Make Your Own Herbal Disinfectant
Go Green With Homemade Four Thieves Vinegar Antibacterial Spray
Go green by making a safe antibacterial cleaner. Homemade, organic cleansers are effective, healthy, and good for the environment.
A great way to go green in your home is to cut back on your use of chemical cleansers and disinfectants. One way to be sure that the disinfectant cleaner you are using is safe for your children and pets is to make it yourself, and one of the most ingenious and simple ways to make a reliable disinfectant is to recreate a version of the four thieves vinegar.
What is Four Thieves Vinegar?
For hundreds of years, four thieves vinegar was used as an infusion to protect against the black plague and other illnesses. Although its effectiveness in warding off the plague is a myth, the ingredients in this ingenious blend are all natural antibacterial, antiviral agents that you can use in your home to keep it clean and sweet smelling.
How Do You Make Four Thieves Vinegar?
There have been many modifications and additions to the four thieves recipe, although a few of the ingredients stay pretty consistent throughout, and were probably part of the original mixture. These include: lavender, sage, thyme, and rosemary. Other additions, most notably garlic, are also often mentioned, as are peppermint, rue, meadowsweet, and hyssop.
A blend that would have a good concentration of antibacterial, easy to find (or grow) ingredients, have a pleasant fragrance, and be easy to prepare would be:
Easy Four Thieves Vinegar Recipe
2 Cups of apple cider or white vinegar
4 Tbsp. dried lavender flowers
4 Tbsp. dried rosemary
4 Tbsp. dried thyme
4 Tbsp. dried sage
4 Tbsp. dried peppermint
Combine all the ingredients and seal tightly in a glass jar. Place the jar in a warm, dark cupboard for four weeks, shaking occasionally.
How to Use Four Thieves Vinegar
This mixture can be strained, cut with equal parts water, and decanted into a spray bottle. It is particularly good for use as a topical disinfectant around pet feeding areas, countertops, wood laminate floors, outdoor seating areas, and washable surfaces near where children play. Special note: If you are using herbs fresh from your garden, triple the amount specified in the recipe.
What is the History of Four Thieves Vinegar?
The story of the four thieves, who protected themselves from the black plague by using a mysterious blend of herbs, has come down to us in a number of incarnations. In Cal Orey's, "The Healing Power of Vinegar", the thieves originated in the French town of Marseilles during the Middle Ages, while other sources have them coming from Toulouse, or even London. Regardless of their origins, the thieves were reputed to have successfully looted the sick and dead in their plague ridden city without becoming ill, and when captured and brought before the court, they were granted pardons in exchange for their extraordinary recipe.
