Lard recipe

[Piedmont]

Hi

I have been working with the soap calculators and asking questions here.

I came up with this recipe using MMS lye calculator,

48 oz. lard, 12-18 oz. water, 6.33 oz. lye (5% excess fat).

They say the old recipes would use 18 oz. water, can someone suggest a water amount between 12 and 18 oz.?

Also, I have a digital scale and will set it to ounces and measure exactly as this recipe calls for, 48oz lard, 6.33oz lye and then the water.

Michael

 

[cleanwater]

Hi Michael,
The actual amount of water is not critical. You want to have enough to completely dissolve the lye and produce a concentration you are comfortable working with. But excess water will extend your cure time and could lead to warping of your cut soap. Personally, I think less is more, so long as you get complete dissolution of the lye. I'd start with 12 - 13, and add more if necessary, but I have been working with NaOH (lye) solutions for much longer than I have been soaping, so I'm fairly comfortable with high concentration solutions.
Good luck, have fun, and let us know how it goes
Jim

 

[honor435]

just wondering why you want use lard at all? theres So many nice oils out there.

 

[xraygrl]

For someone newer to soap, I'd start with at the very least around a 33% lye solution, and this is how it's calculated:

Lye amount x 2 = water amount

Or you can take your oil amount and divide by 3, and that will give you a bit higher amount for your water, but not too awful high that you would have to wait forever for the cure. Also, for adding fragrances etc, it would be a bit more behaved.

 

[Piedmont]

Hi Michael,
The actual amount of water is not critical. You want to have enough to completely dissolve the lye and produce a concentration you are comfortable working with. But excess water will extend your cure time and could lead to warping of your cut soap. Personally, I think less is more, so long as you get complete dissolution of the lye. I'd start with 12 - 13, and add more if necessary, but I have been working with NaOH (lye) solutions for much longer than I have been soaping, so I'm fairly comfortable with high concentration solutions.
Good luck, have fun, and let us know how it goes
Jim

Thanks Jim!

 

[Piedmont]

just wondering why you want use lard at all? theres So many nice oils out there.

It's my marketing strategy, Surely not looking towards vegan nor beauty market. (lol)
michael

 

[cleanwater]

just wondering why you want use lard at all? theres So many nice oils out there.

For those of us who eat meat (and I realize that there is an ongoing debate on the acceptability of that practice, but that's neither here nor there) using the whole animal is logical and responsible. Eating the pork chop and letting the lard go to waste is... wasteful. Plus, it's cheaper than so many of those nice oils. That being said, I have only made one batch of lard soap and it is still curing, so I don't know how I will like the feel, but it makes a beautiful snow-white bar of soap.

 

[Guest]

Lard soap is fantastic , I love the quality it brings to the soap.

 

[honor435]

i eat meat, but.. i wouldnt like to use it for soap, unless that was all there was, like in the "old days". The cleansing is at a 1 and also bubbly, so does it make a good bar?

 

[artisan soaps]

..

 

[Tabitha]

I can't get past the smell. No matter what EO or fo is added to it, it has a lingering odor my nose picks up.

 

[Deda]

I can't get past the smell. No matter what EO or fo is added to it, it has a lingering odor my nose picks up.

I have enough 'meat' phobias as it is. Using lard would probably give me nightmares. :mrgreen:

I worked for an Emu Oil company for a long time. I know it's fantastic oil with nearly magical properties, but I still can't use it on my skin...

 

[madpiano]

I love Lard in soap. It makes a really rich bar and is lovely and mild on the skin. Sadly it seems to be near impossible to get it certified for sale in the UK.

My Lard doesn't smell either before I use it or in the soap. My first Lard bar was unscented and still no piggy smell.

 

[alwaysme07]

I don't think I could soap W/O lard. But that just me .

 

[Piedmont]

I love Lard in soap. It makes a really rich bar and is lovely and mild on the skin. Sadly it seems to be near impossible to get it certified for sale in the UK.

My Lard doesn't smell either before I use it or in the soap. My first Lard bar was unscented and still no piggy smell.

I can't imagine lard smelling especially after its processed unless there was a high fat excess, and the fat went rancid, all the talk about lard soap smelling made me think someone was using bacon fat when someone said it smelled of bacon. I'm using partially hydronated lard from the grocery, food grade lard. I hope to do my first batch tomorrow/saturday.
michael

 

[Guest]

my very first lard soap made in April did and still has a slightly pork smell but it's not a bad smell and doesn't stick.

I love lard and found few people with an objection to it. I'll be ordering tallow soon.

 

[madpiano]

make sure you don't overheat it when you melt it, that can sometimes cause a bit of a piggy smell

 

[xraygrl]

Lard is really underrated IMHO. Look at the FA profile:

Lard
Oleic 46%
Palmitic 28%
Stearic 13%
Linoleic 6%
Myristic 1%
Iodine 43-45

Then look at the FA proflie of shea butter:

Shea (Karite) Butter
Oleic 40-55%
Stearic 35-45%
Linoleic 3-8%
Palmitic 3-7%
Iodine 55-71
S, M, R

(Figures from Kathy Miller's site)

They are both VERY similar in Oleic, and Linoleic which are both conditioning oils. Lard is higer in palmitic, but shea is higher in stearic, which both palmitic and stearic are for hardeining. So in breaking it down to the FA profiles you can see that lard and shea butter are nearly the same in the qualitiies they bring to soap. Sometimes it's about knowing your oils, and not just the numbers you get in soap calc, because a lot can be lost in the "translation" of the numbers.

 

[alwaysme07]

Bacon soap yummmm. I love the way lard soap makes the skin feel.

 

[Milla]

I put lard in a few of my soaps, probably around 20%. Makes a very nice hard, lathery bar. The one I use on my face is

Lard 20%
Coconut oil 40%
Sunflower oil 40%
5% SF

It's super creamy. It's slightly drying, but perfect for my combination skin. Scented with lemongrass EO.