Thursday 20 Feb 2014
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| Soaking time |
What to do with citrus peels when we eat fruit, chuck them in a bin? No, they are very useful. We use them to prepare citrus softener and add it with each load to a washing machine. Citrus peels contain oil called D-limonene which is a powerful solvent for dirt and especially grease. Also gives washed cloth beautiful citrus scent and freshness. We prepare it as follows:
500 ml plastic container
water
citrus peel
– citrus peels (lemon, orange, grapefruit, lime…)
– place peels into container and cover with water. Soak for 24 hours. The strength of your softener will be determine by the quantity of peels you have in the container.
– strain the liquid and add according to its strength and how “citrusy” you want the clothes to smell. If you need softener for more than one load, several batches may be needed.
5 comments
Umm…dumb question follows. How much water, how much peel and how much in the load? OK that's three dumb questions! Diann
We usually use peel of one citrus fruit per about 300ml of water per load. The amount of water does not really matter. Important is to keep the peel submersed to extract all goodies from it.
I soak the peel in vinegar then dilute the strained liquid to use as a household cleaner/surface spray- works a treat!
We also soak the peel in vinegar and get awesome Household multipurpose cleaner. In The Recipe section is described how we do that.
What a fabulous idea! I am going to definitely try this as I have an abundance of citrus here at the moment 🙂