Growing your laundry soap.

[silverweb]

I'd never heard of this before!

Meet soapnut, the nut shell from the Ritha tree that will do your laundry naturally:

Soapnut removes dirt from clothing - it is not only highly effective but also gentle. Because it is mild and natural, it preserves the colours and the structure of your valuable clothing longer than chemical detergents. It's so gentle that you will no longer need to use laundry softener: The laundry turns out amazingly soft! Because of these characteristics, soapnuts are the perfect detergent.

_link_

And a liquid detergent made from soapnut extract -- not yet manufactured in the United States, but hopefully it will be soon -- _CleanNut_

I'd be more inclined to try some of the actual nuts before buying plastic bottles of liquid shipped from Germany. Maybe if I get some nuts, I could even try to grow a soapnut tree!

Now isn't this much better than the chemicals most people foul the waters with currently?

It's even better than the 7th Generation detergent I now use! :)

[Turbineguy]

1. In Indonesia

they used to use what looked like nuts to wash because it did not make the colors run in the batik.

Must have been that stuff.

[silverweb]

3. Very likely!

[msongs]

2. wikipedia entry on soapnut and tree here ->

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapindus

grows in warm temperate to troupical environments but might not be importable to california as a non-naative.

msongs

[silverweb]

5. SoCal's warm temperate.

There's apparently a variety already growing here: Sapindus drummondii (syn. S. saponaria var. drummondii) Western Soapberry. Southern United States, Mexico.

This warrants further research!!!

:woohoo:

[Dora]

4. Fascinating

Here's a wikipedia entry...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapindus

[silverweb]

6. And there's a California source!

_Maggie’s Soap Nuts_

Oh, this just gets better and better!

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Nice photo of Maggie's soap nuts at that site.

(I've never heard them called that before.)

[silverweb]

8. Seeds for the South American variety!

:bounce: _Here!_