Moringa leaves in soap?

[Dawni]

Look what came free from mom's backyard!

That's not even all of it lol.. Her helper "harvested" them coz they were blocking the sun on her laundry line lol

Was thinking of doing something like this with it (other than drinking moringa tea this afternoon): https://akan.co.za/portfolio/moringa-soap/#.W8gB_8kRU0M

I wonder if it'll work if I stick it in a blender instead of hand pounding...
Maybe I'll also save some and dry them to make a powder for next time...
And maybe I'll infuse some in olive oil after I dry them...

Any thoughts?
Has anyone tried this before?
How do I go about inputting this in a soap calc? As an additive only?
Will the liquid from the puree count in total liquids?
Do I need to discount water in my lye solution? No?
If I "embed" leaves after the HP cook will it spoil/DOS because of the water content? Or just look ugly (I assume they'll turn brown)? Should I just stick to fresh leaves on the tops?

I have the fruits too.. Once dried I plan to collect the seeds and see what I can do with them.

**goes off to do more research on moringa leaves in soap, while wondering how many kgs of seeds I'll need to make oil lol**

 

[Obsidian]

I would puree the leaves as fine as you can, add water if needed. Strain off any excess water if possible, you can use this in the soap too.

Botanicals are additives, no need to put them on a soap calc, just figure out how much you want to add to you recipe and blend it into the oils really well.

I wouldn't add whole leaves, not only might they spoil, they could be messy, ugly and scratchy. If you put any on top, dry them first.

 

[Dawni]

I would puree the leaves as fine as you can, add water if needed. Strain off any excess water if possible, you can use this in the soap too.

Botanicals are additives, no need to put them on a soap calc, just figure out how much you want to add to you recipe and blend it into the oils really well.

I wouldn't add whole leaves, not only might they spoil, they could be messy, ugly and scratchy. If you put any on top, dry them first.

OK, so strain.
The puree is an additive only.
Strained liquid counts; so let's say I'll still pour it all in after the cook, I'll have to measure [only] the water leftover as part of the liquid called for in the calc.

Did I get that right?

 

[Obsidian]

Yep, got it right. Any reason you want to add it after the cook? I'd just toss it all in the pot at the start.

 

[Dawni]

I'm still experimenting, so what I've done with previous batches is add things at different times to see what my batter, and then final soap looks like.

I have a lot of neem powder for example. One batch I added it to the oils before the lye. One batch I added it at trace and the last one after cooking.

All three batches resulted in a different textured and colored soap. You think the puree will be the same?

I asked so I kinda know what to expect hehe. With the amount of leaves I have I'll probably do the same with the moringa puree and powder.

Thank you for responding @Obsidian

 

[Obsidian]

Moody likely the puree will be the same. I'd expect adding it after the cook would result in a brighter green.
I've never used moringa though so I can't say how it behaves in soap. I need to get my hands on some powder.

 

[Dawni]

Moody likely the puree will be the same. I'd expect adding it after the cook would result in a brighter green.
I've never used moringa though so I can't say how it behaves in soap. I need to get my hands on some powder.

Yes, with the neem I got a much greener green when I added after the cook, but the downside was it seemed more exfoliating (aka scratchy).

I'm hoping to try the puree tonight now that the lil one's asleep hehe

 

[Obsidian]

The moringa soap I've seen in videos is always a nice green so maybe it retains its color.
Let us know how it goes.

 

[Obsidian]

Ok, I couldn't wait so I ordered a lb of powder. I have a question, what do the leaves taste like?
The powder is full of vitamins and minerals, I would like to eat it if its not awful.

 

[Dawni]

Ok, I couldn't wait so I ordered a lb of powder. I have a question, what do the leaves taste like?
The powder is full of vitamins and minerals, I would like to eat it if its not awful.

If you like eating your leafy veggies then you won't mind this lol

We use the leaves straight from the tree in a lot of our cooking. Imagine rice with a soupy dish that has meat and little leaves floating around hehe..

Others boil the leaves and drink the tea. It's slightly bitter and herb-y but not so bad. Most people mix the powder in smoothies but I know some people who dump it in just about anything from their oats to their curries.

An uncle of mine munches on the leaves while his wife is de-stalking them for cooking lol and he gets a sweet tinge he always says to encourage us to eat with him.

I hope you like it.. It's veeeeery good for you, in any form.

 

[Lye-h20-oil]

You are so lucky! I have Moringa powder in my save for later box on Amazon. It dropped from $20 a pound to $17 yesterday but It's still to pricey for me to experiment with at the moment. Please let us know what you do with it!

 

[Dawni]

You are so lucky! I have Moringa powder in my save for later box on Amazon. It dropped from $20 a pound to $17 yesterday but It's still to pricey for me to experiment with at the moment. Please let us know what you do with it!

Whoa.. That's close to a thousand in our money 0_0

Our local health food store sells their powder for about 350 a kilo if you can't make your own. Nice right? Haha

Here I've seen people make soap, shampoo, conditioner, balms, smoothies, ice cream, tea, cookies bread.. You name it and we probably have it (or will try it lol)

It's still very underrated. I blame it on lack of funding for research. It wasn't until it was called a superfood internationally that people tried things other than basic cooking **rolls eyes**

 

[Lye-h20-oil]

Whoa.. That's close to a thousand in our money 0_0

Our local health food store sells their powder for about 350 a kilo if you can't make your own. Nice right? Haha

Here I've seen people make soap, shampoo, conditioner, balms, smoothies, ice cream, tea, cookies bread.. You name it and we probably have it (or will try it lol)

It's still very underrated. I blame it on lack of funding for research. It wasn't until it was called a superfood internationally that people tried things other than basic cooking **rolls eyes**

That sounds like what big companies do with corn syrup here....
One day I will have Moringa

 

[Obsidian]

You are so lucky! I have Moringa powder in my save for later box on Amazon. It dropped from $20 a pound to $17 yesterday but It's still to pricey for me to experiment with at the moment. Please let us know what you do with it!

I found it for $10 a pound, you want the link?

 

[Lye-h20-oil]

I found it for $10 a pound, you want the link?

Yes please! Thank you

 

[Obsidian]

Yes please! Thank you

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072MNZ6DC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Dawni]

I checked out the link just coz.. Those recipes down below all look so yummy haha

 

[Lye-h20-oil]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072MNZ6DC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Thank you Osidian. I remember seeing that one when I looked for moringa on Amazon. I was not sure of that because a couple of the reviews said it had sand in it. But now that I searched other reviews from a different brand of moringa someone said sand is in it. I'm not sure if this is normal? I'll send Dawni a reply and ask her. It would be terrible to get an accidental sand blast to the face!! Not sure if sand would make it through a sifter or strainer. The price is right though.

 

[Lye-h20-oil]

I checked out the link just coz.. Those recipes down below all look so yummy haha

Dawni, is it normal for sand to be in moring powder?

 

[Dawni]

Dawni, is it normal for sand to be in moring powder?

I couldn't say.. We usually don't pay attention lol so there could or could not be. The ones we've bought so far are from small businesses and they claim to wash the leaves before they dry and powder them so we assume there isn't anything other than dried moringa in there. But then again, there's a question of storage so there still could be other stuff in there lol

I wonder how they knew it was sand? Sometimes in my tea I see things at the bottom that could be mistaken for sand but as with most things, we really don't pay attention lol

I'll see what happens when I powder mine... Although I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to tell which is sand and which isn't.

I'm really sorry I can't be of more help.