A plant- and mineral-based washing-up liquid from ATTITUDE, scented with citrus — vegan, biodegradable, and free from the dyes and synthetic fragrance most dish soaps carry.
Citrus in a dish soap is doing real work. D-limonene, the principal compound in citrus peel oil, is a legitimate solvent for fats, oils and waxes — used industrially as a degreaser. In a washing-up liquid it attacks exactly the residue that surfactants alone struggle with: cooked-on fat, oil films, the greasy layer on a roasting tin. That is why citrus dish soaps genuinely cut grease better, and it is not marketing.
How to wash up so it actually works. The order matters and almost nobody follows it: glassware first, then cutlery, then plates, then greasy pans last. Fat suspended in the water coats everything washed after it, which is why glasses done at the end come out with a film. And use hotter water than feels comfortable — with rubber gloves, since fat melts and lifts far better above about 45 °C, which is hotter than bare hands will tolerate.
Use much less than you think. A dish soap is a concentrate. Most people use several times what is needed, which does not clean better and simply means more rinsing — and detergent film left on a glass is the usual cause of flat beer and dull-tasting wine.
The one genuinely useful trick for burnt pans: do not scrub. Cover the base with water, add a squirt of dish soap, and simmer it for ten minutes. Hydrolysis and heat lift what an hour of scouring will not, without scratching the pan.
An honest environmental note. Washing up by hand uses considerably more water and energy than a full modern dishwasher on an eco cycle — that has been measured repeatedly and it consistently surprises people. If you have a dishwasher, use it, and keep the dish soap for pans, knives, wooden boards and anything that should not go in.
Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.
Attitude
Attitude
Attitude
Attitude
