Devoted m4dbl0g readers may remember my Zote vignette from a few months back. Both my neighbor and I were sort of mystified by the Mexican laundry soap, which had no directions in either English or Spanish.
Yesterday, a mysterious Mr. Zote added a comment to the entry, explaining the uses of Zote. I sent him an email thanking him for making him the premier English-language Zote resource online. He emailed me back to day, giving even more info:
Hi Chris!
I actually work at the factory where the Zote soap is manufactured. (www.lacorona.com.mx)
To understand the existance of this soap, we need to understand it origin. This soap was used in the past (no washing machines yet) in México, when people used to go to the river and wash their clothes. They simple rub the clothes on a rugged surface (like a rock), and hand wash the clothes. Then consumers started to use a machine called "palangana" that is like the Belly of a turtle (rugged) to wash in home. That´s why no instructions are needed (at least in Mexico) Nowadays, with more washing machines around this technique trends to desapear, but consumers are still finding a way to keep using the Zote soap. We are developing a new Liquid Zote (like a liquid detergent) that you can pour directly to the machine.
Since there are a lot of Mexicans in the USA (Texas), they are demanding this product and that´s the reason you can find it on the shelves in Wal-Mart and other stores.
It is funny, but there are some many alternate uses for this bar, like Mosquito repelent, hair treatment,fishing bite, fabric softener, YOU NAME IT!!
With a 36,000,000 million bars sold last year you can bet we´ll have Zote bar soap for a while.
If you need more information, I´ll be glad to help you!
EDUARDO RUEDA GONZALEZ
INTERNATIONAL SALES
FABRICA DE JABON LA CORONA
I know this seems banal, but I think this a demonstration of the power of the Internet. I posed a question on my site, asking for information that was unavailable in English, and a domain expert found my site and provided the relevant information. He even gave me a little bit of Mexican folklore to further my understanding of Zote's role in the culture. Thank you Mr. Zote!
Would like to find where I could buy the zote laundry soap bar with out the pink dye. just plain white with all the other ingredients in it.
Posted by: Glen Dunn at February 24, 2004 07:21 PMnecesito informacion sobre jabon zote el cmo se hace y la historia porque voy a ser un trabajo en la escuela de mercadotecnia y un comercial para este porfas mandanme informacion lo ams pronto posible.
Posted by: cynthia oviedo at March 31, 2004 06:02 PMHi....I found some of this...and was curious...so I bought it.
How do I use it in the laundry?
How do I use it for mosquito repelent?
Can I bathe my children in this?
Please respond...and Thank you!!
BTW I bought the white bar.
Posted by: Stephanie Kiger at June 22, 2004 10:44 PMwhat is zote soap made of? we had an ingestion that was still tasteing soap for 6 weeks..
What do you think
I'm so glad I found this explanation, I found a bar in the hand wash section of my Walmart laundry Isle (I live in Texas) and got it. I was hoping that you used it the way you explianed, thanks! My washer broke down and I'm to embarased to take my delicates to the laurdry mat...
Posted by: Rachelle at January 8, 2005 07:55 PMI found zote today at wal-mart in the laundry soap section, I like old fashion type stuff so I bought a bar heck for 66 cents you can't loose. I cut it into bars to wash my hands and It really cleans well and with out the residue other soaps leave behind. to me it smells like ivory. I cut some and added it to my laundry to see if it makes the clothes smell nice, I think I'll go back to wal-mart and buy every bar they have.
Posted by: david at January 26, 2005 12:04 AMI`m from Mexico, from the Yucatan Peninsula and I'm proud that mexican products are being used not only by "paisanos" in the U.S. but also by American citizens. Zote soap is a very good product with a long tradition in Mexico, there are lots of products from fabrica de jabon La Corona that are leaders in the mexican market and could be interesting for Americans (detergents, vegetable oils even toothpaste). Talking about laundry soap I can tell you that Mexico has lots of interesting products; there are yellow soaps, white soaps, pink soaps even black soaps but here in the Yucatan Peninsula the leader soap is a blue one: Jabon Princesa Azul. This is a wonderful product that has been in the market for over 50 years and sells even more than Zote. It has a white and blue color that makes it look odd, but cleans great, specially white clothes and many people use it as bathing soap, others use it to wash their face because they say is good to fight "acne". It is made from vegetable oils unlike Zote and others that are made from "packer tallow" (oils derived from animal fats). Try it if you can, I don`t know if it sells in the U.S. but it should!!!
David Pinelo - Merida, Yucatan. MEXICO
Zote is awesome! I too found it cheap at big lots... it looked liked what my Nonna used to wash laundry over the summers in Italy... her clothes were always clean (long before Tide-n-cheer!) I love to xperiment on everything w/ it... here's what I found:
Zote is awesome on:
wood floors (finished or unfinished)
plastic/ Tupperware mystery white film: gone
any protein/ food mess
drip pans
stove brown goop
and even...... my long haired shitzu dogs are pleased with the low odor, high shine shorter rinse!
TIP: use your potato peeler and shave a couple flakes into an empty squirt bottle, fill with hot water, shake and now you have a liquid spray!
I've been making my own laundry and dishwasher detergent with Zote. I just realized that the two Walmarts near me just quit carrying it. The recipe goes as following: 1 bar of Zote grated finely, 3 cups of borax, 3 cups of *super washing soda. (found at Publix, or a feed and seed, called soda ash) mix all together. Use 2 tsp. in the dishwasher. Use 2 tblsp. in the washing machine. I love it, and it saves me some money.
Posted by: susan at May 1, 2005 10:23 PMMy mom just bought me a bar of Zote soap. I found it interesting and she said I'll get it for you. Little did I know when buying it I would find sooo many uses for it. I love the smell of it personally. I havent used it yet. (We just got it last night) I did email the company and the gentleman that emailed you emailed me back. He is very nice and helpful. (My husband found the website on the bar of soap). I also found a website by just googling that people use it as catfish bate? Well thanks for all the great tips and ideas for this soap.
Posted by: Alicia at June 29, 2005 11:29 AMGreat soap. I have a problem with using soaps with fragrance, but this one dosen't bother me.It reminds me of the old time Laundry soap (bar). Before the days of all this great priceless medicine,we would mix a little with sugar, make a paste and put it on a Boil to bring it to a head. It worked every time.
I found mine at General Dollar. They don't always have it. Will try Walmart.
LORRAINE in Summerville,South Carolina
A friend of mine gave me a bar of Zote last night to wash my son's baseball pants because it gets out dirt so well. My youngest got hold of a sharpie permanent pen and a new shirt. I rushed and tried some Zote on it. It took out the pen and not a spec in site! I'm sold and I'm heading to Big Lots, Walmart and the dollar stores to get more. I'm trashing the rest of the junk on my shelves! I love the smell too!
thanks to my friends from Mexico!
Posted by: melissa at August 18, 2005 08:53 AMI am also searching for the white Zote soap w/out the pink dye in it. It has a white and blue package instead of white and red.
Posted by: lou at September 9, 2005 07:50 AMI am amazaed at ZOTE soap. I had a sons friend give him a baseball shirt for the team he was on but it was covered with old red clay stains that had been washed & dried in for about 2 years. I used everything to try to get it clean, then tried ZOTE. I wet the shirt and rubbed the ZOTE on, dropped it in the wash and when it came out it was SPARKLING white. When we went to the ballpark his friend said hey is that the shirt I gave you? It's soooo white. It is the only product i found to get out washed in stains out. Just read all the comments and am going to try it on the dog (a 90 lb German Shepard)and see what happens.
Posted by: Lana Norman at November 8, 2005 08:25 AMI have been washing my dishes with Zote. It does great. I sliced it into 4 bars. I then just rub the soap into my dishcloth in a small bowl with hot water. Then I was my dishes with this. I have also been washing my hair with it. It did great there too! (My hair is long and thick and does not have any dyes or perms on it. It might not work on all hair types or with chemical treated hair.)
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