I love mouthwash for those times when I want a fresh mouth but am too lazy or rushed to brush my teeth.  But commercial mouthwashes feel like they’re burning my mouth, and who knows what kind of chemicals are in them — in my part of the world, at least, they don’t list any ingredients.

So I decided to make my own.  I just mixed up my second batch after a small first experiment, and I’m loving the results.

Here’s what I used:

• 1 part cheap vodka (it could be any kind of clear alcohol)
• 3 parts water (I used reverse-osmosis, but ordinary tap-water would be fine too)
• essential oils: peppermint, eucalyptus, rosemary, lavender, balsam fir and orange.

I chose most of the essential oils for their antiseptic properties.  The orange oil was just added to round out the flavour.

Method

I wanted to make a 1-litre (1 quart) bottle of mouthwash.  I filled it 1/4 full with vodka, and added the essential oils to the vodka, so that they would dissolve easily.

Here are the amounts of the different oils that I used, but I usually never make things the same way twice, so this is just one possible option:

• 20 drops peppermint oil
• 10 drops eucalyptus oil
• 2 drops rosemary oil
• 2 drops lavender oil
• 1 drop balsam fir oil
• 2 drops orange oil

Then I just shook it up, and filled the rest of the bottle with water.

Now I’ve got a slightly whitish mouthwash that tastes fantastic and doesn’t burn my mouth.  I definitely recommend it!