20 Surprising Uses for Leftover Fruit and Vegetable Peels

1 Make Jelly

When you have leftover apple peels, you can use them to make jelly. This great recipe takes only about an hour from start to finish and leaves you with delicious homemade apple jelly. You just need the apple peels, lemon zest, water and sugar and you will be munching on your delicious jelly in no time. Note that the cores can also be used so don't bother throwing them away either.

2 Seedling Pots

Grapefruits, oranges and avocados are perfect for getting your seed growing and they’re organic.  If you love making your own guacamole and you tend to wonder what you could possibly due with those leftover avocado shells, imagine making your own biodegradable seedling pots. You just have to scoop out the avocado and then hang the pots to start your seedlings in the spring. Once the seeds begin to grow, you can plant the entire pot in the ground and save yourself a little time.

3 Clean Your Coffee Pot

Lemon zest or rind is great for cleaning the stains off your glass coffee pots or carafes. You just have to add a bit of salt and ice and throw in your leftover lemon rind. Then just swirl the pot around for a few minutes and empty it out. Rinse with warm water and your coffee pot will sparkle like new.

4 Make Your Own Citrus Zest

If you don't need the rind from your citrus fruits right away and you are planning to use the inside or the juice, take a few minutes to grate the outside before you begin using the inside. By making your own citrus zest, you will have it on hand for when you need it later. Just scrape off the outer later, avoiding the white inside. You can freeze zest or let it dry completely and then store it in the cabinet in an airtight jar.

5 Make Potpourri

Instead of throwing out those peels and spending money on store bought potpourri, you can simply make your own. Any citrus peels, pomegranate skins, apple peels or other fruit trimmings can be dried completely and then set about to help your home smell wonderful. Keep it in an airtight jar if you don't need it right away and then display your homemade potpourri in a glass dish.

6 Keep Brown Sugar from Hardening

Lemon zest is great for keeping brown sugar from turning hard. You can just throw a piece of the peel in with your brown sugar, making sure that you completely remove the pith and pulp. It will help to keep your brown sugar moist and soft for months in the cabinet.

7 Revitalize Your Skin

Peaches are very high in Vitamin A and Potassium, which is great for your skin. The next time you enjoy fresh peaches, save those peels. You just have to add a little white sugar to the inside of the peach skin and then use this as a gentle scrub for your face. It will help to keep your skin hydrated and make you feel revitalized as well. here.

8 Citrus Astringent

Citrus fruits make wonderful astringents. Not only do they work well for removing dirt and oil, they will also give you a wonderfully refreshed feeling. You just have to rub the peels all over your face, avoiding the eye area of course, and then rinse the juices away with warm water.

9 Shine Metals

Citrus fruits like lemons, grapefruits, limes and others are perfect for shining metal. The high citric acid will do wonders for your copper, brass and other metals so use those leftover peels to clean pots and pans or anything else metal that you have lying around. Just sprinkle a bit of baking soda on the object in question and then scrub with your citrus peels.

10 Relieve Tired Eyes

Potato peels are great for relieving puffiness and tiredness around the eyes. You just have to gently press the inside of the peel onto your eyes and leave there for about 10 to 15 minutes. The vitamins in potatoes are great for relieving slight inflammation and there is no need to rinse afterward.