question about blueberry soap

[trent]

I want to make some blueberry soap and was wondering if i can puree blueberries and add them. Also, at what part of the process would I want to add it. I'm curious and I haven't seen any good recipes about it.

 

[Hazel]

Several people have stated blueberries turn gray in soap which is probably why you haven't seen recipes for it.

If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll see links to related posts. You might find the discussions helpful if you'd still want to attempt adding blueberries.

 

[Saswede]

I recently had a memory lapse, and got very excited when I saw huge packs of blueberries on promotion at the supermarket ..... so bought a pack to make soap. And then remembered the likelihood that the berries would discolor! So before giving up, I did a quick test - crushed a few berries, put them in a white cup and added a teaspoon or so of lye solution. Sadly I didn't take photos, but I can assure they went through a few colors before reaching a brown-grey which didn't seem suitable for soap. (My son was happy though, because he loves blueberries and ended up with about half a kg to eat!)


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[trent]

Thanks for taking the time to answer. I'd be embarrassed to say how many experimental batches I've thrown out, but I'm glad you saved me the heartache of having my soap turn gray. I still learn something from every batch, but man am I tired of learning by throwing out expensive oil.

 

[Saswede]

One of my school teachers always told us "wise men learn by others' mistakes, fools by their own"! Which is where I think that this type of forum adds value .... We can all learn from each others mistakes.


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[Hazel]

I'm glad you saved me the heartache of having my soap turn gray.

Gray isn't necessarily a bad color. It depends on the FO. I used Moonwork's Celtic Myst in a salt batch and was upset when I saw it had turned gray. I thought I had wasted the colorants I used in the batch. The gray lightened to a pale gray and I could faintly see swirls of purple and green in the batch. I thought it turned out more interesting visually with the gray than it would have with the white, purple and green. It really did make me think of mist with the colors. The bars also came to resemble river rocks the more I used them. However, the bars continued to fade over time and the gray turned to tan. The color still looked nice but I didn't like it as much as gray. Off topic: I have one bar left and the scent is still strong in it after over 2 years. I can highly recommend this scent for salt batches. I don't know about regular CP since I've only used it for salt bars.

Why did you have to toss out oils?

 

[trent]

My first batch was 5lbs of shortening, olive and coconut oil with coco butter for a superfat. One of my thermometers was off so my temperatures were off so it didn't trace. This was before I had a stick blender so I optimistically stirred that pot of never tracing goo for over three hours before I gave up and threw it out.

The embarrassing part is that I didn't figure out my thermometer problem until my third batch.

 

[Hazel]

Oh no! You should have walked away for a little while, then came back to stir, walk away, come back and stir, etc. As long as it was emulsified, you could have poured it in a mold and it would have slowly saponified - probably over several days. Another thing you could have done was put it in a crockpot and cooked it to force saponification. I'm sorry you didn't ask for help before tossing it.

Don't feel embarrassed over the thermometer issue. Everyone's experienced things like this - just laugh and soap on.

 

[trent]

when I first started (a few months ago) all I had was a couple of vague recipes and nobody to talk to about it. I made so many mistakes. Before I realized different oils had different saponification values, I was swapping one oil for another, guaranteeing that it wouldn't work out right. I wish I'd discovered this forum earlier.

 

[BeckyTtoo]

Good Morning… Depending on what you are trying to achieve with this blueberry soap.
I have a customer that uses 2 drops of Mulberry Fragrance oil
(you can also use one of the other berry-type oils if you prefer something else) as well as Dried Blueberry Seeds.
They use the blueberry seeds with the soap to make it as an exfoliant. (Blueberry Soap with Exfoliant)

 

[trent]

Thanks for the tip. All I'm trying to achieve with the blueberry is a nice fragrance and I was curious about mixing scents. I also hadn't thought of dried seeds, and that's a great idea. I'd seen a blackberry recipe and that was one of bonuses, the seeds as an exfoliate. Making soap is still new to me, I mean I still get excited when I unmold something new. Reading other people's experience has been as beneficial as anything I've seen in a book.

 

[Hazel]

when I first started (a few months ago) all I had was a couple of vague recipes and nobody to talk to about it. I made so many mistakes. Before I realized different oils had different saponification values, I was swapping one oil for another, guaranteeing that it wouldn't work out right. I wish I'd discovered this forum earlier.

I'm glad you didn't give up and then found the forum. Of course, this is a very addictive hobby. Someday you may regret it since many members are known to encourage excessive purchasing of supplies - especially fragrance oils. Enablers, you have to watch out for them and be strong willed. :eh:

 

[trent]

Giving up isn't something I wanted to do. My second batch didn't trace but I still poured it into a mold and it did saponify, but I didn't add any fragrance or pigment so it'll be re batched. I didn't want to give up because soap making sounded fascinating from the the first time I read about it and I really wanted it to work. As far as 'addictive' goes, I was just thinking of making a 1lb batch, just because. The whole process still fascinates me.

 

[Hazel]

I'm sorry! I just saw your reply. I think it's good to start with making small batches for experimenting. This helps from becoming overwhelmed with soap; although even with small batches, you'll still end up with a life time supply.

 

[Candybee]

I made a batch using fresh pureed blueberries that worked out great for me. This is how I did it. I split the batch and added the pureed blueberries to one bowl of soap batter, then colored it a nice blue for blueberries. The other bowl batter I colored a bright yellow. I swirled the two and came out with a nice grayish blue mixed with yellow soap. The FO I used was a lemon blueberry. You just have to think outside the box and find a way to use those beautiful blueberries.