Why haven't we heard of these before? Introduced to the U.S. market in 2004, Zamuta Soapnuts are nuts from India's Rithra tree. The nuts contain a natural detergent (saponin) and can be used in laundry, in allergy-free shampoos and in general-purpose household cleaners. A small amount of crushed nutshells in a cotton bag can be reused multiple times for laundry...
Recommended for those with sensitive allergies, soapnuts and soapnut powder can be ordered directly from Zamuta Soapnuts. There are also instructions for making your own natural lotions and soaps. Have any ATers tried Zamuta Soapnuts before? Via: The New York Times.
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Comments (13)
what about people with nut allergies?
My guess is the reason we haven't heard of them before is Procter and Gamble and the like. They make money when you buy Tide, not these little guys.
this is hardly new. where else does the word "saponification" come from? :-)
good question monika1!
I saw this product in the store but decided not to buy it because it cost something like $17! Seems a little extravagant for laundry.
here's a less expensive resource!
http://www.maggiespureland.com/shop.html
The soap nuts freak me out. I still love dropps laundry detergent - I recently saw them on one of the apartment therapy LA posts: www.dropps.com
One of my guest bloggers tried them out. Here's what she had to say:
http://www.dominomag.com/daily/blogs/scrappy/2007/10/maggies-soap-nu.html
I use powdered powdered soapnuts to wash my hair. It works beautifully!
monika1, soapnuts aren't acutally nuts -- they're the dried fruit of the soapberry tree.
I'm intrigued. I'm allergic to damn near every kind of soap out there, wonder how these would work....
I have used Zamuta soapnuts for a little over a year now, and they work great! They are the least expensive available (despite the Maggie comment above), and George at Zamuta seems really knowledgeable about the product.
My favorite is the 32oz bag ($29), because I can wash about 50 loads when I reuse the shells a couple of times. After reusing them, they get dumped on the compost pile to keep on givin'!
There's also a liquid laundry detergent made of soap nutz & vegetable soaps derived from corn, potatoes & sugar cane instead of Petroleum-Derived Surfactants.--Which most laundry detergents use--It's called Cleanut by AlmaWin. I've no experience with it, but I'm excited about trying it. Anyone else used it?