How I use herbs - soapwort

Jul 09, 2014by Liz Beavis

I bought a tiny little soapwort plant a couple of years ago and I have been waiting patiently for it to grow because I really wanted to try using it for laundry detergent. I found out about soapwort after I started using soap nuts for laundry. I like soap nuts, but they are imported from overseas and can't be grown here as they are considered a weed plant.

my soapwort plant before I harvested some leaves

Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) is commonly grown as a flowering plant (unfortunately I don't have a photo of mine in flower). Its leaves and roots contain saponins, which is a chemical that lathers when mixed with water. This makes soapwart an effective cleaner. Soapwart can also be made into a decoction to treat external skin conditions (I haven't tried this), and although it can be taken internally for various ailments, it comes with many warnings, so I haven't tried that either. As soapwort can be poisonous, you need to grow it where grazing animals cannot access it, so I have kept mine in a pot for now. Soapwort is not frost sensitive, but does wilt in hot dry weather. I find it revives if I put the pot in a tub of water for a couple of days. It may do better in the ground though.

The main reason I grow soapwort is for the saponins, and I have been waiting for for it to be large enough to harvest. You can harvest the roots and the leaves, but when I felt around in the pot I didn't think there was much root to harvest, so I just gave it a haircut instead.

Then I followed the instructions that I found here. I put the leaves in a large pot and covered them in water. I boiled the water for a couple of hours, leaving it to steep overnight.

before boiling

ready to strain

Then I strained the mixture through a cheese-cloth and into a large bottle. I ended up with around 5L of soap water liquid. I added about half a litre of vinegar to make it keep longer.

1 comment

Rene Jun 14, 2019

Im growing soapwort and it flowered last year.Beautifull white flowers…its grown back vigorously so im going to follow ur advice…also i make my soap and face cream

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