If you haven’t done the big autumn cleaning yet, it shouldn’t take long: with the autumn temperatures setting in, we’re slowly putting away our light dresses, shorts and swimsuits in favor of our sweaters, pants and scarves.
And there are tips to know to keep our clothes intact, whether in plastic boxes, bags, or even in the cellar. Tips also valid for the clothes you are currently bringing out and which will accompany us in the coming months. In our cupboards too there are precautions to be taken.
Moths love damp places, and hate light.
So get into the habit of regularly taking your clothes out of your closets, shake them out and remember to air them out! And since prevention is better than cure; you can fill small saucers with lavandin, cloves, camphor, bay leaf sauce (your choice!)
Another possibility: have small pieces of cedar wood or citrus peel in the cupboards, or even the essential (real!) Marseille soap. A block that you can cut into four and put in your cupboards.
To store your unused clothes (summer ones at the moment for example), it is advisable to slip in a few small absinthe leaves before putting them away. Another trick, you can sprinkle pepper and carrot seed on the laundry you keep in trunks.
Moths hate all these smells, they are real repellents! And it perfumes the wardrobe naturally without smelling our clothes.
Food moths: the fight in our kitchen cupboards.
First thing to do: get everything out of the kitchen cupboards! (it’s tedious but necessary!) Clean and disinfect with bleach, lemon or vinegar.
Food moths are like clothing moths: they hate being cold. It is therefore a question of storing, as far as possible, our flours and other products at risk in a cool place, and in hermetically sealed jars. (never bags!)
And the ultimate tip: before closing our jars, put one or two bay leaves with sauce and a whole, unpeeled clove of garlic (!)
In the cupboards then: arrange, at your choice: camphor, sage, garlic or bay leaf sauce to scare them away.
To avoid finding these little critters in your cereals or flour, pepper will be your ally: take crushed pepper (and especially not ground or whole), thanks to a pepper mill you crush it and place it in small saucers in your cupboards.
With all these options you are normally armed to face moths of all kinds!
Thanks to Catherine Fructus, “Recipes and tips from yesteryear for today”, published by Odile Jacob