Advice needed for my flights of fancy

[cerelife]

I've searched this forum and THINK I've found some answers, but I want to make sure I've got it right!
1) I want to make a strawberry soap in the spring when our wild strawberries bear fruit. Based on what I've found here, I'll just use one of my normal recipes and add 1 TSP ppo of finely pureed pulp at trace with no water discount. I also plan on adding rose kaolin clay at the same amount for a pink color, and a strawberry FO...any suggestions? Right now I'm thinking of WSP's Sun-ripened Strawberry.
2) Tomato soap - again I want to use our summer heirloom tomatoes as puree in the recipe. Will the seeds and excess juice be an issue...I'm guessing I might need to take a water discount with this one? I'm thinking of using WSP's tomato powder (for color) and Tomato FO in this recipe.
3) Black Pepper Soap - I've been wanting to make this one for a while, and my Black Pepper EO from BB is 2 years old! Should I toss it, or will it still be OK? Looking around for vendors selling activated charcoal...maybe Nature's Garden or BB? Am I correct in thinking that I should use it at 1 teaspoon ppo for a nice black, or should I use more? And do I mix it with a bit of my oils and add at trace?
4) Red Beans and Rice soap - I just ordered this soap from someone and can't wait to try it! She lists rice powder and red beans as ingredients...I make enough Thai food to know how to make rice powder, but the red beans?? Maybe boil and mash them to make a pulp? Any ideas on what this might add and/or detract from soap?
Thanks in advance for any advice ya'll can provide

 

[Ruthie]

I'm sure more knowledgable soapers will answer the rest of your questions, but I have had to research the EO question, and can add my 2c worth on that. A 2 year old EO should still be OK. As long as it has no signs of breaking down (such as crystalizing or other changes to structure) and as long as it still smells right, it will be fine. BTW, if you do have to dispose of any EO or FO, the recommended procedure is to pour it over kitty litter, let the litter absorb and dry, then bag it and put it in your regular trash.

 

[lsg]

I am not sure that strawberry puree will not turn brown. If you use Kitty litter to absorb e.o. do not expose your cat to the litter.

 

[Seifenblasen]

BTW, if you do have to dispose of any EO or FO, the recommended procedure is to pour it over kitty litter, let the litter absorb and dry, then bag it and put it in your regular trash.

Just looking at it from another angle. If your normal trash is going to landfill anyway, and if you only have small bottles of EO/FO to disposed of, it is OK to skip the kitty litter (basically an absorbent material) and just dump it in the trash. It will be all mixed in with other stuff and the quantity is unlikely to cause any problem in a properly designed municipal landfill.

I am not saying it is incorrect to use kitty litter, but ultimately it simply takes up more space in the landfill.

 

[judymoody]

Strawberry puree will turn brown in soap.

Tomato puree will stay a nice orangey-red.

EO (are you sure it's EO and not FO? I didn't think that BB sold black pepper EO?) should be OK if stored in glass and a dark cool place.

Any food products should be fine in soap if they are pureed super fine. Chunks can go moldy.

Why beans and rice? What will the beans add to your soap? Just curious.

 

[cerelife]

Thanks everyone! OK, so since strawberry pulp will turn brown, will using rose clay (or kaolin rose clay...are these two different beasts?) give it a dusty rose color?
Cool that tomato puree will retain a tomato-y color! Would you recommend a water discount with this one?
@Judymoody - just want to say thanks first as most of the stuff I found when I searched the forum was wisdom you kindly provided
Just went and checked my Black Pepper bottle and it just says "Black Pepper", but I was pretty sure it was an EO, so I went to BB's site and yep, it is an EO...but holy-moly the price is crazy now!! I think I'll nix my black pepper soap idea and use it in a perfume I'm formulating for myself instead.
The red beans and rice soap...I've had a 25+ year love affair with New Orleans and a lot of the soap I make is NOLA-centric, so I was a bit jealous of/completely fascinated by a New Orleans-based soapmaker that I recently discovered. So many of her soaps a lot like what I already make and ideas I've had bouncing around in my head for the past couple of years...even the names are similar! Even though I don't sell my soap, I feel like I need to get off my lazy butt and actually put those ideas into action since someone else has already done so!! One of the soaps I ordered from this soapmaker was the red beans and rice one because I truly had NOT thought of this one! Red beans and rice is the traditional Monday meal in New Orleans since it uses the leftover ham from Sunday dinner and needs to cook for a long time with very little attention, leaving the homemaker free to do chores. I had ZERO ideas what red beans/rice would add to soap, so I went back and read her description again. She apparently uses red bean powder...maybe as an exfolient? I can't wait to get the soap and try it out...although I missed the scent description when I ordered it...fresh linen to invoke the idea of Monday being "wash-day"? Nope, that doesn't do it for me, LOL! I think I'll use NG Bacon FO mixed with a "Tabasco" scent if I can find one...THAT is what I think of with Red Beans and Rice :wink: