Apple vinegar+ Lavender as fabric softener

jowitt.europe
jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

This is about washing clothes. I have been washing linen and clothes with homemade soap and rinsing them with a homemade apple vinegar for a couple of years already. This experience I am sharing in my workshops on nature friendly household. This year I experimented with herbs to give apple vinegar another scent - a scent of lavender and I was surprised myself how well it worked. I just poured home made vinegar onto dried lavender (1/3 of jar filled with dried lavender filled with apple vinegar, tightly closed kept for two weeks, strained, filled in bottles). The apple vinegar did not smell of vinegar. It smelled of lavender. And the rinsed clothes had a gentle scent of lavender.

i use homemade vinegar not only as fabric softener, but also for cleaning glass, surfaces in kitchen, bathroom… So far I had a scent of vinegar. Now a scent of lavender. I think it is a good solution for those, who cannot stand the smell of vinegar… or whose children of husbands cannot stand the scent of vinegar 😉

Comments

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @jowitt.europe can I please ask how you make your vinegar.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @JodieDownUnder when I peel or cut apples I put all scraps (not the rotten parts) into a jar (1/3), fill the jar with tap water, weigh the scraps under the surface and leave them in room temperature for 2-3 days to develop bubbles. Then I strain the liquid, cover it with a cloth or a sock so that it breathes, but no insects get into it. If I have vinegar mother I add a bit of it. It speeds up the process, but it works without it as well.

    well, then this covered liquid sits in the kitchen for at least a month. Then I sniff it from time to time to check whether it is already strong enough and, when yes, then I pour it into bottles, close tight and keep in the cellar. This would also be the time, when I add something for a pleasant scent: orange/lemon peels, lavender, fir needles… Then I keep it closed.

    The vinegar mother I put into a small jar together with some liquid, covered and keep it in the fridge for the next use.

    this is the first stage. I weigh apple scraps down with a smaller lid, filled with liquid.

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @jowitt.europe thanks for that. So what you’ve just described, there is never an actual jar lid on the jars, just covered with cloth, so they can breathe, is that correct?

  • JennyT Upstate South Carolina
    JennyT Upstate South Carolina Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I love this idea, @jowitt.europe. I usually use hydrogen peroxide with borax and some liquid soap, sometimes I add baking soda if I need a little extra oomph in the deodorizing area.

    And the fact that you wash linen with this is excellent. I've been adding more linen to my closet but was unsure of how best to wash it. Thanks for sharing.😊

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    Not until vinegar is ready for filling into the bottles and then closing, but, when I add lavender for a scent, I close the jar with a lid

  • JennyT Upstate South Carolina
    JennyT Upstate South Carolina Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jowitt.europe Would you say that these jars you're using and filling 1/3 of the way, are equivalent in size to quart jars in the US?🤔

  • water2world
    water2world Posts: 1,177 ✭✭✭✭

    @jowitt.europe Loved all of these postings. I for one, LOVE the scent of lavender and not so much the vinegar!

    Definitely want to try this. Thanks for all the explanations!

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @JennyT Upstate South Carolina I think you can use any jar. Just fill it up to 1/3 with apple scraps and the rest with water.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    The scent of vinegar almost disappeared. At least this is how I feel it.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jowitt.europe such a cool idea, thanks for sharing!

  • marjstratton
    marjstratton Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭

    I used to use white vinegar in my laundry rinse to get out residual laundry detergent. My kids objected strongly to the vinegar smell on their cloths. Wish I had known about steeping lavender in the vinegar. Might have gone over a bit better with them, maybe.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @marjstratton I think your kids might have accepted it. The washing has a gentle lavender scent.

  • SuperC
    SuperC Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭

    This seems so easy.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,289 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have been washing my clothes in a homemade laundry detergent for 8 years. My daughter complained of the Borax smelling terrible but I personally don't smell it. Lavender would never work for me since I am allergic to it!

    Here is my recipe: 3 cups super washing soda; 1/2 cup Borax; 1 cup Baking Soda; 1-2 bars of Ivory soap grated; and I used to use Oxi clean before they put all that crazy stuff into it. But everything else cleans as well or better!

    My clothes are clean and white!

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jowitt.europe What do you consider room temperature? Our cabin is usually fairly cool in the winter. We heat with wood and are not well insulated. Only gets "hot" for a small part of the summer. This morning it is about 66 F in the house. Would that be warm enough for the apples and water to ferment into vinegar? I tried this once before, recipe said to keep for a couple weeks in the water. Even with a couple layers of cheese cloth it got bugs in it. The fruit flies were terrible. Don't want that again.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @dipat2005 if you are allergic to lavender, may be you could use rosemary or peppermint. But you do have an excellent recipe. I will try yours out.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    I think 66 F is all right. Our kitchen is a bit warmer, but not much more. I put a stocking to prevent any flies from getting in. It sits tight and prevents any creatures from getting in.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,289 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jowitt.europe thanks. Let me know how it works for you. I used it for over 2 years in a home machine and since them have been going to a laundromat! I have used cold, warm, and hot water!

  • marjstratton
    marjstratton Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭

    My washing machine broke so I'm having to use the laundromat. I have been reluctant to try new products while I'm using the laundromat. May just have to do it anyway because my clothes smell of all the additives that everyone else uses in their laundry! Really don't like those smells.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @marjstratton additive smells are terrible. When I travel, I take a small towel with me to put on a sleeping cushion to reduce the smell. Otherwise I cannot even sleep.

  • marjstratton
    marjstratton Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭

    I agree that the "fresh smell" is certainly terrible. Good idea to bring your own towel or pillowcase.

  • annbeck62
    annbeck62 Posts: 1,028 ✭✭✭✭

    I didn't realize how simple the process is and all it takes is scraps. Not that I need to add more jars to my fermenting closet, but this is definitely worth doing.

  • DozenElk
    DozenElk Posts: 6 ✭✭✭

    Oh My! What a neat recipe for homemade vinegar. When I can apples, I also separate the good peels from the spotted ones too. I use them to make both apple jelly and apple peeling fried pies. I cook the good peels in quite a bit of water. I pour off and strain most of the liquid and make apple jelly out of it. It has a beautiful rosey color if the peels are red. Green peels make a nice yellow jelly, about the color of bought apple jelly. I can the peels in pint jars next. I pack them tightly into jars and pour enough of the liquid over them to just cover the peels. I do not sweeten the peels before canning them. When I open the jar, I add concentrated frozen, unsweetened apple juice, undiluted. This sweetens the peels for pie filling without using sugar. (My mother used sugar). I use a potato masher to mash the peels into smaller pieces as my peels are long strings of peel. Peels are very soft after canning. I thicken peels with organic wheat flour. (I am highly allergic to corn so cannot use corn starch). Then I make apple peeling fried pies that taste & look just like regular apple fried pies. People who eat them cannot believe they are just peelings. I do peach peelings the same way, but without frozen apple juice. Like the apple peels, I cook them in quite a bit of water and strain the juice, leaving enough juice to cover the peels in pint canning jars. I make peach jelly out of the water and then can the peels. You don't want any piece of peel above the water line to dry out. Again I thicken with organic wheat flour. I sweeten peach peels with a little monk fruit. Peach peeling fried pies are my family's favorite. I grew up with my mother doing this but she used sugar. I have adapted away from sugar. People seem so surprised when they see me getting canned fruit for cobblers, jelly plus pie filling, all out of the same apples and peaches. I am 81 so I learned this from my mother long, long ago, on a farm in Texas. Everyone in our community did this back then. People used to know how to get the most possible out of their fruit. I post this so you can see that you have this option too, if you so choose. Vinegar is useful too, tho. I love the GROW NETWORK.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @helpfulgranny2 I love your chosen name! And you are really helpful. The recipe you shared! I will try it out with my own apples as only with my own I am sure that they are not sprayed with anything. Apple peels are so healthy. The best of vitamins and minerals are close to the peel. I like that you do not add any sugar. This is what I try to do whenever I can. I replace it with honey, or date paste. you give a nice example of none at all.

    in winter I also buy apples as our own ones last only until new year. The peels from the bought ones go into vinegar for cleaning and washing.

    welcome to the Grow Network! Oh, I love it too!