This weekend we had a trip out to one of our local parks and found a heap of conkers!
Whilst we came home and did the usual playing of conkers and some conker crafts which I shall blog about later this week, we tried using the smashed conker chunks to make some soap! Conkers or horse chestnuts are naturally high in saponins (sapo is Latin for soap!) which is a soaplike chemical compound.
We popped them into a container, chopped up a few more (about 5 or 6 in total) and then added some hot water….
Immediately the clear water started to turn milky, so we gave it a little shake and left it to sit….
After a while the liquid became more milky and with a little shake bubbles formed on the surface!
Now we give it a little longer, best to leave it overnight, strain out the bits and give it a whirl for washing the clothes!
Apparently this liquid will keep for a week in the fridge and will do about two washes in the machine. So at a rate of 5-6 conkers per week you would need about 5 kilos of conkers to last a year of 2 washes a week. might save a bit of cash and one less plastic bottle or packet saved from landfill!