Do you know this easy way to prevent limescale in your kettle?

What if the solution to lime scale is already in your kitchen? Or better yet: on your plate!

Limescale – that uninvited guest that gives water an unpleasant taste – also tends to suddenly appear at the bottom of our kettle and ruin our appliances. If you feel like your water is too hard and your kettle is making noise like an airplane engine, it might be time to take action. But luckily, there’s no need to raid the descaler department!

A simple , natural and waste-free tip can make all the difference. You may already have this solution at home, especially if you like seafood….

Seashells… not so useless!

This trick lies in a piece of trash: it’s hard, white, often slippery when you walk on it at the beach (ouch!), and very popular at end-of-year celebrations.

See where we’re going with this? Yes, it really is an oyster shell! Incredible but fact: once properly cleaned (no food residue should be left on it), this shell has excellent properties against limescale.

Just immerse it in about a liter of water in a kettle, bring it to a boil and magic happens! Thelime, attracted by the shell, sticks to it instead of covering the walls of the device.

How can this phenomenon be explained? Oyster shells are rich in calcium carbonate, the same element that makes up tartrate: it therefore acts as a fulcrum !

Multiple uses and no waste

But that’s not all! These shells, which are often thrown away, nevertheless hold more than one trump card. When placed in the drum of your washing machine, they prevent the formation of limescale. So, your laundry is clean and your machine says thank you.

Crushed to crumbs, they become a terrible obstacle for slugs in the vegetable garden. Even better, if you add them to the soil or compost, they enrich the soil thanks to the zinc they contain. And if you have chickens, you know they love it!

In short, oysters are a great all-rounder for the household: a great way to combine ecology and economy!

And what to do if you don’t have one?

No problem: white vinegar remains an excellent alternative against limescale, as does citric acid. The latter can be found in powder form in supermarkets (to be mixed with water) or… in the juice of a lemon!

It is a natural ingredient that is very effective in descaling your appliances without the use of chemicals. A small bonus for the smell and freshness of lemon!