I have been loving a soapy combination of soapnuts liquid mixed with apple cider vinegar to clean lately.
A lot of soaps will turn gel like and cloudy when mixed with vinegar, but not Soapnuts.
If you’re not familiar with soapnuts, they are berries or soap berries that contain saponins that create a sudsy liquid.
I discovered that mixing the liquid with a ratio of apple cider vinegar creates a deep cleaning, degreasing all purpose cleaner. This is a wonderful discovery for someone with chemical and fragrance sensitivities. I love finding all the nontoxic ways to clean.
I use this mix to wash windows and mirrors, kitchen counter tops, stainless appliances and even bathrooms. I’ve used it in small spaces to clean my wood floors and so far it does a great job cleaning those too.
Here’s a spruce tip infused cleaner recipe using this ratio of apple cider vinegar and Soapnuts too.
For today I’m going to share a yarrow and rosemary infused version.
As we approach spring here in northern Alberta, I like to go through my winter food storage and pull out things that are needing to be used up before another harvest season. Yarrow and Rosemary are two dried storage items I have a lot of this year and need to use up; so I decided to make a cleaner with them.
Both yarrow and rosemary smell lovely together. Yarrow is antibacterial, antiseptic, and anti microbial. Rosemary has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties as well.
I purchased my Soapnuts in a large box from my local health store. I’ve seen them on Etsy and Amazon too.
Here’s what you need for this recipe:
Begin by adding a few tables spoons of crushed yarrow and a few tablespoons of rosemary followed by ten or so soap nuts in a small pot.
Fill it with three cups of water and bring to a simmer; slowly as the concoction will bubble up.
Reduce it until it’s about two cups of liquid.
Once reduces, allow it to cool and then strain through a sieve.
I then fill a spray bottle about 2/3rds the way full with the infused soap nuts liquid. Then about 1/3 of the bottle with apple cider vinegar.
Gently shake and spray away.
Enjoy!
Warmest Blessings,
Ashley
