Additives

[SPowers]

I could use some clarification on food additives. It was my understanding that fresh foods shouldn't be added as they may spoil. Someone recently posted on FB that they use grated carrots, fresh lemon & lime zest to name just a few.

Will these additives turn black or mess with the soap in any way or are they fine to use?

Thanks!

 

[Eclypse]

I'm concerned too.

 

[Dawni]

My understanding is as long as the particles aren't big, and the stuff is fully incorporated in/with/within the soap batter (so I understood this to mean that it saponifies with the soap) then it's fine

I regularly use pureed rice in my soap. No problems so far..

There might be some that might discolour and mess up the soap, not sure about those

 

[SPowers]

I use the rice too (thank you btw!) but it's cooked. Same as carrots... I cook and puree carrots for one of my soaps. But someone said they used raw grated carrot and fresh 'zest'.

 

[Dawni]

Ohhh.. There was someone here who posted a pic, where her yellow lemon zest turned orange after.

And you're welcome hehehe

 

[GemstonePony]

Grated or diced fresh anything makes me nervous. As long as it's blended it's probably ok, though a lot of citrus juice may raise your superfat if you don't account for it with the lye.
I consider large food chunks on par with whole flower petals, lavender buds, etc.: It sounds nice on paper, and might look ok as shelf decoration, but I personally wouldn't actually want to use it. It might mold, it might not, but if I puree things instead of leaving them as identifiable bits, I don't have to wonder.

 

[lsg]

If you want to use carrots or other vegetables, why not puree them and discount the water? I have used pureed aloe leaf and cucumber without a problem; just discount the weight used from the weight of the liquid used to dissolve the lye.

 

[Rsapienza]

I don't know about any thing grated or zest but I have used aloe, cucumber, pumpkin, dragon fruit, pomegranate, avocado, and possibly some others. I did puree or juice them and added as part of liquid. I never experienced any issues. Unfortunately, I was more into the concept than potential customers I did have fun making them though.

 

[Nina F]

I could use some clarification on food additives. It was my understanding that fresh foods shouldn't be added as they may spoil. Someone recently posted on FB that they use grated carrots, fresh lemon & lime zest to name just a few.

Will these additives turn black or mess with the soap in any way or are they fine to use?

Thanks!

I’ve used carrot juice successfully to tint soap, although it fades after a few months. To stop it turning brown through overheating in CP, I chilled in the freezer to prevent the gel phase.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

As long as you’re taking water, acidity (citrus) and sugar into account, and pureeing away chunks and lumps, there are many food additives that are just fine in soap. Vegetables are mostly water and the rest is made of things we readily put in soap, like sugars/starches, proteins and fats. The fuller explanation is here:

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/food-additives-in-soap.76808/
I just recently checked in on an archived pumpkin soap from fall 2019 and it still looks and smells wonderful.