Friday, December 10, 2010
Soapmaking Thoughts
Ok, I wound up making 3 batches of hot process goat milk soap. My thought on using goat milk with the hot process method is that you cannot scent it. Maybe concentrated essential oils would work, but I used a lot of natural stuff and nothing really changed the scent. It isn't terribly unpleasant, but it isn't great either. However, the soap works great. I certainly can't complain in that area. I scented one batch with herb de provence and you can slightly smell the herbs, but not really well. The next batch was scented with lime zest and lemon balm....nothing not even a hint of citrus. The last batch I scented with cinnamon and got a beautiful chocolate colored bar but absolutely no hint of cinnamon despite the copious amount used. So, maybe the long cooking process depletes the ability to overwhelm the goat milk scent. I don't know. I will try cold process goat milk soap next time (gotta get more lye) and see if that works out any better. I am still very happy with my soap results. I had my hands in soap and soapy water all day yesterday and they never once felt dry or chapped. Plus, I can use the hot process right away and don't have to cure it (the extra cooking does the curing). The bars are drying nice and hard so they should last a good while also. Happy soapmaking!
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3 comments:
Oh what fun. I'm a long ways off from making my own soap, but some day. I hope.
To scent hot process goat milk soap, I first scent the oil by heating it with fresh springs of spearmint or peppermint. I then pour the warm oil over more springs in a quart jar & let it sit in the fridge for a week or so. Strain & use the oil as part of the fat in the soap. I haven't tried it with rosemary, but see no reason why it wouldn't work as well.
Thank you so much anonymous. I will have to try that on my next batches. And Dana, soapmaking is really cool and much easier than I expected. I love having almost instant results with the hot process method.
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