Need advice on using fruit in soap

[HumbleDaisyMae]

Hi all,
I signed up for the March challenge because I have the perfect fruit, a homemade raspberry paste that I previously milled and slowly cooked down to a thick paste and froze. Thinking I would use it in so many ways and I just haven’t. So perfect for the challenge right? But I have no idea how much I should use or when to add it to what! Can I get some love and advice? TIA

 

[bookworm42]

I think using it as water replacement would be the way to go. Similar to what I've seen other people do with banana puree and canned pumpkin.
I've seen people add things like that to the oils before the lye solution and mix it in.
As for the amount I'd stay under 50% water replacement as a first time thing but that's just my opinion.

Disclaimer, I've never done anything like this I'm just going off of what I've seen on YouTube/read on here. Maybe someone who's done something like this will chime in with more/better advice.

 

[AliOop]

Unfortunately I cannot give you advice without testing this product. Please send a good-sized jar to ensure enough quantity for multiple field tests.

Ok, being serious now… it sounds like you cooked out most of the liquid. If that’s correct, I probably wouldn’t offset much of the water in your recipe because there just isn’t that much in the paste.

The paste may also be also acidic due to any citric acid you may have added. This would raise your superfat a bit, so I’d start with a low SF in the base recipe.

 

[HumbleDaisyMae]

@bookworm42 @AliOop thanks for responding. It is very thick, I didn’t add anything to it, it is straight up concentrated raspberry with no seeds, a very very deep purple. I thought I would bake wonderful things with it and just never got to it, but it is super wonderful on ice cream if not a bit of a slap in the face with flavor .

What are your thoughts for a % of use in a recipe? I’m going to try a small batch first, I’ve never used anything remotely like this as an add in.

 

[Servant4Christ]

From what I've read, using raspberry puree isn't going to result in any shade of purple. You will likely end up with some shade of brown. I only mention it to help you with your planning. I'd personally split the batch and add the puree to a portion of the batter, incorporating the brown color into your overall design.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

There’s a video that shows the making of the Soaping 101 Mantra Jam soap I posted as an example of using fruit as an ingredient for the March Challenge. She uses strawberry and raspberry purées in the soap and as best as I can tell, she’s not adjusting the water amount in the recipe. She also adds maple syrup to the uncolored portion of the soap, which probably helps to balance out the water and sugar content of the three splits. The strawberry puree turns orangish and the raspberry puree turns greenish brown. You can get a rough idea of proportions of puree to batter based on the sizes of the containers she’s using.

Here’s the link:

 

[AliOop]

@bookworm42 @AliOop thanks for responding. It is very thick, I didn’t add anything to it, it is straight up concentrated raspberry with no seeds, a very very deep purple. I thought I would bake wonderful things with it and just never got to it, but it is super wonderful on ice cream if not a bit of a slap in the face with flavor .

Now I definitely need some tester product!! For science, of course!