making organic soap at home

Making Organic

Soap At Home

By Sheryl Gallant

Preface

Homemade soap is so luxuriant and such a pleasure to use! It contains no chemicals that

you don't put into it yourself and still contains all of the natural glycerine that is a by-product

of the chemical reaction which makes soap. It's this glycerine that makes homemade soap

so moisturizing and good for your skin. Most commercial soaps have the glycerine removed,

as it is worth more than the soap. Some soaps called ‘glycerine’ soaps have a bit added back

into it but it does not match the feeling you get from using your own organic, homemade

soap. It’s a great step on the journey to becoming more self sufficient!

You can add anything to the soap, when you are the one making it. It becomes an artistic

outlet for those with imagination and a method of obtaining something that you cannot usually

buy at the store. Homemade soap makes a great gift for any occasion! It’s a fun very

addictive hobby!

Soap is much easier to make today, with our modern conveniences, than it was for our great

grandmothers in the previous century. You can make soap with a hand blender, eliminating

all those hours of stirring with a spoon until the soap is made. We also have digital scales

and digital thermometers, making the process much more foolproof.

With the new movement to return to the old ways, the art of soap making is becoming

popular again. This book has been written to help those who want to make their own soap at

home, those who are on the journey to a healthier and more self sufficient lifestyle.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 - What is Soap…………………………………………..………………. Page 1

Chapter 2 - Equipment Needed To Make Soap………………..…………………

Chapter 3 - Directions for Making Basic Soap………………………………...….. Page 4

Chapter 4 - Cooking Your Soap………………………………………………..….. Page 7

Chapter 5 - Making Clear “Glycerine” Soap…………………………………..….. Page 9

Chapter 6 - Colouring Your Soap………………………………………………...… Page 10

Chapter 7 - Making Your Own Soap Recipe……………………………...………. Page 11

Chapter 8 - Recipes, Additives and Variations……………………………...……. Page 12

Chapter 9 - Rendering Fat………………………………………………………..… Page 14

Chapter 10 - Making Herb Infused Oils……………………………………………... Page 16

Chapter 11 - Making Your Own Lye………………..…………….…………………. Page 18

Chapter 1

What is Soap?

Soap is the result of mixing lye (usually Sodium hydroxide) with fat in specific amounts, with both at

the correct temperature, usually around 105F - 108F. When they are mixed together under these

specific circumstances and mixed very well, a chemical process changes the fat and lye combination

to a single substance, soap. This chemical process is called "saponification".

Lye is an organic substance but it is so alkaline that it burns the skin, making it unsafe to use without

some care. Always wear gloves and safety glasses when mixing and handling lye! Be careful what

you buy when purchasing lye. Make sure it is pure lye, sodium hydroxide. Some drain cleaners

contain lye but also contain other harmful chemicals and should not be used for soap making.

If you use the correct recipe of various fats and lye, all of the fat and lye will be made into soap. There

should be no lye left in a completed soap batch. If you have not used enough of the right fats to

saponify all of the lye you are using, there will be some lye left in your completed soap, making it

harmful to the skin and unsafe to use. It is important to have a good recipe.

All fats are not created equal when you are making soap. The hardness of the soap is determined by

the ratio of hard fats to oils in the recipe. Generally, 20-40 percent of the recipe should be hard fat,

such as lard, shortening, tallow. The rest of the fats can be any fat or vegetable oil available to you,

however, the amount of lye needed will change with the different types of fat used. Chapter 6

“Making Your Own Soap Recipe” explains how to make your own recipes for soap making. Do not

substitute different oils for the canola used in the recipes given here without consulting the chart in

that chapter and understanding the ratios used. Only organic fats will make soap. Mineral oil and

petroleum jelly are not organic and will not make soap. You can use these non-organic oils for

greasing the mould, since the soap poured into the mould will not absorb it.

There are many sources from which you can obtain reliable recipes for soap making. I have included

a chapter in this book with recipes for the more common types of soap. At some point you may have

access to many various types of oils and fats in differing amounts and wish to make soap from them.

Even if you use a recipe from this book or elsewhere, it is a good idea to understand how the recipes

work and to even make your own recipe at some point.

Basic, pure soap is just lye mixed in water and fat at the right temperatures. You can add a lot of

various things to the soap you are making and it will make wonderful homemade soap, provided you

have the correct fat to lye ratio.

You can use water or milk as the liquid in your soap. A tea can be made from various leaves with the

water before it is used in the soap, to retain some of the health properties of the plants. Milk from

cows or goats can be used to make a more soothing soap. Both herbs and milk will make your soap a

natural tan colour instead of white but this is natural and should not be a drawback to using them in

your soap.

Experiment with additions! Be creative with colour, scent and additions. Oatmeal vanilla is one of the

most popular homemade soaps out there.

Chapter 2

Equipment Needed to Make Soap

Glass and stainless only, no plastic! The lye will eat plastic.

1. Digital weigh scale

2. Stick hand blender

3. One large container, glass or stainless for mixing lye and water.

4. Two very large spoons, stainless or wood

5. Thermometer - Glass for candy or digital

6. Mould – can be cardboard box lined with waxed paper or any plastic container, well greased with petroleum jelly. Hardened soap is difficult to remove from inflexible containers!

7. Cutting board

8. Large, heavy knife

9. Various glass measuring cups or bowls – large enough to hold the weighed ingredients

10. Very large pot, stainless steel or glass only – 6 – 8 quart

11. Rubber Spatula

Chapter 3

Directions for Making Basic Soap Also called “Cold Process” Soap

Take out and pre-measure all ingredients and additives. It is very important to be exact in the measurements. Weigh everything on a digital scale. If you use with fluid measurements, you will end up with a lye heavy soap.

Mix the dry lye into the liquid (I do this step outside). Wear protective gear, i.e. gloves, safety goggles and mask. If mixing indoors, place the water under an open window or fan. Turn your face away from the fumes and do not inhale them. (inhaling the fumes will result in a lot of coughing and wheezing!) Slowly stir in the lye flakes, stirring constantly and carefully until it is clear. It will look like water, so it is very important that you do not leave this unattended. If you are mixing it ahead of time, label it well! Wipe up all spilled lye flakes. It will be VERY hot when mixed. Set it

aside to cool. It should be 105 – 108 degrees F. to make soap. You can set the container of lye in a sink of cold water to cool quickly if using a metal bowl or mix the lye the day before. The lye water mix will heat up again for mixing with the fat, from room temperature, in about one minute in the microwave. Put the large pot on the stove top on LOW. Put in the hard fats and melt slowly, just until it is all barely melted. Add the oils and put in the thermometer. Heat the fats until they are at 105-108 degrees F, while cooling the lye mixture down to approximately the same temperature. A thermometer for each bowl is recommended. Cooling the lye will take longer than melting the fats. Do not leave the fats on the stove unattended. It is possible for them to get so hot they will burst into flame! The proper temperature is warm. Not hot. The fats can be melted in the microwave, but will reach a combustible temperature in a very short time and must be watched carefully! While the fats are melting and the lye is cooling, prepare the moulds. If you are using a mould that is not cardboard, it is a good idea to lay a towel in the bottom with the sides out, and then line this with waxed paper. This will assist you in removing the block of hard soap from the mould. Moulds can be boxes, plastic tubs, PVC pipe, dishes or anything that will hold the soap. Keep in mind that the hardened soap will be almost impossible to remove from inflexible containers.

When both the lye and the fats are the proper temperature, they are ready to be mixed. Slowly pour the lye into the fats, stirring constantly. Do not pour the fat into the lye. Stir until it is well mixed, then switch to the hand blender. The colour can be added at this point. Blend thoroughly throughout the whole container, scraping the bottom with the spoon or blender and the sides with a rubber spatula.

Blend the mixture until it becomes so thick that a trail of dripped soap can be left setting on the top. This stage is called “trace”. It will go through stages: the gravy stage, the pudding stage, the light trace and then the true trace. Blend it until you are sure it has truly traced to make sure it does not separate in the mould before making soap. It may take a little practice to recognize “trace” right away. Sometimes it can get hard so fast, after trace that it is difficult to pour into the mould. Occasionally an essential or fragrance oil will cause the soap to seize immediately and become hard before pouring. If that happens, slowly heat the soap in the pot again until it melts, then pour into the mould. All of the above is necessary if you are making soap with strange oils and ingredients. When making basic and fairly plain soap, I have found that reaching trace in the pot is not necessary as long as it is hot enough. I usually heat the fats and lye to around 108-110F, blender it well and pour directly into the mould, as is. It usually traces and hardens in the mould overnight without a problem. The only time I have had soap in the mould that did not saponify is when it was too cool. Some recipes will tell you that 105F or even cooler will saponify but I have found that it does not always work at those cooler temperatures. I strive for 108F most of the time, then blender and pour into the mould. If I am unsure of the temperature of the lye and fats going together, I will heat up the mix to 108F before pouring into the mould. The soap is a thinner liquid state when it is done this way and easier to marble colour in the mould. It

has a smoother outside edge, less bubbles and is just easier to work with. This only works for cold

process soap, however. If you cook it, it will be a gel, lumpy, thick and harder to work with, but ready

much sooner. Cooked soap can be used immediately.

When you are sure it has traced, it is time to add the scent. No scent will survive the saponification process, so it must be added after trace has taken place. Herbs and oils will still retain their properties, but not their scent, unless they are added just prior to pouring. Stir the scent in vigorously, and then pour into the mould.

You can make the soap mould out of anything handy, if you are lining it with waxed paper. I use small cardboard boxes lines with wax paper that I tape in place. Fold the corners neatly so there are no wrinkles. Any wrinkles in the mould will show in the finished soap. You can always rub the small wrinkles out or shave a little off until it is smooth and use the shaved pieces to make soap balls, melt them altogether or add to the next soap batch. Do not use a hard sided mould without lining it or you will never get the soap out. All moulds should be greased with Vaseline or other non-organic grease. Organic grease will be absorbed into the soap. Even if you line the mould with waxed paper, you should still grease the paper or it will stick to the soap, making it difficult to peel off. After pouring in the soap, knock the mould on a hard surface a couple of times to settle it and hopefully knock out any air pockets in the soap. If you are making cold process soap, uncooked, you will need to place a piece of waxed paper on the surface of the raw soap before it finishes in the mould. Without this, a scum will form on the surface of the soap. It is soda ash and must be cut off and discarded, as it will be caustic. Placing a piece of waxed paper immediately on the entire surface of the soap will prevent soda ash from forming. Close the box, cover with a towel and place in a cool location to harden for about 24 hours. Remove the soap from the mould onto a large cutting board. Slice the soap into usable bars. Store cut soap bars in a dry, ventilated place to cure. The soap will be ready to use in about 6-8 weeks. Test it yourself when you think it might be ready. If it irritates your skin, it is not ready to use.

Any soap can be saved and redone, unless it has been burned in

the pan. To “re-batch” soap, grate the soap or put it through a food

processor. Put this in a large pot and add enough water to barely

cover the soap. Let it sit overnight and all the water will be absorbed

by the soap. Put the pot on very low heat on the stove and stir well

until it has melted thoroughly. To this you can add colour or scent

and remould. Remove from the mould, slice and cure until hard.

If the soap is crumbly when it comes out of the mould, add a little oil to the melted soap, as well as

water or milk. Soap can be redone many times until you get the desired result, as long as you don’t

scorch it. Burned soap is not repairable and just has to be tossed out.

Try not to give the soap out before it is truly ready. Curb your impatience and wait until the soap is at

it’s best before letting anyone sample it.

As previously mentioned, you can make soap that is ready to use almost immediately by cooking it.

Chapter 4

Cooking Your Soap Also called “Hot Process” Soap

There are many methods used for making hot process soap. Anything that will slowly heat the soap until the water has all evaporated will cook the soap. When I make soap in the cool weather, I put it on the wood stove to save on energy costs. Occasionally I will cook it in the slow cooker, in the oven, on the stove top or even in the microwave. All of these methods require that you watch the soap carefully. When it reaches a certain stage it will climb up and out of the pot you have it in. It will need to be watched and stirred down often, so you cannot put the soap on to cook and leave it unattended for a long period of time. You will have a mess to clean up when you get back if you do. Some recipes for cooked soap will tell you to wait for trace before heating the soap. I have found that this is unnecessary. It will saponify as it heats up. All additions, except essential/fragrance oils can be added before cooking. Scents will have to wait until the soap is finished and a bit cooler as they are volatile and will evaporate in the cooking heat. Cooking soap on the stove top, wood stove or outdoor fire: After you mix the lye into the melted fat, heat the soap gently until very tiny, champagne, soap lather type bubbles appear. Keep stirring gently all the time but not fast enough to splash the soap out. It will still be caustic at this stage! Reaching the champagne bubble stage usually takes about 20 minutes. When those tiny bubbles appear, turn off the heat but watch it closely. It will expand at this point and try to climb out of the pot! If it begins to get too high, stir it down. After 10 minutes or so, check the batch, add some gentle heat if the champagne bubbles have ceased. Keep stirring gently until the tiny bubbles reappear. This takes about 5-10 minutes. Then turn off the heat and leave it for another 10 minutes or so. Keep repeating these steps until you get something that looks like old Vaseline, a cohesive lumpy gel. This last stage happens quite suddenly, going from curds and oil and bubble to this smoother, almost silky looking, finished soap. Remove it from the heat and cool some. Before it hardens, add fragrance, if desired and mould.

Cooking soap in the microwave: I would use a glass container for this, not plastic and not metal. Put the soap mixture into the microwave and cook on medium heat for about 5-7 minutes. Take it out and stir it after every minute at this stage so it cooks evenly. Cook like this, stirring every minute until it starts to climb out of the pot. Now cook the soap on high, stirring down any foam. You may have to check on it every thirty seconds at this point to keep it in the pot. The soap will separate a bit while cooking. Just keep stirring it together as it cooks. You will see the champagne bubble stage as you cook the soap and stir it. After a total of approximately 15 minutes the soap will reach the glossy, gloppy, gel stage and be finished. When it is done it will be a thick cohesive gel. It is easy to overcook soap in the microwave. Take it out as soon as it reaches the cohesive gel stage. Cooking soap in the slow cooker: Melt the fats in the slow cooker on high and add the lye mixture to it, slowly. Use the hand blender and blend it well. Leave it to cook on low in the slow cooker with the lid on, using the blender every 5-10 minutes at this point. When the soap begins to turn translucent on the outer edge and thicken, switch to a spoon, stirring every 10-15 minutes. After 1.5 – 2 hours of slowly cooking, the soap should reach the cohesive, almost translucent, gel stage and be finished. Turn of the slow cooker, add scent and spoon into the mould. Cooking soap in the oven: Preheat the oven to 180F-190F while mixing the ingredients together. When ingredients are mixed and blendered well, put the uncovered pot full of soap into the oven. Leave soap in the oven for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Watch it closely and stir more often if it starts to climb out of the pot too quickly. It should reach the slightly translucent, gel stage after about an hour in the oven. Let it cool slightly before adding fragrance and mould.

Chapter 5

Make Clear Glycerine Soap This can be made from shavings, uneven corners that got trimmed, undersized bars, soap that didn’t

cure out with a good smell (new scent trails), etc. They don’t need to be made of anything particular,

aged or un-aged, new or old, or soft or hard, or made from scratch. You just need clean shaved soap,

a large pot, 1 ½ cups of really strong alcohol (vodka is good, rubbing alcohol is okay, but doesn’t give

a clear soap, just a rubbery gelatinous soap that is cloudy, kind of like frosted glass), and glycerine to

add to it. Melt the soap down, using half the alcohol to start. Get it melted COMPLETELY and thin in

consistency by adding the rest of the alcohol when it has melted. Dissolve 10 oz of sugar in a small

amount of water. Add the dissolved sugar and 6 – 8 oz. of glycerine and blend. Then you just cook it

on this really low, low heat. When you get “string” or ropey looking ribbons falling off the spoon you

are using, and a little dropping off the spoon onto a cold counter hardens up, you’re done. So then

you set it aside and melt it again the next day, this will draw off the left over moisture from it. It’s still

got a couple of extra melts in it left over, for messing around with it.

The higher alcohol level and the lower the water level in the stuff you use, the clearer the finished

product will be. The second melt is after you have finished the stuff the first day. At the end of the first

day, just turn off the heat and set the pot aside until tomorrow and re-melt the whole thing the next

day. It takes a whole ten minutes to melt. If it still seems less than clear to you, firm it up, and melt it

again. This uses up all the water in it, and the water content is what makes the stuff cloudy looking. A

quick note of advice: it’s kind of a learned thing, so don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t work out right away

(and don’t throw anything out either, all problems are fixable). I compare everything to cooking – you

have to learn to cook. It just takes some practice to know what you’re looking at – like your first trace

in the soap bowl.

The trick is to make sure that the soap scraps are totally melted down before you add the alcohol and

what not. When you make transparent from scratch, you add all of that stuff when the soap is in the

middle of its hot gel stage – you need to try to approximate this stage with your scraps.

I’ve found that larger batches work better in making transparent soap. It DOES take practice to get it

right, though, and it might actually be easier to do if you’ve made transparent soap from scratch first!

Chapter 6

Colouring the Soap

When I first started making soap, I coloured soap with children’s crayons. I would buy large amounts of these at garage sales for very little money, peel them and melt them. They are mostly wax and so were a good addition to soap, if you are not concerned about the soap being organic. Who knows what they put in crayons, although they are safe and edible for children’s use. I used crayons to colour soap for years and it worked very well. If you are going to use crayons to colour your soap there are a few things you will need to know. The cheaper quality crayons work better as they chop and melt easier. You do need to chop them up and melt them completely with a little oil before adding to the soap. This doesn’t take long in the microwave. I kept the chopped crayons in small glass jars. I put these small jars of chopped crayons in a bit of hot water in a small pot on the stove to melt, as well as using the microwave. The pot method keeps them liquid until you are ready to use them. They will harden up quickly at room temperature if not added right away. You will have to experiment with the amount to use in your soap. I stopped using crayons when customers started asking me if my soap was organic and exactly what was in it. There are many things you can use to make organic soap colour, many of them you can grow at home. Solanum nigrum (chichiquelite) berries make a great purple soap colour, black elderberries or mulberries may also work, red hibiscus petals make a nice light pink, paprika makes a salmon shade, annatto seeds make a good colour, calendula petals make peach or orange. There are many home grown leaves you can use to make various shades of green as well. Burdock, dandelion, comfrey and nettle all make nice green soap. When making your own natural colour for soap, you will need to boil these things in a bit of water and let it sit for a bit to make a strong tea. It’s the tea that is added to the soap, not the actual plant material. For ground spices, like paprika, you can add the actual spice to the oil when making the soap but it must be very finely ground. Instant coffee should be added to the water and dissolved before adding to the soap. I make these teas in the summer, when I have access to the plants, and freeze it in ice cube trays so I can use a little or a lot, as needed when I make soap. If you use your own organic colouring for soap, be sure to list it on your soap as an ingredient so customers know. Some folks may be allergic to certain plants. Needless to say, don’t use poison ivy to colour your soap or ragweed pollen! Some organic soap colours are made with metals that are so finely ground that they seem to dissolve in the soap. Mica, a soft organic metal, can be used to give sparkle to clear soap. Experiment to see what works for you. Colouring can be an exciting part of soap making!

Chapter 7

Make Your Own Soap Recipe To use the following numbers: take the amount of fat you plan to use in your recipe (in ounces) and

multiply it by the decimal number assigned to that type of fat. The resulting answer will be the amount

of lye needed (in ounces). You can round your numbers up when you finish calculating them, but I’d

wait and round up the whole thing after adding the numbers for each fat you are using in your recipe.

At least ¼ of your fat content should be a fat that is hard at room temperature, but this is not written in

stone. Using more hard fat will make a harder soap that lasts longer and does not dissolve as easily

when left sitting in water. Sugar should be 1 teaspoon per lb of fat. Salt should be ½ teaspoon per lb

of fat. Castor oil should be less than 5% of total fats used.

When designing your own recipe, a rule of thumb for the water used is approx. 1/3 of the total weight

of the fats. In other words, add up the weight of the fats and oils and divide that by 3 for the ounces of

water needed. Many people like to have a small cushion of extra fat in a recipe for mildness and to

insure that all the lye has been saponified.

SAP numbers for lye:

Oil Sodium Hydroxide Oil Sodium Hydroxide

Almond, Sweet .1360 Maize .1360

Apricot Kernal .1350 Mango .1280

Avocado .1330 Mink .1400

Beeswax, White .0690 Mustard .1241

Brazil Nut .1750 Niger-seed .1355

Butterfat, Cow .1619 Nutmeg Butter .1160

Butterfat, Goat .1672 Olive .1340

Canola .1240 Palm Butter .1560

Castor .1286 Palm Kernel .1560

Chicken Fat .1389 Palm .1410

Cocoa Butter .1370 Palm, Stearic .1410

Coconut .1900 Peanut .1360

Cod-liver .1326 Poppyseed .1383

Coffee-seed .1300 Pumpkinseed .1331

Corn .1360 Rape .1240

Cottonseed .1386 Rapeseed .1240

Flaxseed .1357 Rice Bran .1280

Goose Fat .1369 Ricinus .1286

Grapeseed .1265 Safflower .1360

Hazelnut .1356 Sesame Seed .1330

Hemp Seed .1345 Shea Butter .1280

Java Cotton .1370 Shortening (veg.) .1360

Jojoba .0690 Soybean .1350

Lanolin .0741 Sunflower Seed .1340

Lard .1380 Sweet Oil .1340

Linseed .1357 Tallow, bear .1390

Macadamia .1390 Tallow, beef .1405

Chapter 8

Recipes

Basic Soap (halve for a smaller recipe) 60 grams castor oil 800 grams canola oil 4 pounds lard (1920 grams) 267 grams coconut oil 406 grams lye 770 grams soft water 5 teaspoons sugar 2 teaspoons salt 15 grams fragrance or essential oil for scent (optional) You can substitute the 800 grams canola oil for one of the following without changing the other ingredients or other amounts: 800 grams olive oil to make castile soap 400 canola oil and 400 hemp oil 600 grams canola and 200 grams corn oil Peanut Oil Soap (smaller recipe) 30 grams castor oil 400 grams peanut oil 2 pounds lard (960 grams) 133.5 grams coconut oil 202 grams lye 385 grams soft water 2 teaspoons sugar 1 teaspoons salt 8 grams fragrance or essential oil for scent (optional)

Goat Fat Soap (halve for a smaller recipe) 60 grams castor oil 800 grams canola oil 4 pounds goat fat (1920 grams) 267 grams coconut oil 404 grams lye 765 grams soft water 5 teaspoons sugar 2 teaspoons salt 15 grams fragrance or essential oil for scent (optional) Shea Butter Soap 300 grams canola oil 30 grams castor oil 180 grams coconut oil 960 grams lard 100 grams Shea butter 210 grams lye 392 grams soft water 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar 3/4 teaspoons salt 8 grams fragrance or essential oil for scent (optional) Some Suggested Variations To the above recipe add one or two of the following: 1 cup oats, ground and moistened with oil ¼ cup honey 2 tablespoons powdered milk, powdered, buttermilk or powdered goats milk 6 tablespoons instant coffee, dissolved in some of the water in the recipe 110 grams cornmeal for exfoliating Teas made from herbs can be used in place of some of the water, added after trace for scent and properties. Too much dried herbs added to the soap will make it scratchy. Fresh herbs will turn brown and dry in the soap. To make soap that floats: whip the oils before using. Whip the hard oils until peaks form. Add the liquid oils slowly, beat again. Add lye solution very slowly and keep beating until it looks like meringue or butter.

Chapter 9

Rendering Fat Making Tallow for Soap Making

I use tallow to make soap whenever I can get it. It can also be used to make candles. Beef fat is called tallow, pork fat is called lard - prepared in exactly the same way. Tallow is harder than any other common fat and will make a harder soap. Shortening can be used to make vegan soap but the soap won't be quite as hard as that made with beef fat. Hardness is desirable if you want the soap to last longer and not melt when sitting in water. You can save your fatty meat scraps in the kitchen and also collect them from a butcher nearby. They can all be put into a pot to render together. Rendering is cooking the fat scraps until all the fat has been liquefied, straining it and letting it cool and harden. This separates the fat from other impurities. The fat rises to the top and can be taken off in one hard chunk after it cools. The fat can simmer slowly in this pot for awhile, until you are satisfied that it has cooked long enough. When it has liquefied and softened somewhat, run it through a blender or use your hand blender to break up the pieces. When it has all liquefied, strain it through a colander, then through a fine strainer before letting it cool outside on the front porch. If you are cooling it outside, a lid is important. Otherwise you might find little racoon prints in it or you might even find it completely gone! The smell will draw the surrounding animals. I would recommend that you leave it outside only through the day and bring it in at night. The next morning it will look like this in the pot.

Now that it has cooled you can separate the fat and give the rest to the chickens. They will love it! This is the bottom layer under the pure fat. You will need to make sure none of these impurities get into the tallow.

You can often simmer the fat on the wood stove in the cool weather, saving energy. This is the pure tallow. It looks just like lard or shortening from the store!

If you have especially smelly cooking fat to render, the addition of a potato to the simmering pot will help to remove odors. A few teaspoons of white vinegar will also help remove odors from the fat and a tablespoon of salt added to the boil will help make it cleaner. It can be boiled twice if it is not clean and pure enough the first time.

Chapter 10

Making Herb Infused Oils

I use my herbal infused oils for soap making more than anything else. I do use them some in cooking but tend to prefer the fresh herbs for that purpose. A week prior to your planned soap making day, you can make your own herb infused oil.

I often make oil infused with oregano and thyme for their antibiotic and antiseptic properties. It helps to cure acne and other skin problems, due to the natural antibiotic properties of those two herbs in the soap. Needless to say, if you plan to make soap in the middle of winter and want to use herbal oil you had best make the oil during the growing season and freeze it for winter use. You can also grow your own herbs in a pot on the windowsill through the winter. Rinse the leaves then

crush them in the container. I often use a glass jar for this, and occasionally a small plastic ice cream bucket, but you can use anything with a lid. You could probably speed this process by blending them in a food processor before putting them in the container. After you collect, rinse and crush the herbs, cover them with oil in the container and put the lid on. If your house is cold at night and this has made the oil cold, warm the pure oil slightly before adding the herbs. Put the lid on tightly and shake the jar several times a day for about a week or until you are ready to make soap.

I let the herbal oils intended for soap use sit out at room temperature. If I were going to take them internally or use in cooking, I would keep them in the refrigerator and discard after a few days. It is not safe to use herbal infused oils kept at room temperature for any internal use without heating them to pasteurize them or sealing them in a pressure canner.

Chapter 11

Making Lye

Making your own lye and making soap with the homemade lye is not as an exact science as making soap with dried, store bought lye. For this reason it should only be attempted by an experienced soap maker. When working with lye it is very important to use safety precautions! Always wear safety goggles and gloves. Lye is an alkaline substance that is organic. It can be made by leaching hard wood ashes from your wood stove or fireplace. Only use hardwood ashes if you want hard soap. Kelp produces the best lye water for making hard soap. You can also use dried banana peels or cocoa pods. You will need a wooden barrel. The best place to obtain one is from a beer making supply place. It’s important that the container be very large and not plastic or aluminum. Since you are going to need a hole in the bottom of it, wood is probably the best substance for it. You are also going to need a good stopper. Obtain the stopper first, before putting the hole in your barrel just to make sure the hole is the right size for the stopper. Put the barrel in it’s permanent home before you start and don’t move it. It will be heavy when it’s full and the contents will be caustic most of the time. Set it up so you can drain it into another container. Cement blocks or bricks make a good raised base. Put the cork tightly in it’s place. Add some clean rocks in the bottom to keep it stable and to give it some bottom weight. Put in about 6 “of filter material on top of the rocks. Straw, hay or dried grass can work for this purpose. After you have the barrel prepared and ready to go, fill it with hardwood ashes. These can be from your fireplace or woodstove or you can make them for this purpose by burning hardwood pieces outdoors. It should be filled with just the ashes. The larger charcoal pieces do not make good lye. Cover the ashes with soft water. Leave at least 6” of space at the top of the container. Put on the lid. In another day the ashes will have settled and you can add more water. Let it sit for a few days, stirring frequently, before testing it for strength. Once you get the hang of it, you can drain it once a week while continually adding fresh ashes all week as it settles and you acquire more from your wood stove. After a few days of soaking ashes it will be time to test it for strength. To test your lye water, drop a raw egg into the barrel. If it floats just under the surface with about a 1” piece above the water, it is ready. If it floats too high, add more soft water and test again. Do this until the egg is floating at the right spot. Remove the egg after testing.

If it floats too high, cover the barrel and let it sit for a few more days, until the egg floats at the right spot when tested. Remove the egg when testing. You can also boil the lye water to make it stronger. I would do this outside to avoid inhaling the fumes. When it is ready, drain it into a glass jug. Put on a tight fitting lid and store in a cool, dark place until you are ready to use it. Lye made this way is potassium hydroxide. Lye that you buy at the store is sodium hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide made from ashes will make a softer soap than store bought sodium hydroxide. You can offset this a bit by using as much of the hardest fat available to make the soap, if you are using your homemade lye. To use this lye water, replace the water in a recipe with lye water and omit the addition of lye altogether. Because it is not as an exact a science as using dried sodium hydroxide, you may want to experiment with the recipe somewhat, changing it to suit your soap needs. You may find that the softer soap is easier to use than the bars and become accustomed to it. Remember: it’s important to use only hard fats with potassium hydroxide in order to have soap hard enough to make into bars. Making soap is a great way to save money, to be creative and to continue on your journey to becoming more self sufficient! Warning: It can become addictive!

making organic soap at home

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