The closest I ever felt to Breaking Bad’s Walter White, was the day we made organic detergent – in the French outskirts, at night, in our camper.
Living van life as sustainable and eco-conscious as possible isn’t always easy. We quickly decided to skip chemical toilets for a separating-composting-toilet but were rather challenged when it came to keeping it all clean in the van.
We wanted something that would work on all levels – the van, the dishes and the family. So we started digging and soon stumbled across curd soap, the godfather of soap; and Kaiser Natron baking soda, the all purpose magic powder.
After what we found out about making your own detergent, these two things are the basis for any good quality homemade detergent. The priceless advise we want to dispense on you, are the recipe and the how to of making DIY detergent.
Here’s our list of ingredients and tools:
– ¼ gallon of water
– ¼ cup of curd soap
– 1 Tbsp. of Kaiser Natron baking soda
– a pot
– a jar
– a cutting board and a sharp knife (or a kitchen grater)
– something to cook on
– something to stir it all up
Now, wait till dusk, get in your RV and drive somewhere lonely. When set up, get cooking and follow the recipe:
– First, chop up the curd soap (or grate if you’re a Jesse).
– Measure up 1 Tbsp. of baking soda and a ¼ cup of chopped soap. Keep the rest of the soap for the next batch.
– Boil up a quarter gallon of water.
– Put the chopped soap and the baking soda in the jar, slowly fill it up with the boiling water and stir lightly.
That’s it. The foam will settle during cooling. Don’t close the jar before the detergent has cooled down and definitely don’t shake to mix – or you’ll blow it.
Depending on which soap you use, the detergent will come out as a liquid or as a gel, which doesn’t influence cleaning performance at all. If you wanna go top notch and prefer liquid detergent, choose Aleppo soap. Oh and please don’t kid yourself – this is diluted soap after all. Use the curd soap straight up, to shampoo really fatty dishes before washing. Also, don’t make to much product – best use within 3 months.
So keep it clean, let me know how everything worked out for you in the comments and stay out of my territory!