LOL!!! Lesson learned

[MzMolly65]

Don't add more carrots!!!

I'm making the Buttermilk Bastile Baby bar recipe that requires carrot baby food to make the bar orange. I don't have a baby and wasn't going to buy baby food just for this .. I do however have a lot of canned carrots in the cupboard sooo .....

But the required grams of carrot didn't make my mix very orange .. so silly me, forgot I was playing with Lye and added more carrots (you know .. just make it a little more orange .. doah!)

60 extra grams of carrots and while the colour is more orange .. this is not tracing at all!! I'm waiting to see if something will happen but I think I might have botched this batch!

I'll keep you posted.

 

[Lin]

Keep going, and if all else fails pour at emulsion. I gave my bf a pumpkin puree recipe to do and he kept repeating over and over that he didn't think it was going to reach trace and we should toss it out. Getting quite rude about it too! I got snappy back and said worst case scenerio we would pour it as is at emulsion. 2 minutes later it traced. We had to rest the stick blender in the freezer since it was overheating. When I did my castile soaps I just left it sitting for a short bit working on laundry once I reached emulsion, then came back and hit it with the SB for a while, walked away again, came back and more SB... nice trace and no hot SB.

 

[cmzaha]

You added in 2 extra ounces of liquid. You should be able to get trace or dump it in a pot and cook off the extra liquid. (HP)

 

[dixiedragon]

For future reference, you can add some beta carotene to make it more orange.

 

[Ancel]

If you have a Mexican / Latino grocery store near you, or maybe any big supermarket, you can buy achiote / annatto and infuse that in your oils. It gives a lovely orange colour.

 

[MzMolly65]

You guys are awesome, I love all the shared knowledge.

My experiment now is .. poured at emulsion. If it doesn't trace by tomorrow morning I'll put it in the crock and see if I can HP it into something.

 

[grayceworks]

I did a recipe with 8oz pureed carrots, and HP'd it. It will try to separate from time to time while cooking, but keep mixing it back together and it will turn out lovely!

 

[Lin]

If its thickened up in the morning even just a little (and not separating) I'd probably leave it alone. For example when I made my castile I got really nervous because at 36 hours it was only PUDDING thick. Another day though and I was able to unmold.

 

[MzMolly65]

Hey all .. good news, it had started to thicken a bit last night so I left it and this morning it's fully gelled. YAY! Pics to follow!

 

[Obsidian]

My first castile was the same way. It just didn't want to trace so I gave up and poured it anyways. After a few hours, it finally thickened up and turned out just fine.

Glad yours turned out, can't wait to see pics

 

[MzMolly65]

The current state

ETA: I think I'll leave this one another day before attempting to unmold and cut, it's firm but still pretty much jelly*ish*

 

[MzMolly65]

So, weird results .. when I checked it tonight it was hard but the mold was full of orange water .. it's 1/2 the size it should have been due to the water that came off it and the bottom is all funny.

Kicking myself for not taking another picture before I poured off the water .. pft!

 

[Obsidian]

That does look really strange, did you zap test it? It almost looks like it over heated which can happen with carrot, if it was mine I would probably rebatch. If something like this happens again, save the liquid in case you do need to rebatch, it should be added back during the cook.

 

[MzMolly65]

That does look really strange, did you zap test it?

I did and commented about it in another thread. I got a weird metallic taste but not the "head jerk" reaction that people talked about. It was like holding a copper penny in my mouth .. ick!

I wasn't sure if it zapped me or not and someone said, if you're not sure .. then it wasn't a zap.

The solid part looks a bit like curdled milk and the jellyish part is hard but still changing.

Thanks for the note to keep any liquid next time I do this.

 

[MzMolly65]

okay ... this morning I tested it again and I definitely ended up with a stinging tongue even if I didn't get the head jerking "ZAP" that others talk about.

The gel part on top is fine, the opaque part at the bottom is zappy. Two licks, one OUCH! LOL!

ETA: I'm thinking of going straight to rebatch for this. Since it was a buttermilk/carrot liquid base should I dilute with water or buttermilk or carrot juice? Thoughts?

 

[MzMolly65]

I shredded it up and stuck it in the crock this morning. It was so caustic it stung my eyes just working on it and it STUNK!!!!! I added enough buttermilk and carrot juice (using the same liquids I started with) to cover the shreds. I read that I didn't need a lot of liquid but I thought better to use too much that I can cook off than risk it staying caustic.

I am curious to know if it was just the extra carrots that caused all this problem or what because the entire mix never seemed to get hot at all. I used buttermilk ice cubes, put the lye in and let that melt, then added the carrots. Added all that to room temp oils and mixed with the stick. I felt the outside of my mixing container and it was cold the entire time. Could that be the cause?

 

[Obsidian]

Its really strange that it didn't heat up, milk and carrots should have made it get hot. I don't know the cause but I wonder if it started to separate and thats what made the curdled look on the bottom with all the extra liquid.
Once you get it all cooked down and smooth, make sure to do a zap test before molding it. If its still zappy after cooking, you may need to add a bit of oil.

 

[MzMolly65]

Once you get it all cooked down and smooth, make sure to do a zap test before molding it.

oops .. got this helpful info a tad too late

It's in the mold so I guess we'll see and I guess if it's still zappy I might just have to do it again .. another lesson learned, LOL!

pwaahh, it smelled like a bad hair perm the entire time it was cooking. It smells better now in the mold and cooling .. more like carrots and less like a toxic waste dump.

 

[Obsidian]

That chemical smell is from the buttermilk, it will fade with a cure. Go stick you tongue on it before it cools down any more:razz:

 

[MzMolly65]

Go stick you tongue on it before it cools down any more:razz:

I think you have an evil streak in you :mrgreen: