| | i love sharing my homemakery! Here are recipes for the laundry soap and the jam, and pictures of the jam-making process.
First of all, let me say that i didn't come up with the laundry soap recipe. i love reading about homemaking, and one of my favourite sources is a website called TThe Family Homestead. The host, Crystal Miller, shared this recipe on her site and i've been using it for three years now. i'm including the link to her website (just click the name, above) because it's been such an inspiration and help to me, and because (of course) the recipe is hers. The jam, however, is my recipe, and i'm happy to share that as well.
Crystal's original recipe called for grated bar soap (amount depends on type; i'll get to that), washing soda and borax, and water. That's it! i make a gallon at a time (which is half a batch), and it lasts me about a month, doing laundry for just the two of us.
The half recipe is as follows:
1/6 bar of Zote or Fels Naptha (both formulated especially for laundry), or 1/2 bar Ivory or any other basic soap. Crystal makes her own, or you can use any brand of castile soap, or pretty much anything.
1/4 cup each borax and washing soda
16 cups water, divided
You will also need a bucket large enough to fit a gallon of laundry soap.
First, grate the soap. In a medium-sized saucepan, place three cups water and the soap; heat until the soap has fully dissolved. (It can boil over, so you want to watch it-- you don't have to stand over it stirring constantly, but it's better to stay in the room so you can turn it down when it starts boiling.)
While the soap is melting, heat two cups of water. Once the soap has fully dissolved, add the borax and washing soda to the saucepan and stir to dissolve. Pour the two cups of hot water into the bucket, and then pour the soap mixture in after it. (The hot water helps the soap mixture and the rest of the water to incorporate smoothly.) Add another 11 cups of water to the bucket, and leave it to gel.
After several hours or overnight, the laundry soap will have gelled up. Now you take a stick blender to it, and mix it all together. (i suppose you could chunk it up and use a regular blender, but that seems like extra trouble and since stick blenders can be had for $10 at Wal*Mart...) It'll become smooth and liquid again. Now it's ready to be used! Fill up an old laundry detergent bottle, and just use it as you would regular laundry detergent. You don't need extra or anything like that; it works just the same way-- only BETTER, because it's exponentially cheaper, and you know exactly what's in it (and can pronounce every word!).
The first few times you use it, you'll want to swirl the bottle around before pouring-- it sometimes stiffens up and separates a bit. But after these first few times, it isn't necessary anymore.
There you go! Homemade laundry soap. It's all we've used for three years and it works really well. The only change i've made is that i use 1/3 cup each washing soda and borax, for a bit of a stronger formula. (Both of these things are laundry boosters, and if you have extra dirty clothes, adding some borax to the load, or even soaking in a borax solution, works pretty well. i don't know how the two differ in their efficacy, but since washing soda can be harder to find i tend to add borax when i need a boost to conserve the washing soda.)
The only challenge in making your own laundry soap is finding the washing soda. i got mine on clearance three years ago, and bought several boxes. i've heard recently that you can find it at King Soopers; for people who have different grocery stores, i don't know. My mothero-in-law says she got hers at Meijer, i believe. NOTE: Washing soda and baking soda are NOT the same thing. Washing soda is sodium carbonate; baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. i have also heard that sodium carbonate is used to clean pools, so if you have a pool supply store handy it's probably worth checking there as well, if your grocery store doesn't have it.
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Now for the jam:
(There's probably a better way to measure apricots than by number, but that's what i wrote down originally. i'll attempt a quick conversation for you all.)
To follow along with pictures, the numbers in parentheses refer to photo numbers (below).
5 champagne (ataulfo) mangoes, cut up
9 apricots (13.5 oz., or about two cups), halved-- no need to peel!
2 cups sugar
1 T. Fruit-Fresh
Combine all ingredients (1) , and let sit for a few hours to let the fruit juices start flowing. When mixture has become very syrupy (2), puree with a stick blender until it is as smooth as you'd prefer (3). (If you want it really chunky, i'd recommend cutting the apricots smaller than halves and not bothering to puree.) Bring slowly to a boil, and then cook rapidly until it reaches the gelling point, stirring often to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. When it has reached the gelling point, pour it into jars (leaving 1/4" headspace) and process it in a water bath. Label the jars (4), and once you have tested the seals, you may remove the rings. All done (5)-- Enjoy!
A note about processing: A Ball Blue Book recipe for apricot-only jam calls for 15 minutes for full pints; another recipe, not apricot- or mango-related, calls for either 10 or 15 minutes for half-pints. i'm not an expert here, so i would be safe and process for 15 for both sizes. In actuality, at 5000 feet, i processed both sizes for 25 minutes to accommodate the different air pressure here.
This recipe will make just about two pints (or four half-pints). When i tripled it, however, it made just under 5 pints, rather than 6-- much depends on the size of your fruit and how long it cooks down before canning.
And for the pictures:
1. The fruit cut up and mixed with sugar and Fruit-Fresh.
2. The mixture after sitting for 2-3 hours-- see how the juices and sugar have mixed to create a thick syrup?
3. The mixture after pureeing.
4. It's important to label your jars with contents and date.
5. All finished!
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| | Posted 6/26/2009 4:28 PM - 73 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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