Natural Mouth Wash for Whiter Teeth! =)

I love coffee.. I admit it. I fix it like my New England born mom taught me. Lots of cream and enough sugar to sweeten it, and it's SO yummy. But. I have a terrible time keeping my teeth white because of this. I know that Hydrogen Peroxide is a GREAT thing to rinse your mouth with- it kills infections and bacteria and when used regularly it will whiten your teeth. But peroxide tastes NASTY! It's certainly not something I want to swish around my mouth every day. Plus it foams, and foams, and foams.... I usually end up rinsing my mouth out like three times trying to get rid of the taste and bubbles. Gross.

So, I looked up an all natural whitening mouth wash that maybe wouldn't taste so nasty, and the Strawberry Leaf Mouth Rinse is what I found! =) Straw berries have a high content of salicylic acid, which whitens and cleans your teeth by removing plaque. It also has antiseptic properties, which make this a great mouthwash alternative. And it's SO easy to make. Ready?

1/4 cup dried or 1 cup fresh (ORGANIC please!) strawberry leaves. (if you look in my fridge and see a ziploc full of strawberry tops, now you know why.)

1 cup boiling water

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Ok, put your strawberry leaves in a heat proof bowl and pour the boiling water over them. Let them sit until they're completely cool. Strain out the leaves and throw them away. Add the lemon juice and stir well. Store this mouthwash in the refrigerator. Use daily, and rinse after swishing because you don't want to leave that acid sitting on your teeth.

And now, I'm off to clean my soon to be pearly whites.