I have never though about making fruit peel enzymes / garbage enzymes because I thought it will involve a BIG drum and having to exposed myself ( and my home) to some unbearable odour during the process . But after finding out from AhChern that I can actually do a small scale ‘production’ with the cookie container ( and one day when I was feeling extremely guilty about the amount of rubbish that I am generating), I decided to give it a try.
The ‘recipe’ is very simple : 10 part water : 3 part peel : 1 part sugar . You will need the following :
-water
- fruit peel ( fruit skin or any fruit or vege waste , I have used : watermelon, cempedak, orange, rambutan, duku, dragon fruit, cucumber, capsicum, pineapple etc)- you can use a mixture of everything, or if you decide to be a purist, you can choose to prepare separate containers for different types of fruits.
- sugar ( any form of sugar, black, brown, white, cane- whichever is cheaper)
-Clean plastic containers (now would be a good time to start making the enzymes, as after the new year, I am sure most household would have some plastic cookie containers lying around somewhere)
-Ruler
-Marker
How to go about it :
1. Use the ruler to measure the container, leave about 2-3cm distance from the lid for the breathing space and divide the container into the following proportion 10:1 :3 ( you can weight the 3 ingredients according to the proportion too, but I find just a ‘rough’ measurement using the volume is sufficient )
2. Fill the container up to the ’10′ mark with tap water
3. Add sugar until it makes up to the ’1 part’ portion, agitate /stir the solution until all the sugar has dissolved
4. Add fruit peel until it makes up to ’3 part’ portion, if you do not have enough fruit peel at the time, you can add to the container any other you have some. (but the ‘counting of the duration’ will start from the date that you meet the ’3 part’ mark)
NB1: surprisingly, although it’s sugar solution- there are no ants around the containers
5. I suggest for the first few days, stir the contents every day ( I use a chopstick) main reason is to get all the peels submerged and also to release the gases as you remove the lid and after ~ 2 weeks, the peels will generally stay below the water level and you may choose to stop the regular stirring.
After about a month , I stir the contents once a week- mainly also to ‘check’ the progress- you may probably notice some yellowish/whitish (yucky) looking layer on the water surface, but after stirring, this will disappear.
NB2: the emitted smell can be pleasant-depending on the fruit peels that you use. The one using cempedak smells heavenly and for one other container where I had added 1 piece of a dried up capsicum, the capsicum smell overpowered the rest in the container)
6. the enzyme will be ready for harvest in 3 months time ( minimum)- you may leave it longer. The top layer will be clear and the bottom layer will be the ‘sediments/ peels’
7. Decant the top most layer ( which should be clear) into a container, and you can use a plastic sieve to separate the peel from the liquid, or use a ‘towel’ , you may need to filter a few times to get a clear solution. ( Ahcherrn told me that the ‘used’-peel makes good fertilizer-but I think my potted plants didn’t react positively to it. ), Note: in the pix above, the 1st filter and the 2nd filter is made from different peels, hence the different colour of the solution
8. The verdict -maybe due to the overselling of the benefits that it can clean so well against oil, stains , repel insects etc so, the effects was a bit of a disappointment when I first started out but after using it a for some time, I think the kitchen counter does look a bit shinier, the marble floors cleaner too and of course, there is the ‘feel-good’ factor of not creating more garbage for DBKL and less of chemicals discharge into the waterways.
9. AhChernn recommend -For moping flours, use a capful ( mineral water cap) of enzyme into a pail of water- ahiger concentration results in the floors being a bit ‘sticky’
Enzyme production , you can refer to the link here
How to produce and the various uses for the enzymes, click here
Article in The Star about this , click here
