Something that is very important to me is living as clean as possible and giving my kids the knowledge to do the same. I always cringed giving my children cleaners full of chemicals to clean with knowing that it’s soaking into their skin, and they could be potentially be breathing it in.
That led me on my search of natural cleaners. I looked for some on Etsy and they were just too expensive for me. When I would look at the store and read the ingredients I realized they weren’t as natural as I would have hoped. I wanted something simple and cost effective. Something that has ingredients I understood and felt safe using. Then I came across soap nuts also called soapberries.
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Soap nuts are the dried husk of the soapberry. Soapberries grow on the Sapindus Mukorossi tree in India and Nepal. The dried husks contain saponin which is the chemical compound responsible for the suds the husk creates when introduced to warm water.
Saponin is a detergent that is 100% natural and biodegradable. After you are done using them you can even compost them resulting in zero waste!
Soap nuts have many uses, but today I’ll only be sharing how I make soap nut spray cleaner.
The first thing I start with is measuring 1 cup of soap nuts out and putting them into a pot. I fill the pot with about 6 cups of water and then place it on the stove.
I bring it to a boil and then simmer it for about an hour. I let it boil down until the pot goes from full to halfway full.
After it has boiled down and the liquid had cooled I will strain it through a fine metal strainer with a towel in it that way nothing gets into the liquid that I put into the bottle. If you skip this step you will be taking a chance on getting little debris getting stuck in your spray nozzle.
After they are completely done straining remove the soap nuts and put them in your compost or dispose of them.
Next mix in your favorite essential oil. For this batch I used lavender essential oil. Sometimes I use lemon eucalyptus or bergamot.
After you mix in your choice of essential oil pour the liquid into your spray bottle and fill the rest of your bottle up with water to dilute it. After that you’re all finished!
I’m so glad I found soap nuts! It’s great knowing my littlest can practice cleaning the table after dinner without getting horrible chemicals on her skin! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!
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