We met Julia in her kitchen a few weeks ago. Today she gives us her tips on how to make cleaning products with leftover fruit. Find out more about her food business in this interview.

Can you tell us something about yourself and how DAHEIM MANUFAKTUR came into being.

I founded Daheim Manufaktur in 2015. With the help of friends, I set up the cafe interior from wood from a building site. I founded Daheim Manufaktur in October 2015 as a community kitchen and venue.

After running my own German brunch pop-up in London, I lived in San Francisco where I got an insight into the immigrant kitchen La Cucina in the Mission district. Inspired by the community aspect, I fought my way through the German bureaucratic jungle – for my own food business – and took several courses in food hygiene at the IHK. Today I like to share my knowledge and hope to make it easier for non-German speaking start-ups to get started.

When we first met you, you showed us some of the cleaning products you make. How are they made? What materials do you use?

My cleaning vinegars are made from fallen apples and fruit waste. I get the apples from a beekeeper or find wild apple trees near expressways. Since these apples are not suitable for eating they would rot, so I first press apple juice which ferments into alcohol and then I ferment it into cleaning vinegar. It’s a time-consuming process but all the goodness is preserved and unheated. My soaps are partly made from used cooking oil, which I get from vegan Berlin restaurants. The oil is filtered and then refined with essential oils and herbs and saponified.

What is the advantage of making it yourself?

The advantage is that I know exactly that my cleaning products contain only harmless substances, which is especially important to me at home with children and pets. I myself have asthma and could hardly continue my profession in a professional kitchen with conventional cleaning products.

What are your core values?

Inclusivity, Community, Sustainability.

Do you have any advice for people who want to make their own cleaning products?

I think the best thing to do in the beginning is to decide what you want to use your cleaning products for. Less is more. Not every room needs its own cleaner, although that’s what the adverts often try to sell us. A good natural curd soap and a 5-6% vinegar are almost sufficient in the whole house.

Where can we find your cleaning products? At what price?

My products can be found on UP AND COMING, in the HEXENKÜCHE , at WUNSCHERFÜLLER , HAPPY ZERO WASTE SHOP. On our website berlinerzauberkraut.de or directly in the DAHEIM MANUFAKTUR, Dieffenbachstrasse 68, 10967 Berlin (pick-up every Tuesday). The prices are between 6- 20 Euros.