# Experimenting with homemade dishwashing detergent



## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

Sorry for repeating myself because I already asked this question in another post that was old.
I just made some dishwasher detergent last night and tried it, and 1 Tbsp worked very well and cleaned the dishes on the short cycle. But I didn't have citric acid or unsweetened lemonade so I tossed in some ground up dried grapefruit rinds instead. That should work right?

The recipe I found called for 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda, 1/2 cup kosher or pickling salt and 1/2 cup citric acid.
After reading the borax could be toxic I doubled all the other ingredients to weaken the borax %.
I spritzed the lemon/vinegar cleaner on a casserole dish that looked cloudy, and poured a glug of vinegar for the rinse. The dishes ended up sparkling clean!
http://practical-stewardship.com/201...er-and-liquid/

Now I have a question.....
I read about how the ingredients will act with the other ingredients -link
http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2...detergent.html

and I'm wondering if I could open up some acv (powder) tablets and combine that into the detergent too. I know the liquid vinegar sets off the soda and is good for clearing drains and I wonder if that would also fizz up and work to remove stubborn stuck on food? 
What do you all think?


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## tentance (Aug 16, 2012)

i don't think the chemical reaction will help to clean the dishes, it will just react with each other to make salts. the salts provide a scouring action. have you tried running your dishwasher with just a bit of plain old baking soda to test how well it does with just that? if you have, and put it in another post, sorry. i used it once or twice and it worked great.


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## Lazydaisy67 (Jan 28, 2008)

I don't think Borax is toxic on the dishes. Just when you eat it. I'm surprised your recipe calls for sea salt. I don't think I, personally, would spend the money on that if already putting soda in there.


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