Chicken Fat Soap

[Mobjack Bay]

These soaps were made with 40% chicken fat. The fat itself was very yellow and I also added honey and goat milk. The colors are indigo in oil and AC in oil leftover from another soap. Look at that green! This will be a fun one to watch for color changes in the coming months. I used two small test molds and did the tops a different way, but other than that, everything was the same. The scent is an EO blend called 'Seascape' from eocalc.com - cedarwood, lemongrass, rosemary and eucalyptus.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Good job! I'm curious, does the chicken fat have an odor?

 

[Hinata]

Also, any special pros abut using chicken fat?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Good job! I'm curious, does the chicken fat have an odor?

Before saponification, this first bit of fat had the aroma of roasted chicken because of the way I rendered the fat. Right now I can't detect that aroma in the soap, but I picked EOs I hoped would blend appropriately if the scent starts to come through. I have another batch of fat in the freezer and will try to render it without getting any browned bits to see if that makes a difference.

Also, any special pros abut using chicken fat?

Chicken fat has more polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as linoleic acid, compared with most of the other animal fats. I added some tallow to the soap to bring the palmitic and stearic up and OO to bring the linoleic down to 15%. The best thing about the chicken fat I used is that it was free!

edited to add the part about adding OO

 

[cmzaha]

When I used Chicken Fat I found it traced slower and I did not have any odor from the chicken fat so maybe I rendered in differently.

 

[Ellacho]

Oh, wow, beautiful soaps!

 

[Ladka]

Good job! I'm curious, does the chicken fat have an odor?

As I wanted to avoid any chicken aroma or darker colour I was anxious to render at a low temperature. It did take a bit longer but the fat was pretty clear and odourless.

 

[Bari b]

Beautiful soaps!! It will be fun to watch the colors to see if they change.

 

[soapmaker]

How do you get enough chicken fat to make soap?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

When I used Chicken Fat I found it traced slower and I did not have any odor from the chicken fat so maybe I rendered in differently.

How did you render the fat?

@soapmaker My neighbor gave me the chicken. It was an old, chubby (fat) chicken to start with.

This chart shows the composition of some edible fats. You can see that chicken fat falls in between lard and soft oils in composition.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I still have some fat left from another chicken or two. Can I melt/render chicken fat sufficiently in a small crock pot? I'm thinking about finely dicing first, while it's mostly frozen. I also have a food processor and a hand-cranked meat grinder.

 

[Saponificarian]

I love chicken/Duck fat soap with Tallow. You really don't need any liquid oil in the recipe when using chicken fat. You do definitely need a hard fat though and I keep my coconut oil at 15% max. It is really lovely.

 

[Sauboon]

These soaps were made with 40% chicken fat. The fat itself was very yellow and I also added honey and goat milk. The colors are indigo in oil and AC in oil leftover from another soap. Look at that green! This will be a fun one to watch for color changes in the coming months. I used two small test molds and did the tops a different way, but other than that, everything was the same. The scent is an EO blend called 'Seascape' from eocalc.com - cedarwood, lemongrass, rosemary and eucalyptus.

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When you say "indigo in oil" is the oil discounted?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@Sauboon I usually keep my superfat low (2-3%) and don't bother to correct for the small amount of oil I use to disperse colorants.

 

[Jersey Girl]

These soaps were made with 40% chicken fat. The fat itself was very yellow and I also added honey and goat milk. The colors are indigo in oil and AC in oil leftover from another soap. Look at that green! This will be a fun one to watch for color changes in the coming months. I used two small test molds and did the tops a different way, but other than that, everything was the same. The scent is an EO blend called 'Seascape' from eocalc.com - cedarwood, lemongrass, rosemary and eucalyptus.

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They look awesome!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

As I wanted to avoid any chicken aroma or darker colour I was anxious to render at a low temperature. It did take a bit longer but the fat was pretty clear and odourless.

What color was your fat to start with? The fat I have is quite yellow. Here's a photo of the frozen fat I haven't rendered. I was hoping the yellow in the first batch would hold because I've been trying to get a good green from indigo mixed with a natural yellow pigment. ETA: based on a quick online search, the yellow in the chicken fat I have is probably from yellow pigment (carotenoids) in grass they fed on.

 

[Ladka]

My fat was off-white yellowish, very pale.
I was told that young chicks have lighter/paler fat and old chicks/hens have a more yellow fat.

 

[Sauboon]

Thanks

 

[Mobjack Bay]

In only a couple of weeks, the green, from indigo, has really faded in these soaps. I love, love, love the tops. Drain clogging aside, the ash, charcoal and botanicals make this soap much more interesting than it would be without them.