Keeping the refrigerator fragrant all month with a single lemon zest looks like one of those grandmother’s tricks too beautiful to be true. Instead, it works, and how. Here’s how to really last long, without too many efforts.
Among the many home expedients handed down for generations, this of lemon is one of those that seem too simple to be truly effective. Yet when you try it, you realize that the citrus perfume that is released has something special. It is not only a matter of smell, but of atmosphere: to open the fridge and find that fresh and clean air changes everything. Especially when you live in a house where you cook often.
It is curious to think how only one zest, put into the right place, can make a difference. Do not need expensive products or deodorants with a questionable effect. With a few gestures and a pinch of attention, you can get a surprising result. You just have to know where and how to position it. And then? Well, some more precautions don’t hurt.
How to use lemon zest to perfume the fridge
Cut a lemon and leave it there is not enough, let’s face it. You need a little more cure. The trick lies in the type of lemon (preferably organic) and in how the zest is used. Those with the thick and rough peel are the best: they contain more essential oils, and it is precisely from there that that fresh and decisive perfume comes. There are those who put it on a cork, those who prefer to place it on a cotton ball with a few drops of juice, those who focus everything on baking soda. The important thing is not to forget it at the bottom of the fridge, where nobody sees it and where the air turns little. A central point, perhaps on a clearly visible shelf, works much better. Thus the perfume spreads more easily.
The beauty? It’s all natural. And when you feel that fresh smell in the morning, while taking milk or looking for something to munch on, it comes to smile.
How long it lasts and how to enhance its effect
At first glance one would say: a couple of days and goodbye perfume. Instead no. If you play well with the small details, the aroma remains there for a good week. Of course, after a while he fades, but there are simple tricks to give him new life. And the surprising thing is that very little is enough to make it come back fresh as on the first day:
- Every five or six days, you can “awaken” the zest by putting it near a heat source, even for a minute.
- A fresh zest scratch over the old one and … reinvigorated perfume.
- Add a carnation nail? Insured spicy perfume.
- A dried mint leaf next to? And the air becomes even more pleasant.
- If the fridge is particularly crowded, it is better to use two or three peel in different points.
Sometimes it is thought that complex solutions are needed, but these small moves make the difference. And the beauty is that, once you get used to it, it comes automatically.
Other natural remedies to be combined with lemon to deodorize the fridge
Lemon is an excellent start, but it is not the only ally. At home there are other unsuspected ingredients that do their part without too much sensation.
Bicarbonate, for example, is a timeless classic: an open bowl is enough to absorb the most insistent smells. Coffee funds work great: a cup forgotten for a day in the fridge makes miracles. And then there is white vinegar: it does not smell, but it cleans and neutralizes in an incredible way. Even used tea sachets, once dry, spread a delicate smell that does not bother.
Combining these elements, alternating them from time to time, makes the internal environment of the fridge not only more pleasant, but also more “clean”, without that artificial sensation of chemicals.
How many times does the refrigerator open in one day? Many. And every time it is a small sensory impact. Why not turn it into something pleasant?
It is really worth doing a test. A lemon is always in the kitchen.
And with two simple gestures, the fridge changes air. Literally.
Photo © Stock.adobe
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