Linda that's great. Much respect for your work! Looks like it had good impact on your community. There is so much food waste, money spent on bad food like candy, chips and soda, and it's so easy to grow a garden. You have given me an idea, I may contact my extension office and ask if they have classes like that here. I have wanted to take such a class for some time, but didn't know the county might have them. Food preservation is a science, and although I have the books, I would rather see someone else do it than read from a book, in case the book has a printing error or leaves something out. I didn't dare to try to can till after watching some youtube videos. So you see the classes really help as I'm sure there are other people like me who need more than a book to get started.

amsunshine, what are your goals exactly? You're looking for something that will rinse more easily and not leave a residue that causes rashes? It must have no enzymes? It seems that the main purpose of water softeners in detergents is to inactivate the mineral ions so that THEY don't inactivate the cleaning agents. It's all about cleaning power. I've done quite a bit of research now, yet I never read a WORD about rinsability of these detergents. I now have 8 or so different detergents I'm testing, and only one mentions rinsing out cleanly: it is a scent-free product for deer hunters to wash their special gear in. It says nothing about ingredients, so I have no idea if it contains anything special. I think sshrivastava already mentioned this, but citric acid does form SOLUBLE complexes with the mineral ions. So it should rinse easily, and maybe adding some to detergent will boost cleaning and rinsing for your hard water conditions. IIRC you recently got an HE machine. Did you have problems with rinsing or rashes with your old machine? My mother has naturally very soft water (not softened). She has a traditional TL that uses tons of water. And she uses a high water level for fairly small loads of clothes. She uses TINY amounts of detergent, because of course in the soft water, they suds like crazy. She will only use certain detergents because she says others cause her skin rashes. I'm thinking that if SHE can't get everything to rinse out of her fabrics so as not to irritate sensitive skin, who can? Not that I want to discourage you...but it seems like a hard problem.

I saw that the NCHFP recommends crushing vitamin C tablets, too. I had thought that the recommendation came from the days when everyone could buy vitamin C at the grocery or drugstore, but no one had yet had anything like the internet to stretch the dollars with. Thought I might do better with internet ordering. Turns out I did not order the ascorbic acid, but I did order citric acid. (I also wanted extra citric acid to use for sunscreen stain removal from my white gardening shirts. Tried it last year with enough success to want a jar for the laundry.) I think I remember seeing bulk ascorbic acid at an import grocery, so thought I look there.

Yes I put it in with powder detergent and have no issues. I don’t use any liquid laundry detergent but if I did I remember asking lemishine and they’ve said you add it to the drum first then add laundry and start machine. I have tried borax, oxiclean, you name it on his tragic laundry and citric acid is what seems to work lol he wears grayish work pants and they come home black most days. I also have a cheap Frigidaire front load washer and it cleans amazingly considering it’s a cheap version. I do always do a prewash cycle with a tad of laundry detergent and about 1/2 tsp of citric acid (machine has prewash cycle built in) along with a hot wash with max soil and come out looking like new. I use cheer powder for detergent with citric acid (1 table.) I do have extremely had water and add 1/4 cap of liquid calgon (I add to drum first then cloths) and that seems to be the key for me at least.