# Cranberry seeds as an exfoliant?



## maggiemarieoc (Jan 13, 2016)

Hey! Thank god for this soap making app because idk where I would even begin to ask this question! I live in northern Wisconsin and cranberries are super abundant up here so I have been working them into my Beaty products. I've seen people use cranberry seeds as an exfoliant and I've seen them for sale on a few soapy sites, but does anyone know how I could extract the seeds myself? And once they are extracted do I need to dry them (I'm assuming yes), and finally could I possibly use the skins as well? Maybe dehydrate them and grind them down into a salt shaped size? Please help! Id hate to drop a bunch of money on something that I have coming out of my ears and I hate to take away from our small northern economy by ordering them from God knows where. I appreciate the feedback on such a strange subject!


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## nsmar4211 (Jan 13, 2016)

No clue on the extraction/etc issues, but have you considered ordering a small amount and testing it in a few batches to ensure it's something you'd actually use? The soap I bought that has them in it is extremly abrasive (think foot use only) and the vendor doesn't sell much of it. You only use a teaspoon or so in a pound of soap, so the economies of scale may come into play here. From the looks of it, the cranberry pieces almost look ground up to me...


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## maggiemarieoc (Jan 14, 2016)

I have heard that they can be pretty scratchy but I did manage to extract some the other night. After some serious research I found a video on YouTube (and just in case anyone else is in need of a cranberry extraction technique) basically you cut each berry in half and put them in a bowl of water, put a lid on it, and shake. The berries will float to the top and the seeds sink. And I'm not sure if there's different kinds of cranberries but the ones I'm using the seeds are tiny so I can't see them being that abrasive. Once I get a decent amount out I'll make that determination. The other issue I'm having with them is once I cut them open and get the seeds out there's still an entire wet cranberry, I can only dehydrate so many and use them for colorant. Basically the waste seems to be outweighing the need. And I looked into ordering them but I can't find any on a site that doesn't either have ridiculous shipping costs, a minimum order amount, or outrageous prices all around. They aren't easy to find at all. Any recommendation on sites? And honestly the main reason I wanted to use the seeds was mainly more of a marketing approach than anything. The whole local ingredient thing is really "in"right now. I think I may try to find a happy medium. Maybe I'll order some and harvest some, and I'll mix them with another type of exfoliant. Something less scratchy.


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## Earthen_Step (Jan 14, 2016)

http://www.nait.ca/docs/Shrub_Seeds_Collection_Cleaning.pdf
^All I could find quickly.  I have used cranberry seeds and enjoy them.  My favorite has been using a thin layer of cranberry seeds with on slab soap.  You can scrub if you want to or use the smooth side when you don't want that scratch.

*Edit:  I love using poppy seeds ground up, I bet cranberry seeds would be nice this way as well.  Maybe 50-75% very fine ground cranberry seeds and 50-25% whole seed.


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## Deedles (Jan 14, 2016)

Earthen_Step said:


> http://www.nait.ca/docs/Shrub_Seeds_Collection_Cleaning.pdf
> ^All I could find quickly.  I have used cranberry seeds and enjoy them.  My favorite has been using a thin layer of cranberry seeds with on slab soap.  You can scrub if you want to or use the smooth side when you don't want that scratch.
> 
> *Edit:  I love using poppy seeds ground up, I bet cranberry seeds would be nice this way as well.  Maybe 50-75% very fine ground cranberry seeds and 50-25% whole seed.



I got some cranberry seeds as a freebie from somewhere and wondered how 'scrubbie' they would be. Never thought about grinding them up.


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## maggiemarieoc (Jan 15, 2016)

I've been researching this subject for days! Is it the tiny seeds inside the cranberries that are being used or are they the ones u buy to put in the ground. I know that sounds silly but I can't figure out if there's a distinction and one things for sure, I can't extract them myself and keep my sanity!


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## Earthen_Step (Jan 15, 2016)

maggiemarieoc said:


> I've been researching this subject for days! Is it the tiny seeds inside the cranberries that are being used or are they the ones u buy to put in the ground. I know that sounds silly but I can't figure out if there's a distinction and one things for sure, I can't extract them myself and keep my sanity!



Unless there is a special strain that grows seeds without the berry, they should be exactly the same thing.  With over 100 plant varieties they could have different sized seeds.  That's something worth looking into, maybe larger seed varieties would be easier to extract seeds from.


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