Lard Recipe

[AliOop]

Thanks. I let my Aleppo soap cure for at least 6 months and a year is better, but most other soaps I make are cured for about 8 weeks before I sell them. I haven't made salt bars but it's helpful information in case I do try.

At least a few of us here on SMF find that single-oil soaps, or soaps that are made primarily of a single oil (e.g., 70% or more) tend to need a longer cure before they are nice to use.

Combinations of oils can become more than the sum of their parts once saponified. The one example that comes to mind is that they become a "eutetic mix" where the melting point of the mix is lower than its constituents. It's probably something analogous going on with curing mixed oils, rather than singles.

 

[Quilter99755]

Question about cure times - do you mean that bars made with lard or tallow need a longer cure time, or that all soap needs a longer cure time?

I found that 6-8 weeks cure made my lard soaps nice. But once I was able to wait longer, they became nicer. I think that generally it's the same for all soaps, but you do have to watch out for DOS and how you store them. I don't have a problem here but know others in various places have problems (humidity? contaminants?) And as others have mentioned, some soaps do require a longer cure time.

 

[DeeAnna]

Oh okay, my husband likes lather. If it doesn't bubble he doesn't like it !

Castor increases the water solubility of the soap so it makes lather faster with the same amount of effort. Castor also acts to strengthen the bubbles in the lather so the bubbles don't break down as quickly.

But castor in and of itself does not increase the amount of lather produced by the soap. If your recipe doesn't lather well without castor, it's not going to lather much better if you add castor.

For that reason, I'm another person who doesn't use castor. When I first started to make soap, I used castor because "everyone else did it". But I later became a bit skeptical and made several batches without. I couldn't tell the difference between soap with castor and without.

I think you have to experiment to know if it adds something to your recipes or not -- don't just assume that castor is a panacea without testing. Maybe. Maybe not.

 

[Tammyfarms]

Thanks. I let my Aleppo soap cure for at least 6 months and a year is better, but most other soaps I make are cured for about 8 weeks before I sell them. I haven't made salt bars but it's helpful information in case I do try.

Yes, in general the longer the cure the better the soap, as @Ekuzo mentioned some require a long cure to become nice. My salt bars are a year or more old and are lovely. They weren’t nice at all at 8 weeks and were ok at 6 months.
Sorry for the delay. Our internet went out 10 days ago. If we were still waiting for Zipley we wouldn’t have internet yet. We ordered and set up Starlink which is so much better.

 

[Christa10]

Yes, in general the longer the cure the better the soap, as @Ekuzo mentioned some require a long cure to become nice. My salt bars are a year or more old and are lovely. They weren’t nice at all at 8 weeks and were ok at 6 months.
Sorry for the delay. Our internet went out 10 days ago. If we were still waiting for Zipley we wouldn’t have internet yet. We ordered and set up Starlink which is so much better.

I'm so glad to see you're back online and hope things aren't too bad down there. I have friends in Mint Hill, but I don't think they were hit too hard.

 

[Tammyfarms]

I'm so glad to see you're back online and hope things aren't too bad down there. I have friends in Mint Hill, but I don't think they were hit too hard.

Thanks, we are in Idaho. We also had a storm but it wasn’t anything like the southeast experienced. We had internet through the storm and until a day after. No idea what the problem was and Zipley’s communication is less than adequate. So happy we switched providers.

 

[AliOop]

Thanks, we are in Idaho. We also had a storm but it wasn’t anything like the southeast experienced. We had internet through the storm and until a day after. No idea what the problem was and Zipley’s communication is less than adequate. So happy we switched providers.

Were you affected at all by the Wallen Fire? We are getting some smoky smell in our air, but overall, the skies are still blue.

 

[Tammyfarms]

Were you affected at all by the Wallen Fire? We are getting some smoky smell in our air, but overall, the skies are still blue.

Thankfully no. We have had a really nice year, very little smoke this summer. Glad the smoke hasn’t gotten too bad for you.
Our area has a tendency for micro-bursts, tiny swaths of storms, some of which can do some pretty good damage. We have a couple small trees on our shop but all in all nothing that can’t be fixed.

 

[AliOop]

Thankfully no. We have had a really nice year, very little smoke this summer. Glad the smoke hasn’t gotten too bad for you.
Our area has a tendency for micro-bursts, tiny swaths of storms, some of which can do some pretty good damage. We have a couple small trees on our shop but all in all nothing that can’t be fixed.

Well, the smoke isn't too bad right now. For a good part of the summer, we had super smoky skies... weeks on end with no blue sky at all. Felt like we didn't get a summer. Thankfully it's been a beautiful fall so far!

 

[Tammyfarms]

Well, the smoke isn't too bad right now. For a good part of the summer, we had super smoky skies... weeks on end with no blue sky at all. Felt like we didn't get a summer. Thankfully it's been a beautiful fall so far!

That’s excellent news.