Bergamot Fruit Juice/Peels

[Pinkerbell]

My apologies if I'm posting in the wrong Forum; I'm very new to this group and to making soap. (moved)
Much to my surprise, the tree growing in the yard of my new home is a Bergamot. Being quite ambitious, I'd love to use the juice and/or peels in a soap recipe. I've read several articles on calculating the citric acid in fruits and how to modify the amount of lye to compensate but, none cover bergamots. The peels release a very sticky liquid, the fruit juice is very bitter.

I made marmalade ... dumped it - too bitter. I tried pressing the raw peels in a food mill to release the oils ... ditched that idea - jammed the mill and nearly pulled a muscle cranking the mill. I've got a pressure cooker full of peels and water ... processed for 15 mins with the intention of straining the liquid, freezing it & harvesting the oil - the house smells lovely.

Has anyone tried using the juice and/or peels of bergamot fruit in their soap recipes? Any suggestions? Tips? Warnings? Recipes?

I've got plenty of fruit ... at least 50 lbs of it!

 

[bookworm42]

I have no advice unfortunately. I will say that that sounds like an amazing problem to have! My DH loves the scent of bergamot.
The only warning I have is that bergamot oil is phototoxic. Meaning if left on your skin and exposed to sun it can cause very quick sunburns or in extreme cases blisters.

 

[Pinkerbell]

I have no advice unfortunately. I will say that that sounds like an amazing problem to have! My DH loves the scent of bergamot.
The only warning I have is that bergamot oil is phototoxic. Meaning if left on your skin and exposed to sun it can cause very quick sunburns or in extreme cases blisters.

I'm quite ambitious and having an over abundance of bergamot fruit certainly seems to be an awesome problem. I hope to find some way to use it.

 

[bookworm42]

It should be fine in soap. Maybe try making a recipe with a high SF. You could replace the water with all of some of the bergamot juice/oil and see how it goes. Let us know what you do and how it goes.

 

[Pinkerbell]

It should be fine in soap. Maybe try making a recipe with a high SF. You could replace the water with all of some of the bergamot juice/oil and see how it goes. Let us know what you do and how it goes.

Epic fail! I subbed bergamot juice for all the water in a recipe I've successfully used before. The soap is super soft a week after unmolding. It's the consistency of modeling clay.
I split the batch and used citrus eo in 1/2 and a floral/woodsy eo blend in the other half. The citrus batch was very soft from the get go but the floral batch seemed to behave well ... at first. I was optimistic that the citrus batch would set up as quickly as the floral. Instead, the floral batch got softer after 48 hours! Both batches are now equally soft.
I'm new to soaping and am using 33% water, 8% superfat recipes with basic ingredients, nothing fancy. Will it harden up? Should I have done anything different?

 

[bookworm42]

8% is pretty high. I soap at about 2-4%. There are various factors that could cause it to be soft. High SF is one of them. The bergamot juice might have done something.

Is it hard enough to cut a chunk off? You could use that to test it for zap and lather. If it soaps well and doesn't zap I'd recommend leaving it to cure for a long time and it should hopefully firm up over time.
My first batch of soap was some 100% olive oil soap. I put it in cavity molds and it took like 2 weeks to firm up enough I could get it out of the mold.

 

[Pinkerbell]

8% is pretty high. I soap at about 2-4%. There are various factors that could cause it to be soft. High SF is one of them. The bergamot juice might have done something.

Is it hard enough to cut a chunk off? You could use that to test it for zap and lather. If it soaps well and doesn't zap I'd recommend leaving it to cure for a long time and it should hopefully firm up over time.
My first batch of soap was some 100% olive oil soap. I put it in cavity molds and it took like 2 weeks to firm up enough I could get it out of the mold.

It soaps well, no zap and I can cut it. It's the consistency of play doh. I'll let it sit a while longer. I used a high SF based on an article I read. Why would the different eo blends initially change the thickness of my batter? The floral blend was seizing up somewhat when I poured yet the citrus blend remained thin. Yet, both loafs are now equally soft.
I'll admit, I'm having a tough time getting my batter to a workable trace. It seems to thicken up really fast no matter how thin it is when I stop stirring. I wish a video phone hotline existed!

 

[bookworm42]

Fragrances/EOs can do crazy things in soap. If you read posts on here you see things such as soap seizing with a few minutes of adding them to them causing your soap to separate. Depending on where you got your essential oils they might have notes telling you how they behave in CP soap.

I'm having a tough time getting my batter to a workable trace

Is it for all your soaps or just the bergamot juice one?

 

[AliOop]

Why would the different eo blends initially change the thickness of my batter? The floral blend was seizing up somewhat when I poured yet the citrus blend remained thin.

This is very typical for each those EOs. Floral EOs and spicy EOs (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, basil) typically accelerate your soap batter, while citrus typically decelerates it.

 

[Pinkerbell]

Fragrances/EOs can do crazy things in soap. If you read posts on here you see things such as soap seizing with a few minutes of adding them to them causing your soap to separate. Depending on where you got your essential oils they might have notes telling you how they behave in CP soap.

Is it for all your soaps or just the bergamot juice one?

Thanks @bookworm42. I've been researching the affect eos have. It's been decades since I've purchased eos and it seems quality has declined.
All of my batches are thickening rapidly. Perhaps my lye and oil Temps are too hot? I've been mixing when each is between 105° and 110°.

 

[AliOop]

Those temps aren’t super hot, but try 95-100F and see if that helps.

Another issue could be the age and condition of your EOs. When they age, or are exposed to light or oxygen, they oxidize. Oxidized EOs will accelerate your batter. Inexpensive EOs are often adulterated with ingredients that speed up trace, too.

Also, many people overuse the stick blender. I only pulse mine for 2-3 seconds at a time. It only takes 2 or 3 of these pulses for a 1000g batch of my usual recipe to reach emulsion. More than that, and we have thick pudding.