沒有洗潔精行不行？

據(jù)統(tǒng)計，美國的消費者在2018年將花費大約370萬美元用于購買洗碗的洗潔精。這一數(shù)據(jù)讓人十分震驚，也我們不禁想問這樣一個問題：我們真的必須需要洗潔精來洗碗嗎?

The short answer is: No, we can get along without it.

答案當然是：不，沒有它我們也能活得很好。

So what does it take to remove all the grease and food particles and kill the pathogens that are left behind on our dishes and cookware after a sumptuous meal?

那么在一頓豐盛的飯菜后，我們到底需要些什么東西來除去餐具上的油脂、食物殘渣以及那些有害的細菌呢?

Common sense tells us that water plays a major role in the process. Thermal sanitizing using hot water is an effective and time-tested method to remove debris and kill a broad range of dangerous bacteria. A lot of what we eat can simply be rinsed away with very hot water. Carbohydrates like sugars and starches are water-soluble, and all that's required to clean them off dishes is hot water. So if you only eat carbs and emulsified fats you can clean your dishes with hot water and a little elbow grease.

常識告訴我們，水在洗碗這個過程中起著重要的作用。用熱水洗碗是一種有效且經(jīng)過時間檢驗的方法，熱水可以清除餐具上的食物殘渣并殺死各種危險的細菌。我們吃的很多東西都可以直接用熱水沖洗掉，糖類和淀粉之類的碳水化合物就是水溶性的。因此，如果你只吃碳水化合物和乳化脂肪，你只需要用熱水就可以清洗你的餐具了。

Animal fats and proteins, however, are not water-soluble and need an alkali to break them down. So, if you're out of dish soap and have a greasy pan to wash you'll need to make your own soap by adding an alkali like baking soda (yes, that stuff in the yellow box) or ashes from, say, your fireplace, wood-burning stove or outdoor fire pit to steaming hot water and scrub your pan clean. While wood ashes and an improvised grass or shrub scrubber may not win the good housekeeping seal of approval, they'll clean your pan and get it ready for rinsing and sanitizing in boiling water and, finally, air drying.

但是，動物脂肪和蛋白質并不是水溶性的，你需要用堿來分解它們。所以，如果你沒有洗潔精但又要清洗一個泛著油光的鍋，你可能需要一點小蘇打或者從壁爐中取出的灰燼用來把鍋洗干凈。雖然木頭灰燼聽起來不怎么衛(wèi)生，但它們確實能夠有效地清理你的餐具。

Keeping in mind that dishwashing soap as we know it has only been around since the middle of the 20th century, it's interesting to note that people throughout the ages used all sorts of ordinary things found in the natural world around them – sand, animal fats, ash, alkaline salts, cuttlefish bone, plants like horsetail, mare's tail and soapwort, hay mixed with ash, baking soda, maple sap debris known as sugar sand, along with that major component – hot or running water – to scour and clean their dishes.

我們知道，洗潔精是在20世紀中葉才出現(xiàn)的。有趣的是，歷代人都能在自然界中發(fā)現(xiàn)各種各樣的事物來清洗餐具。比較常見的有：沙子、動物脂肪、灰燼、堿性鹽、馬尾草、肥皂草、小蘇打、砂糖等。當然，最主要的成分還是熱水。

So whether you find yourself down to the last drop at home, forgot to bring it along on your camping trip or just want to try an eco-friendly, off-the-grid alternative to performing the age-old chore of washing dishes, here's a quick old-school how-to for modern times:Baking Soda、Vinegar、Chlorine Bleach and Campfire Ashes.

所以，無論你是在家里發(fā)現(xiàn)只剩最后一滴洗潔精了，還是忘記了帶洗潔精去野營，或者只是想嘗試一種環(huán)保的替代方式，只要你是需要洗碗，你都可以用以下這些東西來代替洗潔精：小蘇打和白醋、醋、氯漂白劑以及木頭灰燼。