Lard liquid soap
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It will yield a cloudy soap with white "snow" in it. If you dilute this for a foamer, all of the "snow" will fall to the bottom of the bottle. It makes a really nice soap, though, that leaves your hands feeling WAY less stripped than most other soaps (not IrishLass's LGS, though). I use lard in my Soap2Go that stays in a paste. No worry about cloudy soap there.
That's pretty what I've seen too, Susie.
Just for grins, I made an 80% lard, 15% coconut oil, 5% castor oil recipe -- a common high-lard recipe for bar soap -- except I made it using KOH rather than NaOH.
What I learned -- The stearic and palmitic soaps from the lard don't stay permanently mixed with the rest of the diluted soap. After several weeks, these soaps form an opaque white layer on top of the rest of the soap that is translucent/cloudy white. The separation is a slow process -- the soap layers can be shaken back together every couple of weeks or so to make a pearly white mixture. Very pretty.
At first I thought the top white layer might have been fatty acids, so I intentionally added enough KOH to a sample to make the soap lye heavy. I ended up with the same result. Irish Lass is adding polysorbate 80 to her liquid soap that includes cocoa butter, shea butter, and stearic acid. I'd guess the PS80 in her recipe is helping to prevent this separation.
I like the soap I made. The main downside to the soap is the separation. It's beautifully thick when diluted. The soap is mild to the skin. The amount of lather is moderate to low. The lather has a dense texture typical for a high-lard soap. For more lather, I'd try maybe 10% castor and 20% to 25% coconut with the balance lard and see how that performs.
Just for grins, I made an 80% lard, 15% coconut oil, 5% castor oil recipe -- a common high-lard recipe for bar soap -- except I made it using KOH rather than NaOH.
What I learned -- The stearic and palmitic soaps from the lard don't stay permanently mixed with the rest of the diluted soap. After several weeks, these soaps form an opaque white layer on top of the rest of the soap that is translucent/cloudy white. The separation is a slow process -- the soap layers can be shaken back together every couple of weeks or so to make a pearly white mixture. Very pretty.
At first I thought the top white layer might have been fatty acids, so I intentionally added enough KOH to a sample to make the soap lye heavy. I ended up with the same result. Irish Lass is adding polysorbate 80 to her liquid soap that includes cocoa butter, shea butter, and stearic acid. I'd guess the PS80 in her recipe is helping to prevent this separation.
I like the soap I made. The main downside to the soap is the separation. It's beautifully thick when diluted. The soap is mild to the skin. The amount of lather is moderate to low. The lather has a dense texture typical for a high-lard soap. For more lather, I'd try maybe 10% castor and 20% to 25% coconut with the balance lard and see how that performs.
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What DeeAnna and Susie said. It's worth a shot but for me, I can smell the pork, even in scented soap. That's my only downside. :cry:
Arimara-remind me what kind of lard you are using?
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Armor. It's a good brand and all but my nose just picks it up. I blame my mostly porkless nature. At least with lard bars, I can just wait 6 months and I won't smell a thing. The liquid soap, I would have to scent it up more than I would like.
Lard only makes good paste, not liquid soap. So, you really aren't missing anything.
Just out of curiosity, do you have the same problem with tallow? What about GV Shortening?
Just out of curiosity, do you have the same problem with tallow? What about GV Shortening?
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Tallow soap under 3 months old have a smell I can detect as well. But I still find tallow to be more agreeable to my nose. I actually don't have easy access to a Walmart (and I rarely order from them) so I have never really used GV shortening. I'd probably bake with it anyway- it's almost fruitcake season. YUM!
Funny you should say that! I told my hubby that I want to try cutting down my grandmother's recipe to something reasonable. She gave them as gifts to everyone, so her recipe calls for LARGE amounts. Each batch took 3 lbs flour alone. And there was batch after batch. We made fruitcake all day long.
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I had to trim my grandmother's recipe myself. I could technically make it on my own but If I do, I want my daughter in on the fun (Even if I have to cut her short with the nuts). Grandma always let us help make it and those memories are some of the best ones for little chefs-in-training to have.
