Do you ever feel guilty for having to discard fresh fruit skins? It’s a shame that some fruits cannot be consumed in their entirety and the skins are often tossed away. Before you get rid of those skins, next time, take a moment to think about how they can be repurposed around your home and in your daily life. Here are some ideas.

Around the home

If you have used some lemons, you can use any leftovers, along with some salt or baking soda, to clean up greasy messes. This works very well on areas like your stove. If you have sensitive skin, make sure that you wear gloves so that you do not have an unpleasant reaction. Lemon rinds are great for shining your coffee pot. All you need to do is swirl the lemon and baking soda mixture around in the pot for a few minutes before rinsing well. You can clean your tea kettle by boiling some lemon peels inside. Pomegranate peels are great for colouring fabrics. Just make sure that you use a stainless steel pot or it could stain your pot too. You will need to boil the mixture of peels and water before allowing it to sit, covered, overnight. Simmer the following day before you remove the peels. Add your wet fabric to the pot and simmer slowly for an hour. Allow to cool overnight before removing the fabric from the pot and rinse well with cold water.

In your kitchen

Fresh fruit skin, like citrus peels, can also be used to make extract powder. Oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit are all excellent examples. You will need to dry them out thoroughly before placing them in a grinder and processing into a powder. Add this powder to some sugar for your very own citrus sugar. Lemon zest is also an important ingredient in various recipes. If you have a lot of lemons, you can wash and grate the skins before freezing them in batches. Honey or vinegar can be infused with fruity flavours by adding fruit skins to the bottle or jar and allowing it to steep.

Pamper yourself

Fresh fruit skins can also be used in your beauty routine. Banana sugar scrubs are easy to make by using the fresh side of the banana sprinkled with sugar. Rub gently over your body before rinsing thoroughly. Orange or grapefruit skins are great for a refreshing skin tonic. As for avocado peel, you can use it for a deep moisturizer for your face and neck.

As you can see, there are so many different uses for fresh fruit skins that you need not throw them away quite as easily. The next time you buy fresh fruit, consider how you can enjoy the fruit itself and make the most of that rind or peel.