Customer reaction to LAAARD !!

[green soap]

Green soap - what butters would you use to mimic lard? I love it and it's in my best recipe and nothing has come close to the creamy lather I get. I don't sell it and I know I can't where I live, but I would test a recipe and replace it with something to see if it was just as good. Shea butter felt draggy to me and I didn't like it at all.

Olive and coconut oils are both poor sources of stearic acid. Stearic acid is the fatty acid responsible for the 'creamy' lather in soapcalc. Tallow and lard are good sources, cocoa and shea butter even better. Play around in soapcalc, ideally numbers in midrange for all the soap qualities. This is an oversimplification since some people like their soap more conditioning, so lower cleansing. However, you can play around with different percentages of olive, coconut and cocoa butter to get the soap to your liking. If you add a little castor you can be in vegan soap heaven.

As far as shea being draggy, I have not noticed but I let my soaps cure a long time. Shea gets requested a lot from my customers, but I prefer cocoa butter myself. Shea tends to ash more too.

I suppose another solution to the pricing issue would be to leave the vegetable soaps with fancier ingredients unscented, so the cost could even out. This way you could sell them same size same price.

 

[cmzaha]

Around here, one could never sell at a farmers market using animal products in the soap. Way too many "crunchys" everyone I've mentioned lard soap to cringe at the mere mention of it. Most all of the soap sellers have big signs shouting "VEGAN!" "NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS" etc etc.. It's annoying since most of the people I know, eat meat. It only makes sense to me not to use animal products if you don't eat them.

I sell lard soap at my markets regularly, and I am not far from LA. I have both vegan and non-vegan and all soaps are wrapped. I have actually had very few customers say anything about lard and when I tell them it is considered non-comedogenic they are very suprised. I refuse to pack up and go to markets to only sell to one group of shoppers. When I have a soap that I feel is exceptional and check the recipe it almost always has lard

 

[TVivian]

I sell lard soap at my markets regularly, and I am not far from LA. I have both vegan and non-vegan and all soaps are wrapped. I have actually had very few customers say anything about lard and when I tell them it is considered non-comedogenic they are very suprised. I refuse to pack up and go to markets to only sell to one group of shoppers. When I have a soap that I feel is exceptional and check the recipe it almost always has lard

Well that's good to know. If I ever sell I will take that exact approach. Don't like it, don't buy it!
I kinda think the grossed out reaction I get from people is funny. Because then I get to school them on what's in their commercial soap and about their addiction to bacon haha..

 

[Dennis]

i would LOVE to add lard to my bars. but alas, no one renders lard here and i'm not about to stink up my house for the sake of soap. i think my bf would leave me if i started doing that.....

btw - i don't understand why people freak out over lard, but clamour over bacon and bacon fat. bacon fat is just flavoured lard......

The only thing better than bacon is more bacon.

Don't know where you're located but I pick up a big bucket of Armour lard at WalMart and sometimes order lard from Soapers Choice.

This lard thread is going to have me buying a couple of cans of Spam before it's over. Yummy. Thin sliced, fried crisp in lard, put on fresh white Bunny bread with mustard.

 

[grayceworks]

mmmm... bacon.

I have a couple friends who won't use any animal products. One for religious reasons, the other for ethical reasons. I just make their soaps with mango butter instead, without altering the rest of the recipe. For my other friends and family, I call the ones made with lard or tallow "Old Fashioned Lard Soap" or "Old Fashioned Tallow Soap" and for some reason, putting that "Old Fashioned" in there makes it OK with them, where just calling it "Lard Soap" or listing lard in the ingredients without any warning before-hand seems to squick them.

(Yes, I do label and put ingredients lists on them, even though they're only for friends/family right now. A) they've all got allergies and stuff, so they want to know what's in it, and B) I'm testing ideas for when I do eventually add it to my stuff that I sell, since the packaging is obviously going to need to be different than for lotions or hair products. )

 

[Dennis]

 

[boyago]

They won't use a soap made with lard but will drink kopi luwak. Figure that one out!

I proudly use lard in the majority of my soaps.

Personally I prefer to keep myself and the bacteria I host the only thing digesting my coffee but as a total coffee fiend and somewhat of a vegetarian I can say that vegetarians that can afford kopi luwak and choose to drink it probably do since they don't kill the civet (is it a civet?... catlike jungle thing) to make the coffee. Though now that I think about it I really don't know how they collect it so who knows, maybe they treat them like the foie gras geese or something?? Which for me would make the whole business even grosser.

 

[Obsidian]

Though now that I think about it I really don't know how they collect it so who knows, maybe they treat them like the foie gras geese or something?? Which for me would make the whole business even grosser.

There are some companies that seek out the beans in the wild but most producers use captive bred civets that are kept in small, cramped, filthy cages. Much like puppy mills you see on rescue shows, its disgusting.
http://www.ryot.org/drinking-worlds-expensive-coffee-costs-cats-lives/548781

 

[neeners]

The only thing better than bacon is more bacon.

Don't know where you're located but I pick up a big bucket of Hormel lard at WalMart and sometimes order lard from Soapers Choice.

This lard thread is going to have me buying a couple of cans of Spam before it's over. Yummy. Thin sliced, fried crisp in lard, put on fresh white Bunny bread with mustard.

I'm in Barbados. I haven't been able to find a place to find lard. I've been to many grocery stores, asked for lard, and have been pointed to the shortening aisle. *sigh*

now I want bacon.....

 

[Lin]

Whats wrong with using lard shortening?

 

[boyago]

There are some companies that seek out the beans in the wild but most producers use captive bred civets that are kept in small, cramped, filthy cages. Much like puppy mills you see on rescue shows, its disgusting.
http://www.ryot.org/drinking-worlds-expensive-coffee-costs-cats-lives/548781

Ding Ding, even grosser. I don't get it.

 

[cmzaha]

I'm in Barbados. I haven't been able to find a place to find lard. I've been to many grocery stores, asked for lard, and have been pointed to the shortening aisle. *sigh*

now I want bacon.....

What a great place to live. I visited Barbados twice when cruising on the Star Clipper. Both trips were fantastic

 

[jade-15]

It makes sense to me (as a meat eater) to use lard... using the WHOLE animal (ok, not quite, there's still HEAPS of waste...)

But I'm getting the picture that most people don't think like me? (*sigh* why not... Lol).

But yes, just put it on your ingredients, how many will check? I've only started looking at ingredients since soap making (because I'm curious as to who puts what in their soaps and how they list ingredients... etc).

 

[neeners]

I prefer to stay away with GMOs. I know soap is a wash off product, but that's just my personal preference....

 

[Lin]

So they don't have pure lard shortening? Since I've never heard of a GMO pig I'm assuming (and assuming its not an issue of gmo fed pigs because I don't think that could be determined by the label on a bucket of lard shortening) you mean they only have lard mixed with other items in the shortening... Which we don't have here, just pure lard.

Here we just have lard shortening, and its next to the vegetable shortening in the baking isles. You'd have to see a butcher about straight pig fat to render. I've never used it, I'm a vegetarian for personal moral reasons and haven't decided yet if I'm comfortable soaping with lard. I go back and forth on it. I do buy meat to feed my carnivore animals.

 

[grayceworks]

If you have salt-back pork available in the meat section, it can be rendered down into lard. You have to rinse it really really well and use a lot of water in rendering, due to it being coated in salt. But the salt does help with the 'piggy' smell also. I did it a while back to see what the difference might be between commercially prepared lard and home-rendered lard. Didn't find a difference in how my soaps turned out. I did double-render it though, due to all the salt.

Or you can save up all your bacon fat, and render it with water to clean it up.

 

[pamielynn]

It makes sense to me (as a meat eater) to use lard... using the WHOLE animal (ok, not quite, there's still HEAPS of waste...)

But I'm getting the picture that most people don't think like me? (*sigh* why not... Lol).

But yes, just put it on your ingredients, how many will check? I've only started looking at ingredients since soap making (because I'm curious as to who puts what in their soaps and how they list ingredients... etc).

As long as humans remain carnivores, we will have lard. I agree with the "whole" animal bit, or at least "more" of the animal. I am NOT a supporter of factory farms, but while they are here, I use the lard they produce.

 

[Dennis]

I've noticed the tone of this thread has remained respectful of others beliefs, preferences, etc. It says a lot about the membership of the forum. It's not just here but the entire site and is why it is so successful. It has been on my mind and just decided to say it.
Thanks all.
Now, more coffee.

 

[neeners]

It makes sense to me (as a meat eater) to use lard... using the WHOLE animal (ok, not quite, there's still HEAPS of waste...)

But I'm getting the picture that most people don't think like me? (*sigh* why not... Lol).

i'm with you on this. why throw out bits that can be used, or better yet, turned into beautiful soap?!? people also get grossed out my gelatin or casein. doesn't bother me one bit.

So they don't have pure lard shortening?

nope. i've read at all the ingredients, and they're all veg shortening (which is GMO...). there are no real butchers here, in the traditional sense. most carcasses get frozen then cut up by a band saw. there are some fresh meat cuts on the grocery store, but i don't know who does them. i have one more place to check...i just need to find the location.

i'm not about to render fat in the house. our house is way too small for me and my bf to tolerate the smell.


one day i will work with lard. one day.....

 

[Susie]

Lard is available online, even on Amazon. The prices on amazon are super high compared to buying it in my local Walmart. But, they do sell the 4lb and larger amounts, so you could buy a larger amount to save shipping costs.