'Old Reliable' or 'Core' Cold Process Recipes

[artemis]

You don't learn, or appreciate, if it's free.

Well, I disagree with that. There are lots of things I've been taught for free and lots of things I've been given that I appreciate.

 

[paradisi]

Well, I disagree with that. There are lots of things I've been taught for free and lots of things I've been given that I appreciate.

What I took her to mean is, that taking shortcuts can shortchange you.

 

[artemis]

What I took her to mean is, that taking shortcuts can shortchange you.

I still don't see how being taught something is the same as taking a short cut. We all learn things from other people either by reading or hearing or being shown what to do. No one learns solely by doing.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

So, I found the thread from back in 2019 where @cmzaha taught me a few things about shea butter

 

[paradisi]

I still don't see how being taught something is the same as taking a short cut. We all learn things from other people either by reading or hearing or being shown what to do. No one learns solely by doing.

The difference would be in how much one gets from relying on others' recipes vs learning through experience. Watching cooking shows isn't sufficient to make one a good cook.

 

[Jorah]

If I make a coffee soap I might use coconut cream, plus brewed coffee as the water component, plus coffee grounds.

I'm hoping to make a triple-brew coffee soap soon! Perhaps/probably with charcoal.

 

[artemis]

The difference would be in how much one gets from relying on others' recipes vs learning through experience. Watching cooking shows isn't sufficient to make one a good cook.

Thank you for the analogy. You are right.

But that doesn't mean one shouldn't be taught, or given information. That is often the first step before attempting something new.

I am a better cook because I have watched free shows. I appreciated the free information as I spatchcocked my chicken. Without that free information, I wouldn't have even known that was a thing or how to look it up. Spatchcock?!? Whoever heard of spatchcock?!? You can just cut the spine out of a chicken?!? But maybe that revelation is for the Food and Spirits part of the forum.

 

[MelissaG]

What I took her to mean is, that taking shortcuts can shortchange you.

Yes, exactly. You don't learn if things are just handed to you. People learn by doing, not by reading. So if you aren't learning the different positives and negatives of the oils you're using and why, then you're leaving things out. How can you tell people anything about your product if you don't know anything about it? Like why olive oil and coconut oil are so commonly used in soap?

 

[melinda48]

Thanks for this, QQ. I thought I was doing well with my documentation, but you (and other participants on this thread) have shown me I have improvements to make!

I also need stronger shelving. Soap is heavy! The 'rigid plastic' shelving I bought last year for storing camping gear on turned out to be far from rigid. I may have to break down and buy steel shelves.

I b ought my soap curing rack at our local university’s surplus store. I think I paid $5 for it. It works great!

 

[Savage Daughter]

I hesitate to ask, since it sounds like another rabbit hole to fall down, but... you make your own?? I guess I'll go search on how that's done!

I lived in Indonesia for 10 years & spent a lot of time in various villages of friends etc.

When I was in villages during wedding preparations & other community functions when the women got together to make food in massive quantities, one of the things they made from scratch was coconut milk, so I learned from them.

You remove the shell first obviously, then brown inner peel, then very finely grate fresh coconut into a large stainless steel bowl. Pour hot water over that & let it soak for a while til it's not too hot for the hands, then get in there with your hands & go to town, mashing & mashing it until the fats are extracted from the coconut. It takes about 15 minutes with 3 women & 6 hands so I'd say give it a good 20 minutes mashing at least. You end up with coconut milk. It's a very simple process. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find unadulterated coconut milk in a can, or otherwise. There used to be one brand that was nothing but coconut at a very night percentage & water, but the company went & added polysorbate 80 to it as a stabilizer / emulsifier, which ruined it. I used to use that brand but have stopped because of this.

I now do the coconut milk making by hand because of the problem of adulterated product, but when I am a little short on time, I will use my blender for the 'mashing' process. I still finely grate the coconut into a bowl first however, then pour the hot water over it & let it sit a good 30 minutes, til the water isn't scalding hot. I then put it in my blender & pulse the mixture for about 5 minutes or so, then let that sit til most of the coconut sinks to the bottom. I then pour everything into an unbleached cotton bag which I place over a strainer, strain it, then squeeze the out of it. A thicker cotton is a good idea so the fabric doesn't split. You can find cotton drawstring bags like this on Amazon, sold in mutipacks.

If I have time, I then put that cotton bag full of coconut on a plate & put some serious weight on it to extract the remainder of the fats for several hours, then refrigerate / freeze until I need it. If not using within 24 hours, best to freeze it.

The majority of frozen coconut you'll find in Asian or other markets have sulfites added to the coconut, so read the label before buying. This additive commonly causes allergic reactions, which happened to my neighbour very recently. Lots of itching & hives. Not pleasant.

So yeah, that's THAT rabbit hole

 

[Jorah]

I lived in Indonesia for 10 years & spent a lot of time in various villages of friends etc.

When I was in villages during wedding preparations & other community functions when the women got together to make food in massive quantities, one of the things they made from scratch was coconut milk, so I learned from them.

You remove the shell first obviously, then brown inner peel, then very finely grate fresh coconut into a large stainless steel bowl. Pour hot water over that & let it soak for a while til it's not too hot for the hands, then get in there with your hands & go to town, mashing & mashing it until the fats are extracted from the coconut. It takes about 15 minutes with 3 women & 6 hands so I'd say give it a good 20 minutes mashing at least. You end up with coconut milk. It's a very simple process. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find unadulterated coconut milk in a can, or otherwise. There used to be one brand that was nothing but coconut at a very night percentage & water, but the company went & added polysorbate 80 to it as a stabilizer / emulsifier, which ruined it. I used to use that brand but have stopped because of this.

I now do the coconut milk making by hand because of the problem of adulterated product, but when I am a little short on time, I will use my blender for the 'mashing' process. I still finely grate the coconut into a bowl first however, then pour the hot water over it & let it sit a good 30 minutes, til the water isn't scalding hot. I then put it in my blender & pulse the mixture for about 5 minutes or so, then let that sit til most of the coconut sinks to the bottom. I then pour everything into an unbleached cotton bag which I place over a strainer, strain it, then squeeze the out of it. A thicker cotton is a good idea so the fabric doesn't split. You can find cotton drawstring bags like this on Amazon, sold in mutipacks.

If I have time, I then put that cotton bag full of coconut on a plate & put some serious weight on it to extract the remainder of the fats for several hours, then refrigerate / freeze until I need it. If not using within 24 hours, best to freeze it.

The majority of frozen coconut you'll find in Asian or other markets have sulfites added to the coconut, so read the label before buying. This additive commonly causes allergic reactions, which happened to my neighbour very recently. Lots of itching & hives. Not pleasant.

So yeah, that's THAT rabbit hole

Thanks for the explanation and WOW! Ten years in Indonesia! That sounds very exotic to a person who's never left the states, what an amazing opportunity.

 

[Jorah]

2. - Skip the Bastile and join us Lardinators! Try LARD SOAP. You really can't do better when it comes to making an all-pupose skin-loving soap for all ages and skin types that gets you clean without leaving the skin feeling tight. JMHO, best (w/Tea Tree) soap for teenage acne.



4. - NOTE: Shea Butter is the best sub for Palm/Lard in a balanced recipe. For a really great soap with a high% of shea butter that kept me coming back for more:
67% SHEA BUTTER CP - INS 155

As evidence that I'm trying to carry through with my plan to make these recipes, today I'm making* Zany's No-Slime Castile, my own variant of 72%, and doing some planning for stuff I need to find/buy make your 67% Shea Butter recipe. Of course... I have to clean the work area first, and typing Soapmaking Forum isn't getting the workbench any cleaner, is it?

-=-
*assuming I can get the workspace clean and stop procrastinating... hey! it's almost lunchtime!
-=-
4:18 p.m. follow-up: I've realized why I like making big batches of soap; little batches take just as much work and turn out 3-6 bars of soap.... give me my loaf molds! (P.S. I actually made soap today! Yippee!)

 

[AliOop]

I now do the coconut milk making by hand because of the problem of adulterated product

The majority of frozen coconut you'll find in Asian or other markets have sulfites added to the coconut, so read the label before buying. This additive commonly causes allergic reactions, which happened to my neighbour very recently. Lots of itching & hives. Not pleasant.

Have you tried the Aroy-D brand? Nothing but coconut and water - no gums, which are super hard on my digestive system. For those who don't have access to fresh coconut (or reasonably-priced fresh coconut), it's fantastic.

I purchase it on Amazon, but it is also available at some of my local Asian and Indian grocery marts. The cream works out better price-wise than the milk, at least for me.

Because there are no gums, the carton contents do have to be homogenized when opened; my tool of choice is my stickblender, which fits right into the carton. After blending, it's poured into ice cube trays for portioning. The frozen cubes are stored in a bag in the freezer. Two of them go into my morning coffee as my non-dairy creamer. I typically get 21 days out of each carton that way. Of course, some is also used for making curries, soups, smoothies, etc.

Very occasionally, a carton will have too much coconut oil. When that happens, it never will homogenize well. Best guess is that they had an off day in the production facility? Whatever the reason, it's still usable, but not as desirable for curry-making. That's only happened 5-6x since I started buying this brand about 10 years ago. But it's something to be aware of in case you are down to your last carton and planning to make a nice curry for guests. Yeah, that happened once, so I had to run to Whole Foods to get their gum-free Native Forest brand. It's not bad, but I can always taste the tin can. Blech.

 

[Savage Daughter]

Thanks for the explanation and WOW! Ten years in Indonesia! That sounds very exotic to a person who's never left the states, what an amazing opportunity.

Yeah, it's exotic at first, and then reality sets in

Things like the garbage guy being unwilling to cart your garbage away if you don't give him a little bit of corruption money (and then you get overrun with literal gutter rats), and the neighbourhood security guard who will break into your house with buddies when you go out of town for a couple of days if you don't give him a bit of kickback too, the mail delivery guy needs cut as well, and so does the guy who comes to hook up your cable or satellite dish, along with what is called an RT (kind of like a head of a regional district), police who might stop you because you stand out just because of your skin color who also want their bit, and the neighbouring businesses who will threaten your children if you start doing a higher volume of business than them when you move into the area, and god forbid if you want to get married or get a drivers license or buy a house (these are whole other cans of whoopass that are not enjoyable to deal with ) because everyone including the government officials, hospital officlals, doctors, immigration officials, your local RT & the local religious men want their 'donation', or else you suffer the consequences....and the list goes on

My students at the time - extracurricular language classes outside of public & private schools - told me about the fact that their parents even had to give some kickback money to their teachers every year to have their new school textbooks for the year released to them. The corruption goes deep....VERY deep, and you have to learn to work within that system in order to have any type of 'normal' life there. Hence, the majority of people have little choice but to perpetuate the corruption themselves, simply because they have never experienced any other manner of functioning within their society. Things have changed on the surface since I left there, the public image of the country has improved in many ways, but the mindset & manner of day-to-day functioning there for the vast majority of people hasn't. The corruption still runs deep.

That said, it is amazingly beautiful, and I did meet some very good people there who I still miss, very much so, who I became very close to. But life is a struggle for everyone there, especially the local people....except maybe the expats with their drivers / maids / housing compounds / US dollar salaries paid by large oil & mining companies etc, but even they have to pay the gravy train LOL

10 years was enough. I saw a lot, ate amazing food, experienced what little is left of the original cultures after various religions came in & destroyed traditional practices, worked there, ran a business there, made a lot of friends, but also went through some hellish times there as well. I can't see myself ever wanting to move back to the country, even though I learned to speak the language & spent most of time with the local people.

So 'exotic'.... ....on the surface it seems so. But it is also be a major struggle. One hell of a life experience, to say the least I am waiting on my next destination to call me at this point.

In the meantime, I am launching my line of products step by step until that happens

 

[Jorah]

@Obsidian This is the result of my July 4 batch inspired by your '50% lard, 20% coconut, 25% safflower, 5% castor' recipe. I had no safflower, but did have some sunflower which looks to have similar qualities on SoapCalc. The making went very smoothly. I got 18 chunky bars out 2,324 grams of oil. I added activated charcoal and pumice to make a scrubby bar. I also used Zany's 'faux sea water' mix for the water portion. It unmolded nicely at 24 hours and was hard to the touch at 48 hours. I'm very pleased with it! This isn't a deep black because I was trying to keep the charcoal to a level where the suds shouldn't be too gray. I used a blog post by the 'Nerdy Farmwife' as my resource there. thenerdyfarmwife.com/charcoal-in-soap/ .

I haven't tried the soap yet, but it looks great so far.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

50% lard, 20% coconut, 25% safflower HO (?) sunflower, 5% castor' recipe.

NICE!

I got 18 chunky bars out 2,324 grams of oil.

You KNOW this! When making a recipe for the first time it's best to make small 500 gram batches -- in anticipation of tweaking the next few batches after test-driving. No matter how good it turns out, it seems there's always something... at least, that's been my experience. My best formulas didn't hit their sweet spot until the third batch.

I also used Zany's 'faux sea water' mix for the water portion. It unmolded nicely at 24 hours and was hard to the touch at 48 hours.

Good thinking.

NOTE: One thing I've noticed about lard soaps is that they tend to hold fragrance well.

 

[Jorah]

You KNOW this! When making a recipe for the first time it's best to make small 500 gram batches --

I like big batches and I cannot lye.

 

[Obsidian]

@Jorah they look great and the sunflower is a good replacement. I like it best of all liquid oils but its expensive and hard to find here

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I like big batches and I cannot lye.

That being said, I'm Frau Franny Frugal. No doubt, I will go to my grave, buried in all the pennies I've saved!

 

[Zing]

@Obsidian This is the result of my July 4 batch inspired by your '50% lard, 20% coconut, 25% safflower, 5% castor' recipe. I had no safflower, but did have some sunflower which looks to have similar qualities on SoapCalc. The making went very smoothly. I got 18 chunky bars out 2,324 grams of oil. I added activated charcoal and pumice to make a scrubby bar. I also used Zany's 'faux sea water' mix for the water portion. It unmolded nicely at 24 hours and was hard to the touch at 48 hours. I'm very pleased with it! This isn't a deep black because I was trying to keep the charcoal to a level where the suds shouldn't be too gray. I used a blog post by the 'Nerdy Farmwife' as my resource there. thenerdyfarmwife.com/charcoal-in-soap/ .

I haven't tried the soap yet, but it looks great so far.

Great looking soap! Congratulations.