Plant- and mineral-based dishwasher tablets from ATTITUDE, in a water-soluble wrapper — so there is no plastic film to peel off and throw away.
Stop rinsing your plates. This is the single biggest thing people get wrong. Dishwasher detergents contain enzymes — proteases and amylases — that break down protein and starch, and enzymes need something to act on. Modern machines also use turbidity sensors to judge how dirty the load is and set the cycle accordingly. Pre-rinsed plates confuse the sensor into running a shorter, gentler programme, and leave the enzymes with nothing to bind to, so they wash straight down the drain. The result is a machine that cleans worse, after you have already used litres of hot water by hand. Scrape, do not rinse.
You still need salt and rinse aid, whatever “all-in-one” means. This one costs people a great deal in ruined glassware. Dishwasher salt regenerates the ion-exchange resin that softens incoming water; the small amount of softening agent in an all-in-one tablet does not do the same job, and in genuinely hard water it is not enough. Without proper softening, limescale builds up on the heating element and, more visibly, glass gets permanently etched — that cloudy film on old glasses is not deposit but the glass surface itself, and no amount of washing brings it back. Fill the salt reservoir and set the machine to your local water hardness.
What must never go in. Good knives (the alkaline detergent dulls the edge and attacks the handle), wooden boards and utensils (they crack and warp), cast iron (the seasoning strips), aluminium pans (they oxidise grey), and most non-stick. Anything hand-painted or with gold detail, too.
Loading properly matters more than the tablet. Dirty surfaces face the spray arms in the centre; nothing overlaps or shadows anything else; and check the spray arms actually spin freely before you close the door — a tall item blocking one is the commonest reason for a load that comes out dirty.
And the environmental note: a full modern dishwasher on an eco cycle uses less water and energy than washing the same load by hand. The eco programme is longer precisely because it is more efficient — it heats less water and compensates with time.
Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.
Attitude
Attitude
Attitude
Attitude
