Homemade Enzyme Cleaner

Hello Cherry Blossom's! First, I want to say sorry for the lack of pictures for this post but my camera is not being friendly today. I will be sure to have it fixed and ready to go for next weeks post! I hope you found this weeks series on homemade cleaning products useful in your home. Many good things are yet to come here at The Cherry House Life. Thank you for your support and I look forward to sharing my 1st big DIY reveal with you next week! ~ Michelle

This is by far one of the most effective and frugal-rific recipes EVER! Not only is it completely natural and environmentally friendly, but it tackles any mess big or small from counters, to floors, to ovens and you will never have to scrub a stuck on greasy mess again! Yes, my Cherry Blossom's, this is a true miracle cleaner. There are many different versions out on the internet, I have tried many and for me, this mixture seems to work best and has a pleasant smell. Enjoy!

HOMEMADE ENZYME CLEANER
INGREDIENTS:
Rind of one whole Pineapple ( eat the yummy fruit part, I also save the top of the pineapple and plant it to grow more pineapple plants)
2 Orange peels ( make OJ or eat the orange slices)
1 lemon peel ( save the juice for recipes that call for lemon)

Side note: You can use apple, or any other fruit but the citric ones above seem to do the best job for me. You can use many vegetable peels too but it does effect the smell of the mixture. Basically any scraps can be used but the more citric the peels, the better.

1 package yeast. ( you can skip the yeast but it will  increase the fermentation time to 2 months instead of 2 weeks)

1 cup brown sugar
1 empty milk jug or other plastic container
1 rubber band
1 balloon ( or a plastic sandwich bag will do)

DIRECTIONS:
Simply cut up your fruit rinds small enough to fit in the container. Eat the yummy parts, or make a fresh fruit salad for your family to enjoy. :) After adding the rinds to the container, add the brown sugar and the yeast package (if using yeast). Funnel in water slowly until it is half full. Put the cap on and shake vigorously. Next, remove the cap and fill the container the rest the way with water. The mixture is now complete but will need to ferment. If you have ever made homemade wine, you basically follow the same fermentation process. To complete fermentation and prevent the mixture from building up too much gas and exploding, cover the opening of your plastic container with a balloon. Using a sewing needle simply poke a small hole in the balloon to allow gas to escape. I tie a rubber band around the balloon for extra security. Date your container two weeks from this time.

 After the two week mark, (or 2 months if not using yeast) use a strainer to remove the chunky fruit rinds and your enzyme cleaner is now in its concentrated form, ready to use.
Your homemade enzyme cleaner can be diluted for general cleaning. I typically use an old spray bottle and fill it half with water and half with enzyme cleaner and it cleans remarkably well. For tough messes (picture a messy baked-on greasy meatloaf pan) simply use full strength and let it sit for 10 minutes (or over night it you wish) and wipe off, no tough scrubbing needed.

I use this cleaner and the homemade kitchen and bathroom cleaner (posted earlier this week) in our home. Yes, we do keep bleach on hand and I do have a Swiffer mop for when I feel extremely lazy..lol..but all in all these do these two cleaners are my favorite.  These homemade cleaners keep my home sparkly clean and save us a whole lot of money!

I hope you find these frugal recipes as useful in your home as I do in mine :)