How Does Lemon Juice Remove the Odor of Fish?
- Any chef--professional or amateur--has cooked with fish of some kind in the kitchen. Inevitably, after cutting, handling or cooking with fish, the odor of the meat transfers onto hands, kitchen materials and surfaces. Those working in the wilderness to catch fish will also get the odor on other materials at the campsite or on the fishing boat. One of the best ways to remove the scent is through using lemon juice.
- Fish is smelly, and the moment a package is opened or a fish is caught and butchered, the smell permeates the air. Transporting fish in salt or ice can keep odors to a minimum, but this trick does not work on hands or other items. Have some lemons handy in the fridge or on a fishing trip--not only are lemons great to serve with fish, lemon juice takes the smell from skin and other items. Soaking some sliced lemons in water makes a solution for rinsing hands after handling fish. Rubbing a wedge of lemon on hands or other items works, too. Make sure there are no cuts or rashes on the hands; the acid in lemon juice can be irritating.
- Lemon replaces a fishy odor with a citrus one, and it does it through its natural components. Lemon is one of earth's most powerful natural deodorizers, and it's surely useful on hands but can find uses deodorizing an entire home. In the case of fishy-smelling hands, the lemon's juice combines with the organic components in fish called amines that make it smell "fishy" and bad to the nose. Lemon juice combines with these amines and oxidizes and overpowers those components in the fish. Lemon's alternate strong scent is left behind, taking away the fishy scent from hands and other surfaces. Peels work equally as well to remove the scent of fish, and a lemon boiled in water can remove the scent of fish from an entire kitchen.
