Soap Nut Information.

Soapnuts are also known as Soap berries or soap pods. Soap Nuts are actually not nuts, they are a shelled seed or berry - it's the shells that we use. They grow wild in Nepal and India and are a natural source of high quality Saponin. The seeds aren't the part we want for cleaning, although they do have their uses. You could grow a new soap berry tree, or the seeds do have other pharmaceutical uses but they contain no saponin so you don't want to pay for the weight of a seed when you want shells.

To use them you take about half a dozen soapnut shells and chuck them in a draw string cotton bag. Bung the bag in the washing machine drum with your dirty washing and set it going. They are odourless so if you want fragrant washing then add a few drops of an < href="http://ethicstrading.com/aromatherapy.html">essential oil of your choice to the bag.

Soap Nuts contain no bleaching agents and no optical brighteners - so if you like your whites dazzlingly white you might want to add a box of Ecover Laundry Bleach to your order.

Pour approx 1 litre of water into a cooking pot; add about 50g cracked soap nuts; cover and simmer gently for approximately 10 minutes. Do not boil!

The boiling process extracts the saponin from the shells and combines with the water. Let the infusion cool and you can use it immediately, or let it steep overnight. The soap nut infusion is theoretically suitable for every kind of cleaning - you can even wash your car with it!

100 grams of soap nut shells will make approximately 2 litres of Soap Nut Juice.

Soap nut juice can be used for many purposes. Laundry (approx. 3 tablespoons full per laundry load); In your dishwasher (approx. same amount & you can use vinegar instead of rinse aid); Your floors; Bathroom; Instead of shampoo; Use as window cleaner together with vinegar (2 tablespoons Soap Nut Juice to 3 tablespoons vinegar).

Ecover's Vegan Status is doubtful, more information in the blog here.

Ethics Trading, 31 Birdholme Crescent, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S40 2TQ