Tuesday 4 December 2012

Easy Citrus Cleaner

Have you ever paid for Citrus Cleaner at the store and found it to be very pricey. Well not anymore...all you need is cheap vinegar and citrus peel. Diluted as one part Citrus Cleaner to one part Plain White Vinegar...is all the cleaner you will need in your home. With a dampened cloth, dab in a bowl of bi-Carb for the best grease cutter you will ever need. Or simply dilute as needed and add to a spray bottle for every room in the house.
Citrus Cleaner
My good friend Narelle at justlikemynanmade makes this cleaner and it even made it into the Australian Women's Weekly last October. Great effort nellymary! You can read about the article on her blog here.

With all the citrus around at the moment...it is the perfect time to be stocking up on home made citrus cleaner... Each time you eat an orange, or squeeze a lime......before hand, peel the citrus peel off the fruit and pop it in a huge jar 3/4 full of cheap vinegar.

Leave it to infuse for 2 or 3 weeks, before using, but keep adding those peels when you have them
Let it steep, until you have filled the jar entirely with peels. Yep, that could be a while if you don't consume citrus very often. One of the many good things about this cleaner is that you can use it while it's brewing. Simply pour some off and dilute when needed. Once the jar is full to the brim, strain it, and store in another container and start another one. I use a recycled milk bottle or sometimes a cordial bottle.

If you prefer one citrus to another, just keep them separate, but I find popping the peel from any citrus variety that I use works well. Narelle doesn't recommend adding Mandarin peel to the bottle though, as it doesn't 'keep' as well as the other peels.Strength is not the issue here, as it steeps until you fill the jar. There are no recipes, no measured amounts...... and....If you buy your citrus from the store, make sure you wash them well to remove any pesticides and waxes.

No waste, the rind was used for Citrus cleaner,
and the juice was extracted for the jam
and the empty shells will go in the compost.


So, are you going to make your own Citrus Cleaner? 
Come back, leave a comment and tell me what you think!

1 comment:

  1. I just wanted to add that I love my citrus cleaner....also if you run out of your normal vinegar as a fabric softener; you can even use the citrus vinegar. After all, fabric softener is just a mask to cover up the harshness of the soap residue left behind after the wash. If you have allergies vinegar is the best 'fabric softener' around because vinegar neutralizes ANY soap residue left behind after a wash.

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