I have been a bit slow in posting lately but work has been getting in the way with trainings lately and it messes with my free time and lately most of my free time is spent practicing my violin which I truly am enjoying.
However, this post is mostly about how the lemon cleaner turned out. Here was how it started with the Meyer lemon peels in a jar filled with white vinegar and water (approximately 1/4 jar of white vinegar the rest water).
It has been sitting there a few weeks and today I got a spray bottle and strained the new (hopefully) lemon cleaner into it. It filled the spray bottle about 3/4 full but it was very strong smelling. It is hard to explain what it smelled like but it is not exactly lemony like the lemon cleaner at the store. It is quite a bit harsher than that. I filled the rest of the bottle with water which toned it down some and it isn't too bad to clean with now.
It did make me think about how much nicer the lemon balm smells though and I think this might be a good use for all that lemon balm. Next time I would like to try putting some lemon balm in a pan and boiling it (which always smells wonderful) and then using that water to pour over the lemon peels. I also am not sure how essential the vinegar is but it likely would be nicer smelling without it.
Other than lemon cleaner making this weekend, I was also wine making again. The lemon cleaner is sitting on the primary that is filled with an apple raspberry wine mixture. Yesterday it had had a mixed berry wine mixture in it. I racked that into jugs with air locks on them and then just put the new juice in on top of the leavings of the mixed berry wine and that way I didn't need to add any more yeast. It started fermenting right away and is doing really well.
I'll try to get in a garden post in this week. I have tiny little broccoli heads. Some year I would love to be able to say that I have "huge" broccoli heads but I guess this...won't be the year.
As a wine-lover I'm truly worried by any blogpost that has the words "lemon cleaner" and "wine" together in its title!
ReplyDeleteRe the vinegar: presumably it stops the lemon peel from fermenting in the water?
Ha, yes, I can see why that would get your attention.
DeleteNow I get the feeling that lemon simply because it is lemon would not really ferment anyway but I am not sure about that. I have another "cleaner" sitting there that had the skin of a plumello in it (we recently found plumello's in the store and tried them but found they weren't much different from grapefruit.
I've used vinegar and water before but never thought about scenting it. Lemon would be nice, anything citrus really.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in the violin side of your skills Becky, could you post on YouTube when you feel confident enough, all the best David
ReplyDeleteI don't really know how to post on YouTube and don't even know if my camera can do that (I have only ever taken pictures with it) but if I learn, I may post something. It is pretty slow going though. I don't expect to really be doing well with it for at least a year or so.
DeleteI'd never even thought about making lemon cleaner. I just use 50/50 vinegar and water. I love the smell of lemons much more than that of vinegar.
ReplyDeleteBecky do let us know how you get on using the Lemon Balm because we have loads of it here.
ReplyDeleteI too have made this cleaner but couldn't use it as it smelled so bad :(
ReplyDeleteBeen making my own cleaner for years, never though to scent it! Sounds like a good idea.
ReplyDelete