Sunday Times 2
Forget expensive cleaning products, use a potato to clean your home
For decades, food items have been touted as substitutes to expensive household cleaning products.
And now a cleaning expert has revealed the science behind why certain foods are so useful for tackling rust, removing stains and tightening cracks in wood.
For example, Alex Depledge, chief executive of cleaning site Hassle.com told MailOnline that tomato ketchup is good for cleaning brass, copper and silver elements.
‘Tarnishing mainly occurs due to sulphur compounds in the air.
A cleaning expert has revealed which food items can be used as substitutes to expensive cleaning products, and also the science behind why they are so effective. For example, potatoes are effective at removing rust because the oxalic acid reacts with baking soda to dissolve the hydrated iron oxides (Russet potato cultivar with sprouts' (Wikimedia Commons/ ZooFari)
‘When the ketchup is applied to the metal, the natural acid in the tomatoes reacts with the oxidising of the tarnished silver, brass or copper.’
‘Potatoes and baking soda are effective at tackling rust because the oxalic acid in the potato mixes with the baking soda to help to dissolve the rust,’ said Mrs Depledge.
Even the weakest levels of acid can dissolve and loosen the hydrated iron oxides found in rust.
This also means vinegar is a good rust remover.
These foods can also replace the rust with a thin film of smooth hard oxide on the surface of the iron, to help it resist further hydrated oxidation.
Phosphoric acid in cola drinks, and citric acid in lemon juice also work.
‘Banana skins are often used to buff leather, followed by a damp cloth, and this is effective because the potassium in bananas is absorbed and slowly works to plump up the scratches,’ Mrs Depledge continued.
Potassium is often found in shoe polishes too, for the same reason.
‘Ideal for removing marks on wood, mayonnaise contains oils and proteins that gently diminish scratches and marks on wood.
‘They also react and cause the wood to swell, which tightens cracks in surface.
‘The oils in Brazil nuts are also effective and act like a natural die to darken and hide scratches.’
Elsewhere, Mrs Depledge added: ‘To keep a fridge smelling fresh, experts claim putting dry ground coffee into an old margarine tub with holes in the lid will eliminate odours.
‘Smelly substances floating around in the air attach themselves to the surface of coffee beans via a process known as ‘adsorption’.
‘Invisible to the naked eye the many tiny pores in a coffee bean create a large surface area, per unit mass.
‘This gives, in chemical terms, plenty of area for the smell to adhere itself to and causes it to be cancelled out.’
As a subsititute to limescale remover, Mrs Depledge recommends cutting a grapefruit in half and sprinkling one half with salt.
The salt acts like an exfoliator to remove the surface limescale, while the citric acid in grapefruit acts as the cleaning agent and breaks down the scale at a more molecular level.
And cola drinks are an effective toilet cleaner becausethey contains carbonic, citric, and phosphoric acids.
Many of these acids are found in household cleaning products already, and when mixed together, the reaction causes the stains to be lifted and removed.
This ranges from potatoes, banana skins, brazil nuts, vinegar to mayonnaise.
© Daily Mail, London
| NATURAL CLEANING PRODUCTS
Bananas: Wipe the inside of the banana skin on the spot of leather that needs to be cleaned. When finished, rub with a damp cloth.  To keep a fridge smelling fresh, the expert claims putting dry ground coffee into an old margarine tub with holes in the lid will eliminate odours (AFP)' Cola: Pour into the toilet bowl and leave to sit for an hour to allow the acid to take effect. Clean the inside of the bowl with a toilet brush and flush away. Vinegar also works. Tomato ketchup: Good for cleaning brass, copper and silver elements. Rub onto the area that needs cleaning, leave to work and wipe with a moist cloth. Mayonnaise: Ideal for removing marks on wood. Use a cloth with a small amount of mayonnaise and wipe the mark that needs to be removed. Leave the oils to work and wipe away any residue with a clean cloth. Brazil Nuts: Also effective on wood surfaces. Cut a nut in half and rub vigorously over any scratches. Potatoes: Cut the potato in half and dip the side without peel into baking soda. When covered, firmly rub the potato on rusted areas. Grapefruit: Remove limescale by cutting the grapefruit in half and sprinkling one half with salt. Scrub the area and rinse with water. Coffee: Place dry ground coffee into an old margarine tub with holes in the lid. Place in the fridge and leave to eliminate odour. |