Soapnuts All Purpose Cleaning Spray

April 28, 2026 - By Ashley

A few years ago I purchased a big box of Soapnuts as a continued experiment to find a non toxic laundry soap I wouldn’t react to.

I am extremely sensative to detergents and synthetic fragrances so I set out to make my own powdered laundry detergent. This did not properly dissolve in our well water leaving our clothing not fully washed with powdered chunks in it.

Perusing the health store shelves I ran across Soapnuts and being super crunchy; thought sudsy soapy nuts that fall off a tree sounded right up my ally. Alas. They did not work for us.

Perhaps we are extra dirty people. Lotsa hard work and sweat maybe. Also. We live on an acreage in northern Alberta and the muck is unreal. I just wasn’t gettibg our clothing or towels stripped of dirt, sweat and bacteria.

As a side note I did finally find a solution in Sals Suds. I’m not affiliated, just love their concentrated AP soap for cleaning literally everything. It takes about a one TBSP to degrease and clean a load of laundry for us, making it a pretty economical purchase.

You can read more about how I use Sals Suds here.

Ok, but what to do with my gigantic box of Soapnuts? I’ll show you!

A Spruce Tip infused all purpose kitchen cleaning spray. That’s a mouthful.

Soapnuts All Purpose Cleaning Spray

8-9 Soapnuts halves

3 Cups of Water

One Cup of Spruce Tips

* (or pine needles, you could use lemon or orange peels too, we have a plethora of fresh spruce tips in the spring and I find all the ways to use them. They smell lemony and sprucy, a mix between a fragrant spring day and a freshly cut Christmas tree.)

One Quart Glass Jar

Apple Cider Vingar

Sieve/strainer

Spray Bottle

I find that the combination of soapy Soapnuts mixture and apple cider vinegar makes a nice degreasing kitchen spray. It leaves my stainless steel appliances streak free and the spruce tips add a lovely scent and disinfectant properties as well.

Begin by adding 8-9 Soapnuts halves to 3 cups of water in a small sauce pan. Bring it to a simmer but watch it as the soap nuts will bubble and froth over if you heat it too high.

Simmer on low until the solution reduces to about 2 cups. Leave it to cool.

Add one cup of spruce tips to a quart jar.

Fill jar about 1/3 of the way with apple cider vinegar (over the spruce tips). This is not an exact science. Just eyeball it.

Strain your soap nuts solution and fill the rest of the jar with it.

Cap the jar and store in a cool dark place for about four weeks. It will most likely grow a gelatinous scoby from the vinegar on top of the spruce tips, thats ok and perfect to toss into your chicken run or compost.

Don’t throw away your Soapnuts. You can boil them again for another solution, make it more concentrated and use to scrub your sink or wash dishes. Some people even wash their hair with the solution but I’ve never tried. The soapnuts can also be crushed and mixed with the sudsy solution to scrub sinks too. Once the Soapnuts are used up, toss them in your compost or garden.

When you’re ready to use this, strain out the spruce tips and fill a spray bottle half way with the solution. Fill the rest of the way with filtered water. Give it a gentle shake and spray away!

I use this for counter tops, stainless steel, and even my mirrors and windows!