have full strength vinegar but diluted is fine. The vinegar can cause discoloration if full strength.
• Cast Iron. Again, the vinegar can cause pitting.
• TV’s, Computers or other screen as the vinegar will take off the anti glare coating.
• Rubber. Rubber with lots of exposure to vinegar will start to deteriorate. A little here and there wont hurt it too badly.
• Hardwood Floors. Vinegar can dissolve the finish on the hardwood. For hardwood I suggest Murphy’s Oil Soup

What is safe to clean with vinegar?

• Glass, windows and mirrors. Mix a little rubbing alcohol for with the vinegar and you will get a quick dry, streak free cleaning.
• Toilet. For a deep clean you can put 2 cup of vinegar in your toilet and let sit for 2-3 hours. Clean with a toilet brush to help remove/prevent hard water lines and odor. Dust some baking soda on the floor around the toilet and let sit for 20 minutes or longer spray with your vinegar cleaner let it bubble and do its work then wipe up.
• Bath/Showers. Your vinegar helps prevent and remove watermarks as well as preventing mildew. Use your cleaner for weekly wiping down of your shower and bathtubs. For deeper cleaning use undiluted vinegar.
• Faucets. If you have hard water cleaning your faucets with vinegar is almost a must. The hard water build up can ruin your new faucets and daily or weekly cleaning with vinegar can prevent hard water build up to keep your
• Floor. Except hardwood floors or waxed floors. All other floors are safe for cleaning with vinegar.
• Dishwasher. Again, keep your dishwasher safe from hard water build up and crud with vinegar.
• Appliances. Microwave, stove tops, oven, refrigerator etc, vinegar is a great cleaner for these appliances. I also have such a peace of mind cleaning around my food with a safe, natural cleaner.
• Laundry. Deodorize your clothes, sheets, rags by washing your laundry with vinegar. Just be sure to not mix bleach and vinegar in the same load.
• Coffeemakers. Run equal parts of vinegar and water through your coffee maker for a good cleaning.
• Wood. If you want to clean natural wood with vinegar add an equal part of olive oil to your vinegar.
• Carpets and Upholstery. Spot clean you carpets with with vinegar. The profession carpet cleaner we use at our church told me to use vinegar for coffee spill and hot water and dish soup for sugar based spills (soda, lemonade).

Homemade Lemon Vinegar All-Purpose Cleaner

Print

Materials

• Lemon Rind/Peels
• Cleaning Vinegar

Tools

• Glass Jar with Lid
• Spray Bottle

Instructions

1. Juice your lemons and place the peel in a 2 quart or 1/2 gallon jar.
2. Fill the jar with cleaning vinegar covering the lemons.
3. Let sit for 2 weeks on the counter, top of the refrigerator, under the sink. Anywhere safe.
4. Combine a ratio of 1 part lemon vinegar to 3 parts water into a spray bottle and start cleaning!

All Purpose Cleaner

• 3:1 Water & Lemon Vinegar

Disinfectant Vinegar Cleaner

• 1:1 Ratio Water, Lemon Vinegar & Rubbing Alcohol

Wood Cleaner

• 1:1 Ratio Olive Oil & Lemon Vinegar

The post How To Make Lemon Vinegar All Purpose Cleaner appeared first on Embracing The Home.

Ingredients & Equipment Needed

Lemon curd is made from 5 simple ingredients

• Lemon juice
  Best from fresh lemons, you can use the bottled lemon juice but its just not as great for this recipe.
• Lemon zest
  Zest from an organic lemon is best. If you don’t have organic lemons wash with apple cider vinegar before you zest.
• Sugar
  You can substitute with honey or another sweetener but sugar is going to help create the texture we are looking for where the substitutes might not give the same results.
• Eggs
  Egg yokes and whole eggs. I freeze my egg whites in a pint jar and when I get about 1 or 2 cups I make angel food cake with them.
• Butter
  Butter will bring a creaminess to this recipe and will also help solidify the texture along with the egg yokes.

Equipment needed

• Double boiler or heavy bottom pot*
• Whisk
• Spatula
• Zester

*If you don’t have a double boiler or heavy bottom pot don’t fret too much. I actually don’t use my heavy bottom pot very often because I typically triple this recipe and my heavy bottom pot is too small for that amount. With my regular pot I just keep a very, very close eye on the heat and stir continuously. You want the heat to be very even to cook properly.

Instructions & Tips

To start your Lemon Curd zest 2 lemons. Mix zest and sugar together in a pot or bowl, off the heat. The sugar will draw out a little more flavor from the zest.

Next, add the eggs to your sugar and zest and mix for about 3 minutes until a pail yellow color. Mixing the eggs and sugar together will aerate the mixture creating a light and creamy curd. Then add the lemon juice and butter and turn the heat on medium high.

Stir continuously, don’t step away from the lemon curd. You want the heat to distribute as evenly as possible resulting in a smooth lemon curd. Cook for about 10 minutes or until it thickens. It will continue to thicken as it cools. When ever I do a larger batch it does that longer than 10 minutes, so be patient.

Once it’s thick, take off the heat and let it cool. If you are canning and you can put the curd straight into your clean, sanitized jars while it’s hot. Screw your lids on finger tight and add to hot canning water. If you have waited till the curd has cooled to can just make sure you canning water is not too hot when you place the cans in. You want the temperature of the water and the temperature of your contents to be a similar temperature when you place them in the water or you glass your brake.

Storing Lemon Curd

Once you’ve made your delicious lemon curd and if you didn’t eat it in one day you will need to find a way to store it. There are three may ways to store lemon curd.

• Air tight container in refrigerator. Lemon curd will last in the refrigerator for 7-10 days.
• Water bath canning. Canned lemon curd has a shelf life of 3-4 months
• Freeze. Frozen lemon curd is good for 1 year.

Storing in your refrigerator is great if you know you are going to eat it within a week. So if you are making your lemon curd for an event or holiday just grab a air tight container or mason jar with a lid and place in the refrigerator. Enjoy that week, if by the end of the week you haven’t finished it place it in the freezer so as to not waste it. If you have frozen lemon curd its not hard to thaw. Just place it in the refrigerator 24 hours before you want to use it and it will be ready. You can also place it on the counter to thaw or in a bowl of cold water. If you place your cold glass jar in hot water it is likely to break and we don’t want broken glass mixed with our lemon curd. So make sure to use cold water.

Canning Lemon Curd

To can your lemon curd you can use the water bath canning method. Here are some simple steps to follow.

• Prepare, clean and sanitize all your jars and lids.
• In your water bath canner with rack, heat you water to a light steam or 180 degrees.
• Make your lemon curd.
• Pour lemon curd while still hot in your prepared jars. Leave an 1/2 inch of space from the top of the jar. Screw the ring on the lids just finger tight.
• Place the jars in the water bath canner. the water should cover you jars with about 1 inch of water on above the jars.
• Turn the heat up to medium high to slowly bring your water from 180 degrees to a boil. This may take 20-30 minutes. Just keep an eye on it. I set my timer for 20 minutes then check every couple minutes after that till its at a boil.
• Let the water boil for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the jars sit in the canner for another 5 minutes before removing.
• Take jars our with your canning jar lifter and place on a towel on your counter. Let them cool all the way before taking the ring off.

This recipe will make about 1 1/2 pints or 3 half pint jars of lemon curd. I like to triple this recipe when canning giving me 8-9 half pint jars.

Lemon Curd

Yield: 3 half pint jars

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Additional Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Print

Ingredients

• Zest from 2 lemons
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 egg yokes
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 6 tablespoons butter

Instructions

1. Mix zest and sugar together in a medium sized pot
2. Add eggs and egg yokes and mix until light yellow
3. Add lemon juice and 6 tablespoon butter
4. Place over medium-medium high heat. Do not heat too quickly or too high
5. Stir continually with spatula or wooden spoon for 10-15 minutes or until thick.
6. Once thick, remove from heat. If canning pour into prepared jars while hot. Canned shelf-life 3-4 months.Freeze up to a year.Refrigerate for up to 10 days.

Shop Lemon Curd Recipe Tools

Deiss PRO Lemon Zester & Heavy Duty Cheese Grater & Vegetable Grater — Parmesan Cheese Lemon, Garlic, Nutmeg, Chocolate, Fruits, Vegetables, Ginger…

BLACK+DECKER 32oz Electric Citrus Juicer, CJ625, Pressure Activated, Adjustable Pulp Control, Dishwasher-Safe

ExcelSteel 3 Piece Boiler, 2.5 quart, Stainless Steel

Granite Ware 8 Piece Enamelware Water bath canning Pot with Canning kit and Rack. Canning Supplies Starter Kit

Ball Wide Mouth Pint 16-Ounce Glass Mason Jar with Lids and Bands, 12-Count

FORJARS – Canning Lids Regular Mouth, 50-Pack – Create Airtight Seals on Mason Jars to Preserve Food for Meal Prep & Food Storage – 2.7 In. Steel Lids…

The post Easy Lemon Curd Recipe appeared first on Embracing The Home.

This year I’m making a big effort to pick every lemon and preserve everything. Here are the 5 ways I will be freezing my lemons.

1. Freezing Lemons Whole
2. Freezing Lemons Slices
3. Freezing Lemon Zest
4. Freezing Lemon Juice Cubes
5. Freezing Lemonade Popsicle’s

Freezing Lemons Whole

Freezing Lemons whole is the easiest thing in the world. Just throw them in the freezer. Done! You can store in the freezer for about 6 months. Whole frozen lemons take about 10-15 minutes to thaw out in a bowl of warm water. The remain very juice. The longer that are frozen the softer they get once thawed but still remain very juice. You can also zest your lemons when they are frozen and it’s actually very easy to do so as long as your finger can handle the cold lemon.

They downside to freezing lemons whole is the space it takes. Throwing a couple lemons in the freezer before they go bad is great but not for a full 5 gallon bucket full of them. I freeze my lemons whole when I’m out of time or energy to juice and process any more lemons.

Freezing Lemon Slices

Freezing lemon slices takes a few more steps than freezing them whole. This method includes slicing, placing on cooking sheets with parchment or wax paper and freeze. Once frozen you can put in zip lock bags or air tight container and keep in the freezer for up to 6 months.

I use lemon slices two different ways. Number one, cooking fish or chicken. Fish is the main meat we eat in our house and I love flavoring it with lemon. Have lemon slices frozen and ready to place on top of the fish while it cooks adds a fresh flavor. You can do the same for chicken or even add a few slices of lemon to pasta. The second way is simple to add lemon slices in my water cup for a quick refresher. In our hot summer days a cool refreshing drink with natural electrolytes, as lemons have, is exactly what I need. Throw in a sprig of mint from the garden while I sit under our shade tree watching my children play outside describes a perfect summer day for me.

Freezing Lemon Zest

Freezing lemon zest is worth the work. The work is not necessarily hard, I just don’t like it zesting. But I love zest. First you use a grater or zester to grate the lemons. Then place on a sheet with parchment or wax paper and freeze, put it in your zip lock bags or air tight container. You can keep this in the freezer for up to a year.

The lemon peel and zest holds a lot of flavor as well as some weight loss benefits. If you are not used to using it in your recipes I highly encourage you do. The zest of a lemon adds just that much more lightness and citrus flavor to any meal.

Freezing Lemon Juice Cubes

Freezing lemon juice in ice cub trays is the number one way I freeze my lemons. I use all the lemons I just zested, cut them in half and juice them with my electric juicer, strain the pulp*, and pour into my ice cube trays to freeze. You can use a hand juicer or a press, I like my electric juicer when I’m juicing hundreds of lemons at a time.

One cube is approximately 3 table spoons of lemon juice. So when I have a recipe calling for a similar amount I just grab an ice cube, melt it, either by sitting in a bowl on the counter or a quick microwave or just tossing it in a hot pan then add it to my recipe. If you want the measurements to be exact, you can measure it out once its melted. The ice cube size is perfect for dropping in my water cup for some lemon water along with my lemon slice. Add a little honey and you have a sweet lemonade. I will also add a cube in our smoothies, or make frozen lemonade in the blender.

*tip, if you will be adding any lemon juice to a drink dispenser be sure to strain with a fine mesh strainer. The pulp will clog the nozzle and you will get a very slow pour if any./

Freezing Lemonade Popsicles

This is my kids favorite! I buy the a pack of 100-150 Popsicle Bags from Amazon and fill them up with lemonade for us to enjoy through out the summer. First I make the lemonade by heating up a ratio of 1 part lemon, 1/2 a part sugar and 3 parts water. Heat until the sugar is fully dissolved, let cool and then pour in the popsicle bag with a funnel. Seal the bags, freeze and enjoy all summer long!

This ratio is not always perfect and I also end up going by taste more than anything. I do like my lemonade a little tart. The Old Fashioned Lemonade ratio has the lemon and sugar at equal parts. My lemons are a little sweeter then most so I don’t add that much sugar. So feel free to experiment with the ratio to get your lemonade popsicles to your liking.

More Ways To Preserve Lemon?

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Quick links for a few kitchen tools I used in this post.

Electric Juicer, a must have for juicing over 100 lemons. There are fancier more expensive ones out there that I would be tempted to try but I’ve had this $15 (now $20) one for 8 years now and it has worked great for me this whole time. In the amazon description it says small but it holds 32oz just like the $40 one, so I don’t know why it says small.

Cheese Grater/Zester, This is the one I use, It’s a 4 in 1 box grater, with 4 different blade sizes. I use the small blade to zest my lemons.

Zester, smaller than a grater with just 1 size grater for if you don’t care for a bulky box grater this is the type my sister uses, it is the a smaller and easier to store.

Ice Cube Trays, These ice cube trays live in my freezer and always have ice in them. We are always making ice and in the lemon season lemon ice cubes.

Popsicle Bags, my kids love popsicles and these bags make it easy for me to make them in bulk to have all summer.

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