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Sunday, October 9, 2011

The art of making soap.

So, we get asked all the time how soap is made.  Well, for starters there are two different methods you can use.  There is the cold-process and the hot-process method.  Cold-process is the tried and true, old-fashioned way your grandmother made soap.  This soap has to age 4-6 weeks before you can safely use it to make sure all the active lye is out.  More on what lye is later.  Hot-process is essentially the same, but it has a cooking step involved.  This cooking removes all the active lye and it is therefore safe to use once it hardens into a bar.  Both methods have strengths and weaknesses.  We actually use both methods depending on how quickly I need to have a batch of soap ready to go.  My friend Jayne over at Honeyrun Farm has put together a wonderful tutorial on how to make soap using the cold-process method. She has ever so kindly let me cross-post for you all to see.  Just click here!

Speaking of Honeyrun Farm, if you are looking for wonderful pure and raw honey exactly the way nature intended, please check out the wonderful products they have to offer.  Along with their honey they have bee pollen, lovely beeswax candles, as well as their own line of beautiful artisan soaps.  I can't recommend the Black Locust honey enough!

So, back to how to make soap!  Now that you've been able to see how the cold-process method works, I'll talk about the hot-process method.  You start out the same way as cold-process...you measure out the oils and get the lye measured and mixed.  Now here is where we change course.  The measured oils go into a standard kitchen crock pot set to "high".  Yes, a crock pot!  We use an 8 quart size crock pot because during the cooking phase the soap rises quite high up the sides of the pot.  The oils are heated until they are hot to the touch.  There really is no set temperature here.  You have quite a bit of give room, as long as they are hot.  At this point, you turn the crock pot to "low" and then slowly add the lye to the oil while mixing with the stick blender.  See, quite similar to the cold-process method so far!!  After the soap hits the trace/pudding stage, you simply put the lid on and then set a timer for 55 minutes.  Now, don't walk away!  As the soap heats and starts to cook, the soap starts to rise up the sides and fold over on itself.  If you don't watch out, it could cook up over the sides of the crock pot and then you have a royal mess on your hands...yes, I have don't it before!  It also starts to change colors from quite opaque to a more gel-like appearance.


Once the soap starts to rise to the top of the crock pot it is time to stir the soap.  This helps assure the soap cooks evenly and also keeps it from cooking over the edges of the crock pot!  I generally have to stir the soap 3 times during the cooking phase.  As it cooks the soap will thicken up and take on the look of a thick gel.  Here is a picture of the soap towards the end of it's 55 minute cooking time.


After the soap has finished cooking, it's time to add any botanicals, additives, and fragrance.  We add honey to all our soaps and we try very hard to stick to essential oils to fragrance our soaps.  This particular batch of soap is our Lemon-Poppyseed and you can see the little grey poppyseeds waiting to be mixed into the soap.  


Once you have mixed in all the additional goodies you want in the soap, it is time to put it into the mold. We use a loaf-style mold that we line with butchers paper lightly coated with sunflower oil.  This just keeps the soap from sticking to the paper as it cools.  Each of the recipes we use make more than will fit into the loaf mold so we also line small circular tubes that yield a nice little circular bar of soap.  


This is what a fully loaded mold ready to cool and harden up looks like.


At this point, I just let the soap sit in the mold for about 24 hours to make sure it's nice and hard before I remove it from the mold.  You can use it at any point now.  It is lye-free and safe to use.  Now that being said, we let it sit for a few days before we cut it into bars and then we like to let it set for another couple weeks once it is cut to dry out a bit more.  When soap is REALLY new it can have a slightly sticky feeling to it.  Plus, this extra aging time gives extra assurance that there is absolutely no lye left in the finished bar.  Here are a couple photos of finished soap that is ready to be cut and labeled.  



Handmade soaps are so beautiful!  The sky is the limit when it comes to fragrance options and additives. Even recipes for the soap itself...you can custom design your very own personalized soap if you like. Give it a try!


Monday, September 5, 2011

We are finally up and running!!

So this has been a long time coming!  We are really happy to finally be able to give everyone a way to see the goings on here at Prairie Fields Farm.  Right now we are super busy with the Grandview Farmers' Market every Saturday 10am to 1pm.  We have handmade soaps, homemade jams and jellies, seasonal heirloom produce, and fresh cut flowers again this year.  Come check it out if you haven't yet.  There are some really excellent vendors there with everything from fresh produce to yummy baked goods to delicious goat cheeses.  I'm going to have a picture tutorial on how we make our soaps, so be sure to check back soon.  Again, we're so happy to finally be bloggers!