CHAPTER 1

THE INGREDIENTS

WATER

It may seem strange to begin with a description of one of the most common substances on the planet—it also accounts for around 60 percent of our bodies—but we do need to take a quick moment to celebrate this incredibly useful molecule, made up of just two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen.

When astronomers scan other planets and moons for possible signs of life, they always look for evidence of water (usually in the form of ice—it’s cold in space). This is because water’s ability to act as a solvent—that is, a substance into which other chemicals readily dissolve—makes it foundational in the creation of life. Millions of years of evolution later, most of the chemical processes our bodies perform continue to be possible only because so much of us is composed of water, from our blood to our digestive fluids to our very bones (which themselves are more than one-third aqueous).

When it comes to cleaning, water’s ability to dissolve other chemicals is its most important property, which is further enhanced by adding heat. This is why cleaning clothes in hot water is more effective than in cold water, even when no soaps are involved. And when water is boiled, it becomes an excellent disinfectant—the boiling temperature of water (212 degrees F or 100 degrees C) is fatal to most organisms.

Water’s ability to dissolve and evenly distribute acids like lemon juice and vinegar, not to mention everyday salt (sodium chloride) and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, also a salt), make it a staple ingredient in many of the recipes in these pages. This ability derives partly from the fact that the pH level of water is 7 (on a scale of 1 to 14), also referred to as a neutral pH. Lemon juice and vinegar are acids (with a pH below 7), whereas baking soda is a base (with a pH higher than 7). When a recipe calls for distilled water, you can either purchase it or make a suitable alternative by boiling a pot of water for 15 to 20 minutes.

SALT

For the purposes of this book, when we refer to salt we are talking about sodium chloride, a molecule that contains one atom of sodium and one of chloride. It can be found in several different forms in most supermarkets, including table salt (enriched with iodine, to promote the health of the thyroid gland, and anticaking agents), sea salt (which contains several other minerals in trace amounts, which can add color and flavor), Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate), and kosher salt (a relatively unprocessed salt with large crystals). The recipes in these pages are all made with non-iodized salt, usually fine sea salt or kosher salt (unless otherwise indicated).

Salt, like water, is one of the most common materials on the planet. In fact, salt is the most abundant nonmetallic mineral in the world, found naturally in the ocean as well as in underground and underwater salt deposits. It is also an essential ingredient in the formation and maintenance of life—without sufficient quantities of salt, we and most other organisms would die. Sodium is vital to brain and muscle function, and chloride is an essential electrolyte. Conversely, in excessive quantities, salt can be fatal, a fact that makes it very useful as a disinfectant—bacteria contain even more water (70 percent) than people do, making them vulnerable to highly saline conditions.

As an essential ingredient in cooking, salt (one of the five basic flavors the human tongue can taste) was for much of recorded history a precious commodity. For that reason it was often taxed, from ancient China (when Emperor Hsia Yu established a salt levy in circa 2200 BCE) to India in 1930, when the onerous salt tax inspired a revolution. The word salary itself comes from salt: in ancient Rome, part of the compensation received by the legions was known as salarium argentum, the portion of their wage earmarked for the purchase of salt. As Mark Kurlansky put it in his book Salt: A World History (2002): “Trade routes that have remained major thoroughfares were established, alliances built, empires secured, and revolutions provoked—all for something that fills the ocean, bubbles up from springs, forms crusts in lake beds, and thickly veins a large part of the earth’s rock fairly close to the surface.”

Salt has countless uses, from personal to industrial to commercial, though we will mainly focus on its useful properties in cleaning. In its crystalline form, salt can serve as a mild abrasive (good for gently cleaning various surfaces, including the skin). Salt is also highly absorbent, making it useful in removing stains, from wine to blood to sweat (see Stain Pretreatments, this page, for the latter application). And as discussed on the previous page, its antimicrobial properties make it an excellent disinfectant.

LEMONS

Lemons are among the most common citrus fruits in the world, prized for their juice as well as the fragrant oils in their skin. Like all citrus, lemons are native to subtropical and tropical climates, though constant crossbreeding across thousands of years of cultivation makes it hard to pinpoint exactly where they got their start. As a result of all this cultivation, today many varieties of lemon are available around the world, each prized for its unique flavor. In North America the most common by far is the Eureka lemon, grown in California and Florida.

Like salt, lemons were a treasured commodity, carried by Arab traders along early trade routes that stretched from the foothills of the Himalayas to the Middle East and Africa. They then found their way to what is now southern Italy around the year 200 CE (and then spread to the rest of Europe). Unlike salt, however, lemons were not originally used for cooking—instead, they were treasured as ornamental trees and prized for their fragrance. It wasn’t until the fifteenth century that lemons began to be widely used in the kitchen.

As overland trade routes were replaced by nautical ones, both salt and lemons became vitally important on the sailing ships that crisscrossed the world in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Salt was prized as a way to preserve meat in the era before refrigeration, making monthslong voyages possible. And lemons and other citrus fruits became staples when it was discovered that eating them prevented scurvy, a dreadful disease that had long plagued ships’ crews. In 1747, a Scotsman named James Lind, a ship’s surgeon serving aboard the British navy vessel HMS Salisbury, conducted one of the first known controlled clinical trials in history, proving conclusively that a regular diet of citrus fruits prevented scurvy. (In 1928 it was discovered that the disease results from an insufficient supply of vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid.)

But since this is not a cookbook (or a first-aid guide for sailors), we celebrate lemons for the fragrant oils in their rinds and the cleaning powers of their juice, mainly thanks to its citric acid. As a mildly acidic (low pH) organic compound, the citric acid in lemon juice is useful as a cleaning agent and disinfectant and can be used to whiten fabrics, ceramics, and even some plastics, and to lighten hair (see Hair Color Lightener, this page). And since its scent is so delightful and invigorating, lemon juice makes an excellent addition to many cleaning solutions.

VINEGAR

Like lemon juice, vinegar is an essential cleaning agent thanks to its high acidity (or low pH). The strength of the acetic acid in a given vinegar depends on the amount of water added to the acid to dilute it—most vinegars sold at supermarkets have a concentration of about 5 percent. Concentrations above 10 percent make the vinegar more dangerous to handle but also that much more effective against tough-to-tackle cleaning jobs like mineral deposits. For the purposes of this book, vinegar means white vinegar in a full-strength, conventional 5 percent solution unless otherwise indicated (as, for instance, the recipe for Fruit Fly Trap, this page, which uses apple cider vinegar).

Vinegar is produced by a natural process of double fermentation. In the first step, sugars in a mash of fruit or grain are consumed by yeast, which then excrete alcohol in the form of ethanol. (This is how wine and beer are made too.) In the second step, Acetobacter bacteria consume the ethanol and excrete acetic acid. To accomplish this, the bacteria require oxygen, which is why vinegar production occurs in open-air containers. Over the centuries, humans have experimented widely with different grains and fruits to create many types of vinegars, including balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, malt vinegar, and wine vinegars of countless varieties.

Vinegar is a common substance found in every human community on Earth. Mentions of vinegar exist as far back as the earliest recorded history, appearing in Babylonian scrolls dating to 5000 BCE that identify it as useful in preserving food. Traces of vinegar itself were found in Egyptian urns that date to around 3000 BCE. The father of modern medicine, the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, records using vinegar to treat the wounds of his patients around 420 BCE. Vinegar is given a shout-out in the Zuo Zhuan, the oldest work of Chinese narrative history (covering the period from roughly 770 to 475 BCE), as an essential ingredient in a harmoniously balanced fish soup. The Bible refers to vinegar both as a food and as a medicine. Vinegar’s use in scientific applications became widespread through the centuries, and the tenth-century Chinese forensic scientist Sung Tse recommended using it in combination with sulfur as an antiseptic handwash to prevent infection during autopsies. Accounts of vinegar as an ingredient in cooking, cleaning, and medicine are ubiquitous in records from the Middle Ages to today.

As a household product, vinegar’s uses are numerous. Beyond its culinary applications, it can be used to safely clean many different surfaces, from textiles to ceramic tile to finished wood (though not natural stone), all thanks to its acidity. It has powerful antiseptic properties too, which makes it useful as a disinfectant.

BAKING SODA

As a kid, when I first heard of baking soda, I was convinced it was a carbonated sweet beverage designed to make cooks feel better about having to slave away in a hot kitchen. As an adult, I have come to appreciate that it is a miraculous addition to the baker’s toolkit, making it possible to leaven baked goods without the use of yeast, as well as a boon to home cleaning and deodorizing.

Baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, is found in a white crystalline mineral named nahcolite (so-called because of the letters of the atoms of which it is composed: sodium, or NA; hydrogen; carbon; and oxygen). It can be mined, where it is found in association with a mineral called trona, or it can be manufactured in a laboratory. Today most baking soda around the world is made in factory labs, but in a few countries (including the United States) it is still mined.

References to related compounds stretch back as far as ancient Egypt, where sodium carbonate was used to preserve the mummified remains of the rich and famous. By the eighteenth century, American bakers were toying with similar chemicals (like potassium carbonate, also known as pearl ash) as a way of reliably leavening baked goods without finicky yeast or other labor-intensive methods (such as whipping a bunch of egg whites every time you baked a cake). In 1791, a French chemist named Nicolas Leblanc derived a method for creating sodium carbonate, or soda ash, in a lab. But in 1801, a German pharmacologist named Valentin Rose the Younger did him one carbonate better and developed sodium bicarbonate for the first time. By the beginning of the twentieth century, bakers everywhere celebrated this widely available and magical substance, which released bubbles of carbon dioxide when exposed to heat, making cakes and spirits rise around the world.

Then, in 1970, an interesting event occurred that brought widespread attention to the wondrous cleaning properties of baking soda. That year the Arm & Hammer company, which was created in 1846 and made its fortune thanks in part to baking soda, became the sole sponsor of the very first Earth Day celebration, during which the use of sodium bicarbonate as a safe, nontoxic alternative to harsh, commercial cleaning agents was championed. And this brings us to its starring role in this book.

Baking soda is useful for cleaning for a few important reasons. It’s a base (with a pH of 9), which makes it good at breaking up organic compounds, especially in combination with (low pH) acids like vinegar or lemon juice. This combination causes the baking soda to foam (as any elementary school kid who has made a “working volcano” can tell you), the action of which can loosen stuck-on grime. Plus baking soda is gently abrasive, making it perfect as a scrubbing salt for even very delicate surfaces. And finally, because most scents are acidic molecules, baking soda acts as a powerful neutralizer to those odors, giving it its remarkable odor-eating qualities.

OLIVE OIL

Olive oil is, or should be, a staple in any kitchen—it is a healthy, natural fat extracted from the small, oval fruit of the olive tree. Not only is it delicious, it is also very good for you. The health benefits of the so-called Mediterranean diet (including low incidences of heart disease and diabetes, and a reduced likelihood of many kinds of cancer) are widely believed to result from the prevalence of olive oil in the region’s cuisines.

Not surprisingly, the history of olive oil is the history of much of civilization, including northern Africa, Asia Minor, and western and southern Europe. Anthropologists have uncovered evidence that olive trees were domesticated in the eastern Mediterranean as far back as 8,000 to 6,000 years ago, near modern-day Turkey and Syria. The exact location is a matter of some debate, but it is safe to say the spread of cultivated olive trees happened in parallel with the spread of the local populations, eventually extending to every corner of the Mediterranean basin.

Mentions of the olive abound in ancient literature, from the works of the ancient Greeks, who believed it was a gift of Athena, to the Bible, where it appears as a symbol of peace. In addition to their trademark purple dye, Phoenician traders sold olive oil widely throughout the eastern reaches of the Mediterranean for hundreds of years. Reports of olive oil can be found in accounts of the Roman Republic, and in the age of the Roman Empire the cultivation of the tree was broadened even farther by conquering legions as they fanned out across Europe and Africa. By some accounts, the quantity of olive oil the Romans produced at one point would not be matched again until the nineteenth century. In the early 1500s, in the wake of the Columbian Exchange, monks and explorers who followed the Spanish conquistadors brought tree cuttings with them, spreading olive cultivation to the Americas.

Although primarily thought of as a foodstuff, olive oil has many other uses outside of cooking, from personal care to home maintenance to cleaning. The ancient Greeks and Romans used it to clean their bodies after exercise. It was used as an ingredient in perfumes, an all-purpose lubricant (as useful in the smooth operation of wooden machinery as it was for providing massages), a fuel in lamps, and a religious offering.

The highest-quality olive oil (and also the most expensive) is called extra-virgin, which means extracted from the first pressing of the olives, with no heat added (“cold-pressed”). This grade of oil has the greatest health benefits, including many antioxidants, and the best aroma and flavor. From there the grades are, in descending order: virgin olive oil, olive oil, olive pomace oil, and lampante (a low-grade oil that has no culinary value but does have many other applications). For the purposes of the recipes in this book, your budget should be your guide, but in general it is not necessary to use a delicate, flavorful, and expensive extra-virgin olive oil for anything that doesn’t go into or onto your body. I recommend using the lowest-possible grade of olive oil, which has little to no odor and no particulates, for cleaning applications, and the highest grade for homemade cosmetics. While you’ll spend more on high-end olive oils, those prices are nowhere near the cost of high-end cosmetics.

ESSENTIAL OILS: WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW TO USE THEM SAFELY

Many of the recipes in this book call for the addition of various essential oils, in some cases for their scent and in others for their therapeutic properties. They are called “essential” because they contain the essence of the plants from which they are made. Depending on the plant source, the method of extraction of these volatile compounds varies: some are distilled, for instance, while others might be gathered by cold-pressing (that is, crushing them at room temperature to avoid damaging the delicate phytochemicals) or by adding a solvent (such as alcohol). Whatever the extraction method, the result is a highly concentrated liquid that can be used in tiny amounts to impart a robust aroma to your creations.

Before you purchase essential oils, it’s important to do your homework. This is a growing market that is not subject to government regulation, so there are lots of unscrupulous purveyors out there selling low-quality essential oils, some of which are made from synthetic ingredients. The most reputable essential-oil producers generally have their products certified as genuine by third-party labs and make the test results available on their websites.

Because of their concentrated nature, essential oils must be handled carefully. Undiluted, many of these substances can cause contact dermatitis (especially if you have sensitive skin). Tea tree, lemongrass, ylang-ylang, peppermint, and clove essential oils, for instance, are well-known to cause skin irritation at full strength. Before using any essential oil that will be in contact with your (or your pet’s) skin, apply a little diluted oil to a small area and wait a few moments to see if a rash develops. To dilute an essential oil, mix a couple drops into a tablespoon (15 mL) of a carrier oil (olive or coconut oil work well) rather than a water-based liquid. Additionally, be careful with diffusion—some oils, such as pine and citrus, can be toxic to pets.

Finally, never ingest an essential oil—despite smelling heavenly, some of them can cause serious complications if taken orally. And while it is true that some are used in trace amounts in food manufacturing (the US Food and Drug Administration’s website, FDA.gov, includes the Food Additive Status List, which contains information about food-safe essential oils), in general you should avoid ingesting these liquids.

OTHER USEFUL NATURAL INGREDIENTS

Activated charcoal powder. This jet-black, ultrafine, odorless powder is produced by superheating (carbonizing) wood or other carbon-rich fuel. It is very useful for its ability to absorb chemicals and odors of all kinds.

Aloe vera. One of some five hundred similar species of the genus Aloe, this desert succulent is prized for the cooling, viscous fluid flowing through its fronds. Its use in treating skin conditions extends back to roughly 4000 BCE. Clinical studies of its efficacy are scant, but it is recommended for various topical and internal ailments, and is acknowledged to have powerful antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. It is available in gel and liquid form.

Argan oil. Derived from the kernels of the argan tree, which is native to Morocco, this delicious oil is rich in vitamins and antioxidants. In this book, argan oil is primarily reserved for cosmetic recipes, mainly because it is more expensive than other oils due to its arduous extraction process.

Beeswax. Honeybees produce beeswax to build the honeycomb structures that protect their honey and their larvae. It is edible but more useful for a variety of nonculinary purposes: as a waterproofing material, lubricant, candle wax, wood and leather polish, and in cosmetics manufacturing. When buying beeswax, try to buy ethically sourced products—honeybee populations around the world are under immense stress.

Coconut oil. Available in virgin and refined forms, this wonderfully silky oil is useful in countless ways, from cooking to cosmetics to cleaning. In this book, the recipes call for virgin coconut oil, which is minimally processed and smells like its namesake ingredient (whereas refined coconut oil is almost odorless).

Cornstarch. A finely ground powder made from grains of corn, cornstarch has a variety of uses in the kitchen, in industrial applications (like glue-making), in medicine, in textile manufacturing, and in cosmetics. Cornstarch is so fine it is silky to the touch, but it is especially prized because when it is mixed with water and heated, it becomes a flavorless, transparent gel.

Herbs and spices. The use of herbs and spices in homemade cleaning and cosmetic products opens up a universe of scents and therapeutic properties. Both fresh and dried herbs and spices feature in numerous recipes in these pages.

Honey. Made by bees in the genus Apis, honey is the first and perhaps greatest superfood. This golden, viscous liquid is delicious, loaded with vitamins and minerals, and antibacterial, making it useful in treating wounds and fighting illness.

Hydrogen peroxide. First manufactured in the late eighteenth century, it is used today for commercial purposes in the bleaching of paper pulp. In the domestic sphere it is sold in concentrations of around 5 percent as a bleaching agent in cleaning and cosmetic treatments, and as a topical disinfectant. Because it breaks down into oxygen and water, it is considered environmentally friendly.

Isopropyl alcohol. First manufactured in 1920 by Standard Oil, this powerful solvent is distilled from an organic compound called propene. It is a powerful antiseptic and appears in this book mainly in that role. Most of the recipes call for a concentration of 70 percent, which can be diluted to lower concentrations by adding water.

Liquid Castile soap. Castile soap is a vegetable oil-based soap that has been around for millennia. Effective as a surfactant and prized for its purity, this ancient style of soap contains no animal by-products and is nontoxic and completely biodegradable.

Milk. For the purposes of this book, milk refers to cow’s milk and is used for its skin-nourishing properties, which stem from its high fat and protein content.

Oats. A grain with many beneficial properties when eaten, oats are also prized for their ability to soothe irritated skin.

Pure witch hazel extract. Witch hazels belong to a genus (Hamamelis) of deciduous shrubs native to North America, China, and Japan. Made from a distillation of the flowers, leaves, and bark, the extract is prized for its astringent qualities, thanks to the presence of tannic acid. When buying extract, purchase the alcohol-free variety.

Tea. Made from the same leaves but processed differently, black tea and green tea contain numerous beneficial chemicals, including tannin (an astringent acid) and various antioxidants, which help promote cellular health. Herbal teas are made from a huge variety of herbs and flowers that, depending on the ingredients, also have numerous health benefits.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

This is a short list of some of the equipment mentioned in the pages of this book. If you are committed to making your own environmentally friendly, all-natural products, you will need a wide variety of these items.

• Spray bottles in various sizes, preferably glass

• Glass dropper bottles of various sizes

• Small and medium glass jars

• Small and large funnels

• Small, medium, and large bowls

• Plastic buckets (at least two)

• Pump sprayer (64 ounces)

• Empty sachets

• Lint-free cloths

• Microfiber cloths

• Cotton balls and cotton swabs

• Sponges (with and without scouring pads) and dry mops

• Long-handled scrub brush

• Brooms

• Vacuum cleaner