white sheets on cloths line

This is a recipe Wendyl tried a few years back. The original idea came from an old magazine from the 50s that had an advertisement for Taniwha Blue laundry soap – a product which whitens clothes without the need for bluing powder in the final rinse to whiten whites.

When tested on white sheets it really did make a difference. If you have the ingredients on hand you can whip up a batch in your food processor – we’d like to hear if it works better than our bluing powder, let us know, [email protected].

For this recipe you’ll need some Prussian Blue Pigment – which is what we use to make our Bluing Powder.

Wendyl’s Taniwha Blue Recipe

1 cup Premium Soda Ash
1 cup Premium Baking Soda
60mls Green Goddess Unscented Liquid Castile Soap
20 drops essential oil of your choice – or you can leave it out
4 tbs Premium Oxy Bleach
1/2 tsp Prussian Blue Pigment*

In your food processor put the baking soda, soda ash, oxygen bleach and Prussian Blue. Mix to combine the powders. With the processor running slowly pour the combined liquid soap and essential oils into the bowl until everything is combined and resembles a powder.

This is a concentrate so only use 1 Tbsp per average size load. Because this has a blue pigment in it dissolve first in a cup of water and only add to your wash when the bowl is full and is going onto the next cycle, i.e. agitating not sitting still, otherwise you may get blue spots!!

Do not use this to soak your whites as you will get blue spots. The tub must be full and then agitate for the best results.

Hanging on the line in full sun helps to activate the pigment and keep whites white.

*Prussian Blue is a blue pigment available at art shops.