I have a curious little booklet called ‘Fruit and Health’ which is full of recipes and tips on how to use and enjoy more health-giving fruit in our diets. I describe it as curious, because it has some weird ideas on the befits of fruit – for example, morning sickness in pregnant women and rickets are both caused ‘by food deficient in vitamins’ and that ‘cancer is due to a particular state of food which has long been deficient in its vitalising elements now commonly known as vitamins.’ It was published in 1924 and has almost an obsession with constipation which it describes as a ‘clogging condition’… I don’t think I’ll go much further on that one…
The little book was written by Haydn Brown and Sylvia Wayne and there are many really good and interesting recipes for all sorts of different fruit filled foods and drink, but Sylvia has some extra tips about lemons:
Lemon-aids
Many people do not appreciate the value of Lemon and this little chapter gives you the reasons why no well-organised house should be without lemons in the home.
Household necessity
The lemon is a fruit which – like many other things – is not as a general rule appreciated to its full value. Its uses in the average household are confined to cooling and hot drinks, the flavouring of cakes and puddings, and for cleaning purposes, but beyond these purposes it is not employed.
Yet it is one of the most beneficial and useful bodily remedial factors that is known. The juice of a lemon beaten gradually and thoroughly into a glass of milk taken three times a day is one of the finest cures for rheumatism and allied conditions. It effectually eliminates acids from the system thus removing the cause of the rheumatic conditions.
In this form it is equally useful as a cure for kidney complaints.
Sylvia continues through all other of its wonderful properties, the aforementioned clogging, as a stimulant for the heart, for colds and chronic nasal catarrh and also for the complexion. I must remember this next time I go to the greengrocers!
Lois Elsden 
What an interesting little book! Lemon is definitely an all-purpose remedy (although not mixed with milk, which has the opposite effects). It is acidic in your mouth but turns alkaline in your oesophagus, it neutralises excessive acid in your stomach, your blood, and your bladder (making it the most natural remedy against cystitis and ‘heartburn’). It contains vitamin C and an antihistaminic component, which makes it valuable for colds and hay fever or any other allergy. It is haemostatic, a little lemon juice on a small cut will stop the blood immediately and seal the skin (also, on a piece of cotton wool to stop a nosebleed). The oil in the peel contains a vitamin that protects your heart (of course you must always use organic lemons). You can dry the peel and add it to your herbal teas in winter. In summer, you can cut lemons in four or six and freeze them, then add the frozen chunks to your water or even to a glass of white wine, plus one ice-cube of lemon juice per glass, for a cool healthy drink. Sugar or milk must never be added since they are very acidic. (Living in a warm Mediterranean region does make it easier to have plenty all year round, that’s for sure).
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Gosh I never realised! The wonderful lemon! Thank you so much for all the information, how very interesting, I use lemon juice for so many things, but all food related; I never realised that it had so many other medicinal uses. I love the smell of fresh lemon, and the zest is so aromatic. It never occurred to me to dry the peel, I definitely will from now on. Thanks again!
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You’re welcome.
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