Fresh lemon can be an all-purpose superstar in your kitchen. Try these five hacks where lemon substitutes for hard-to-find ingredients, helps with kitchen cleanup and more.

1: Clean Your Cutting Boards

Scrub stubborn stains and bacteria from wooden or plastic cutting boards using half a lemon and coarse salt.

2: Make Buttermilk

Don’t have any buttermilk on hand for pancakes and salad dressing? Stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into a cup of low-fat milk; allow to sit for 5 minutes before using.

3: Make Ricotta Cheese

Lemon acts as the acid needed to curdle a steamy combo of milk and cream. Strain and voila — the best-tasting ricotta cheese ever!

4: Replace Soy Sauce

Try lemon as a sodium- and gluten-free alternative to soy sauce! Once it’s incorporated into dishes like a stir-fry or sesame dressing, you’ll get a similar sensation, since sodium and citrus activate the same taste sensors.

5: Tenderize Meat

The pungent pucker of fresh lemon also helps to tenderize meat and poultry. Add fresh lemon juice to marinades or even use it to “cook” seafood in a ceviche recipe.

Dana Angelo White, MS, RD, ATC, is a registered dietitian, certified athletic trainer and owner of Dana White Nutrition, Inc., which specializes in culinary and sports nutrition.