Sticking cloves into a lemon: an increasingly popular old wives' remedy
Experts highly recommend adding cloves to a lemon. What are the real benefits of this old wives' tale? We explain everything below.
There are hundreds of tips and tricks of all kinds on the internet. But have you ever come across a lemon covered in cloves while scrolling through your TikTok or Instagram feed? According to our colleagues at Marie France, this unusual combination is used, among other things, to repel flies.
This way, your fruits and vegetables sitting on your kitchen countertop will be safe. The smell of these two ingredients acts as a natural repellent.
Why does sticking cloves into a lemon work?
Lemon and cloves don't exactly smell the same. The former is fresh and tangy, while the latter gives off a much stronger, spicier scent. It's precisely this combination that makes this old wives' remedy so effective. Once the cloves are stuck into the fruit, their aroma diffuses around the lemon and can make the area less attractive to flies.
Cloves contain eugenol, a compound naturally present in this spice and responsible for its distinctive aroma. Lemons also contain strong aromatic compounds, including limonene. Combining the two creates a rather powerful scent that can be used as a natural repellent against these small insects.
Trying this tip at home is easy. Simply take a fresh lemon and a few cloves. Cut the lemon in half lengthwise. In each half, insert at least five cloves, leaving the tips sticking out. You can add more if you like. For a meal outdoors, some people use up to 10 or 20 cloves per half.
Simply arrange the slices on the lemon, without worrying about a specific pattern. Once both slices are ready, place them on a small plate. In the kitchen, you can put it near a window, on the countertop next to the fruit bowl, or even near the bin. On a patio, the lemon can also be placed in the center of the table during meals.
Just remember to check the lemon regularly. After a few days, it will lose its fresh appearance and fragrance. That's when you'll need to prepare a new half of the lemon if you want to continue using this tip.
