Benefits of lemons?

[Alix]

You all know I have serious lemon addiction problems so I'm sure it won't surprise anyone to find me posting about them AGAIN.

Recently, a couple of conversations have rolled around to the health benefits of lemons. One friend told me he has taken to squeezing a half a lemon into hot water in the morning and having that instead of coffee. (GASP!) Someone else told me she rubs her teeth with lemon rind to help whiten them.

I'm now on the lookout for lemon facts and fiction and the ideas we have about them. I confess, I like a little hot lemonade myself, but I add a spoonful of honey and would NEVER replace my coffee with it.

Tell me your lemon stories please.

 

[Dawgluver]

When I was a bartender, I found the best breath freshener was chewing and eating a whole slice of lemon, pith, rind and all.

 

[Kayelle]

Well, I know rubbing your hands with a cut lemon will remove food smells like garlic, or even really stinky things like liquid smoke and bleach out your skin from doing a dry rub of paprika etc. on meat. I try to remember to wear plastic gloves for that, but it works if I don't.

 

[Mad Cook]

You all know I have serious lemon addiction problems so I'm sure it won't surprise anyone to find me posting about them AGAIN.

Recently, a couple of conversations have rolled around to the health benefits of lemons. One friend told me he has taken to squeezing a half a lemon into hot water in the morning and having that instead of coffee. (GASP!) Someone else told me she rubs her teeth with lemon rind to help whiten them.

I'm now on the lookout for lemon facts and fiction and the ideas we have about them. I confess, I like a little hot lemonade myself, but I add a spoonful of honey and would NEVER replace my coffee with it.

Tell me your lemon stories please.

-A chunk of lemon in my gin and tonic.
-Lemon with fish.
-Lemon chicken.
-Lemon juice in the final rinse when washing blonde hair.
-Bleaching a lady's "moustache".
-Lemon and coarse salt to cleanse ground in dirt from the hands and to remove smells from the hands.
-Lemon and gin sauce for (sweet) steamed puddings.
-Dabbing lemon juice on a teenage spot.
-Honey, lemon juice and hot water, whisky optional, when you have a bad cold and sore throat.
-A cut lemon to clean very badly tarnished brass.
-Lemon as a de-greaser.
-Home-made lemonade was once used as spring medicine to "cleanse the blood".
-Home-made lemonade at a cricket match on a hot summer's day. (Wishful thinking - this as the weather is a fickle mistress on this side of the pond!)

To name just a few.

 

[Alix]

I heard you should put a lemon rind under your tomatoes when you transplant them. There is some logic to this as tomatoes prefer acidic soil.

Also heard lemon "detoxifies" your liver, blood, etc. I'm always a bit skeptical about anything that detoxifies an organ. I mean, how does that work exactly? Everything I eat goes in my belly, the organs secrete their stuff and after my food is digested and broken down into its component bits everything gets something back. Detoxifying implies that "bad things" are removed and I'm not sure how that could work. Changing the pH in your kidneys, bladder etc makes sense, but the rest mystifies me. Anyone with some knowledge want to pitch in on that one?

 

[Kayelle]

In the "olden days", when I was a California teen, I'd put lemon juice on my hair before I laid out in the sun because I wanted to be blonder. But then I smeared coco butter all over myself so I'd get browner. I must have smelled like a chocolate brownie with lemon frosting.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

The way off topic posts have been moved to: http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f12/acidity-alkalinity-in-our-diet-89855.html