Soap Nuts (Fat Biscuit)

February 23, 2009

Soap Nuts

Don't worry. You can't die from Soap Nuts. These little guys are the dried fruit of the Chinese Soapberry tree and can be used as a natural laundry soap. I was given a box of Maggie's Soap Nuts for Christmas from LB, and I just got around to trying them out ($9.99 for 16-20 loads 4.5 oz box). The suds were minimal, which I guess is a good thing, and my clothes came out odor-free, which would appeal to my spouse, the fragrance ~~Nazi~~ Fascist. Although I would love every load of clean clothes to absolutely reek of scenty scentness (don't look those words up in the dictionary), Taylor seems to have a problem with a perfumed wardrobe and has requested that our detergent be as mild as possible. So, bring on the soap nuts!

Using this uber-hippy product requires that you throw a couple "nuts" into the included cotton sack and drop it in with the laundry. There was no mention on the package about whether these can be used as successfully with front-loading high-efficiency machines, but I don't see why not. Of course, I can barely wrap my mind around where the food scraps go after being shredded by the sink disposal, so perhaps I'm not the one to ask.