One of the reasons for starting this blog was to document my adventures in soaping. This April will be the first time I'll be making soap for the Great Cakes Soapworks Soap Challenge Club. Say that five times fast!
The challenge for April is to create a rustic looking soap. Hot process or rebatching methods really lend themselves to this. We were to additionally create rustic, minimalist packaging. Apparently this is this first time that packaging is part of the judging considerations.
As I started thinking about what rustic soap meant to me I just kept having visions of everyone entering brown, rough-topped, crinkle-cut soap wrapped in brown butcher paper or burlap. I mean, really, what was I going to do to set my soap apart? The definition Amy provided for us was "having a simplicity and charm that is considered typical of the countryside." And it was fortunate that this weekend I made a 4 hour drive from Houston to Austin Tx, through the countryside during wildflower season!
And during all that driving I thought about my 94 year old grandmother and her early life as a migrant cotton picker in Texas. And somehow out of all that I developed a plan. I was going to create a soap that my grandmother might have made when she was a girl, and I was going to only use ingredients that I, or my family, have grown either currently or in the past. (Except lye... can't grow that one!)
Ok! So now the ball was rolling. As with all soap, formulating a good balance of oils was going to be the first step. Since I can't grow coconuts here in Houston, coconut oil was out of the picture, as was olive oil. And while we do have palms here, they aren't sourced for palm oil. As I began to run my oils through soap calculators I noticed that my cleansing qualities were WAY too low. I prefer a low cleansing profile of about 12, but I was struggling to get it above 5, and I knew that would never work. The problem lay in the fact that Palm and Coconut have high levels of lauric and myristic acid, which provide that cleansing power. Very few other plant oils have them.
At this point I was beginning to rethink my plan, but then I found Ghee, the clarification of clarified butter (or something like that...) I've seen it in the store and never knew what it was. But now I know. Yes, I do. And Ghee has phenomenal amounts of those cleansing acids I needed.
Now that I had tacked down that cleansing problem, I had to develop my recipe. After looking over the local oils and fats at my disposal, I decided to add dairy since my dad was raised on a dairy farm, particularly heavy cream because it is so fatty. My recipe ended up as...
The challenge for April is to create a rustic looking soap. Hot process or rebatching methods really lend themselves to this. We were to additionally create rustic, minimalist packaging. Apparently this is this first time that packaging is part of the judging considerations.
As I started thinking about what rustic soap meant to me I just kept having visions of everyone entering brown, rough-topped, crinkle-cut soap wrapped in brown butcher paper or burlap. I mean, really, what was I going to do to set my soap apart? The definition Amy provided for us was "having a simplicity and charm that is considered typical of the countryside." And it was fortunate that this weekend I made a 4 hour drive from Houston to Austin Tx, through the countryside during wildflower season!
And during all that driving I thought about my 94 year old grandmother and her early life as a migrant cotton picker in Texas. And somehow out of all that I developed a plan. I was going to create a soap that my grandmother might have made when she was a girl, and I was going to only use ingredients that I, or my family, have grown either currently or in the past. (Except lye... can't grow that one!)
Ok! So now the ball was rolling. As with all soap, formulating a good balance of oils was going to be the first step. Since I can't grow coconuts here in Houston, coconut oil was out of the picture, as was olive oil. And while we do have palms here, they aren't sourced for palm oil. As I began to run my oils through soap calculators I noticed that my cleansing qualities were WAY too low. I prefer a low cleansing profile of about 12, but I was struggling to get it above 5, and I knew that would never work. The problem lay in the fact that Palm and Coconut have high levels of lauric and myristic acid, which provide that cleansing power. Very few other plant oils have them.
At this point I was beginning to rethink my plan, but then I found Ghee, the clarification of clarified butter (or something like that...) I've seen it in the store and never knew what it was. But now I know. Yes, I do. And Ghee has phenomenal amounts of those cleansing acids I needed.
Now that I had tacked down that cleansing problem, I had to develop my recipe. After looking over the local oils and fats at my disposal, I decided to add dairy since my dad was raised on a dairy farm, particularly heavy cream because it is so fatty. My recipe ended up as...
- Beef Tallow - 55%
- Bovine Ghee - 25%
- Heavy Cream - 10%
- Pecan Oil - 5%
- Grapeseed Oil - 5%
I have to say I was pretty nervous, I had NEVER used ghee in soapmaking and had no clue if 25% was too much, but I needed it's lauric and myristic acid. Needed it.
This soap had many of the properties I look for in my soaps, low cleansing, pretty hard, very creamy. Since it was short in the bubbly and conditioning categories, I decided to add local honey and hope the sugars added enough bubble boost. And, just to make things even more interesting, I added a fresh egg yolk to help out in the conditioning area, since, you know, I've also NEVER used egg in soap. (Shakes head... so many things that could go wrong here... but also so much to learn!)
Since I didn't use cottonseed oil, I decided to use Bramble Berry's Crisp Cotton Fragrance Oil, and some Lavender, because I grow lavender.
This soap had many of the properties I look for in my soaps, low cleansing, pretty hard, very creamy. Since it was short in the bubbly and conditioning categories, I decided to add local honey and hope the sugars added enough bubble boost. And, just to make things even more interesting, I added a fresh egg yolk to help out in the conditioning area, since, you know, I've also NEVER used egg in soap. (Shakes head... so many things that could go wrong here... but also so much to learn!)
Since I didn't use cottonseed oil, I decided to use Bramble Berry's Crisp Cotton Fragrance Oil, and some Lavender, because I grow lavender.
So now it was time to begin.
I had to start by rendering tallow! It was ok because I generally do this myself anyway and I had just used up my last bit in a previous soap. After rendering tallow, I had to render ghee. First time doing that, it was super easy and you can read about it in my previous blog entry here.
Some other prep work I did included:
Ok, so I made this soap using the hot process crock pot method. Everything went great. It was a very fluid batter that was a joy to work with. It cooked evenly, quickly, and poured almost as smoothly as a cold process batter would have. I folded in the chopped botanicals and poured it into my 8" silicone mold. The smell was DIVINE... like warm baked raisin bread, both spicy and sweet and oh so fragrant. It turned a beautiful warm yellow color from the honey and I could tell I was going to love this soap.
Whenever I make hot process soap I always scrape some of the left overs from the crock pot and give my hands a quick wash with it to test the lather. As expected it had a creamy, low bubbly texture, but it still felt nice. I set the soap scrap on the counter, congratulated myself and went to go do something else.
That was when I noticed something was... wrong. Something that I hadn't thought would happen. Not to me. That thing... that terrible terrible thing???
BUTYRIC ACID
"But-what?" you say. Butyric acid. Since I'm not a scientist, I suggest you read that very informative link I have provided. In short, Butyric put the ass in acid.
At first I thought that maybe it was just me. Or maybe the smell would work itself out. But no, as I now read an apparent plethora of information on Ghee and butyric acid which, despite my avid research had managed to skim under my radar prior to making this soap, I began to see that this was pretty much a lost cause.
I had one final plan though... I would rebatch it the following day and add baking soda and see if that helped at all. I was off on another road trip though so the rebatching would have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime my unsuspecting husband decided to wash his hands with the soap scrap I had accidentally left on the counter. He should know, by now, not to touch soap until I say it's safe... To him, the butyric soap smelled like vomit.
And the next day, despite rebatching with baking soda, the smell remained as virulent as ever. Now that beautiful golden yellow color only reminded me of vomit... or something my dog might do when he's very ill. The batch was thrown away, because, you know, he that fights and runs away may live to fight another day...
And now I know about ghee. Oh yes I do. Save it for your Indian Cuisine, fry an egg in it, put some on your toast... it's great. But don't, please, don't soap it.
***Although as a side note, it did occur to me that this would make a fabulous joke soap (ok, a very mean practical joke... but still) You could put it in a bathroom and people would wash their hands and it would smell fine. It's not until the soap dried up that you can smell that *erm* smell... So someone would just keep washing their hands over and over until they eventually caught on.... just saying***
- Chopping the dried botanicals (all flowers from my gardens past)
- Tempering the egg yolk with a slight amount of the warm (not hot) oils
- Adding some of the warm oils to the honey
- I didn't freeze the heavy cream but I did decide to use half of it with my lye water and add the other half during the cook, so I split it before the cook
Ok, so I made this soap using the hot process crock pot method. Everything went great. It was a very fluid batter that was a joy to work with. It cooked evenly, quickly, and poured almost as smoothly as a cold process batter would have. I folded in the chopped botanicals and poured it into my 8" silicone mold. The smell was DIVINE... like warm baked raisin bread, both spicy and sweet and oh so fragrant. It turned a beautiful warm yellow color from the honey and I could tell I was going to love this soap.
Above: Adding the honey
Below: Adding the tempered egg (notice how dark the honey has turned the batter)
Whenever I make hot process soap I always scrape some of the left overs from the crock pot and give my hands a quick wash with it to test the lather. As expected it had a creamy, low bubbly texture, but it still felt nice. I set the soap scrap on the counter, congratulated myself and went to go do something else.
That was when I noticed something was... wrong. Something that I hadn't thought would happen. Not to me. That thing... that terrible terrible thing???
BUTYRIC ACID
"But-what?" you say. Butyric acid. Since I'm not a scientist, I suggest you read that very informative link I have provided. In short, Butyric put the ass in acid.
At first I thought that maybe it was just me. Or maybe the smell would work itself out. But no, as I now read an apparent plethora of information on Ghee and butyric acid which, despite my avid research had managed to skim under my radar prior to making this soap, I began to see that this was pretty much a lost cause.
I had one final plan though... I would rebatch it the following day and add baking soda and see if that helped at all. I was off on another road trip though so the rebatching would have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime my unsuspecting husband decided to wash his hands with the soap scrap I had accidentally left on the counter. He should know, by now, not to touch soap until I say it's safe... To him, the butyric soap smelled like vomit.
And the next day, despite rebatching with baking soda, the smell remained as virulent as ever. Now that beautiful golden yellow color only reminded me of vomit... or something my dog might do when he's very ill. The batch was thrown away, because, you know, he that fights and runs away may live to fight another day...
And now I know about ghee. Oh yes I do. Save it for your Indian Cuisine, fry an egg in it, put some on your toast... it's great. But don't, please, don't soap it.
***Although as a side note, it did occur to me that this would make a fabulous joke soap (ok, a very mean practical joke... but still) You could put it in a bathroom and people would wash their hands and it would smell fine. It's not until the soap dried up that you can smell that *erm* smell... So someone would just keep washing their hands over and over until they eventually caught on.... just saying***
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