How to make dish soap

Add soap nuts to a jar of water and shake to make eco-friendly dish soap! (Credit: Lindsay Coulter)

A DIY dish soap recipe that really works was impossible to find...until now!

(Like me, many of you probably tried to use liquid castile soap or boil up soap granules without success.)

Queen of Green liquid dish soap recipe

Ingredients:

One handful soap nuts (a.k.a. soapberries)

1 L (4 cups) tap water

Directions:

Add ingredients to a glass jar with a tight lid. Shake the jar before each use. When you get bubbles, pour about 125 ml (½ cup) of the solution into your sink. Refill the jar with water. Use this solution until the soap nuts stop making suds or smell bad. Then throw them in the compost and start a new batch.

Personalize this recipe by altering ingredient ratios for desired results -- success will depend on the hardness of your water and dish grime. You can even add the solution to a pump soap dispenser.

How do soap nuts work?

Soap nut shells contain large amounts of natural surfactants called saponins. Surfactants lower a liquid's surface tension and so can be used as detergents or foaming agents. You can find soap nuts in many health food stores and organic grocers or online.

I know soap nuts aren't local. But they have other eco-friendly qualities: They're biodegradable, certified organic, free of scents, plastic and toxics, and many companies ensure local producers (e.g., in India) are paid fair wages.

Have you found a great use for soap nuts?

Sincerely,

Lindsay Coulter, a fellow Queen of Green

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