Reusing kitchen fat

[lanchingmaa]

Anyone ever make soaps from re-used kitchen fats? I was thinking of making soap from clean fat from the fryer, etc. Clean fat meaning heat water and add all fat, boil, then cool. The water will separate the fat and the food and crud falls into the water. How would I use this in a lye calculator?

 

[Lindy]

My grandmother used to do that. She would collect all the fat from the meals for a month or two and then render it down into a clean form. The challenge is going to be this is a mixture of fats and oils so it is going to be hard to determine how much lye you are going to need. Grandma simply did an estimation based on her years of experience making old fashioned lye soap.

I would love to hear your results. Perhaps one of the things you can do is keep a record of what fats / oils are going in along with the weight so when you are ready to turn it into soap you have a rough idea of what's in there.

 

[Nevada]

Not worth the energy.
Pig Lard (Manteca) $1.35 / lb
JMO

 

[Lindy]

Nevada I think it is. What a wonderful opportunity to see how the ones who came before us did it. There are lots of people who like to render their own tallow and lard.

 

[lanchingmaa]

Nevada: "Ingredients: Prepared from lard and hydrogenated lard, bha, propyl gallate, and citric acid added to protect flavor."

Pretty much 99% of grocery store "lard" is made to stay on a store shelf. I render my own lard but don't like the smell in my soaps.


That being said, I asked the question because I was thinking of a "story" to tell when making my own soaps. If I used leftover kitchen grease from the fryers at a local restaurant that was known for its sustainable practices, I would have a story. My experience with soap makers is that it's a congested industry to make a living in and the ones that survive have great stories.

I have over 12 years experience in consumer retail marketing and I've been looking for a justification to sell soaps someday because I'm so hooked on making them.

 

[DWinMadison]

I filtered some canola used to fry beignets through a coffee filter and have added it to several batches ( never more than 20%). The new soap smelled a bit greasy at first, but was fine by the time it cured.

 

[falldowngobump]

I've never done it, but my mom did. She used all her used canola oil, she cleaned somehow with boiling water and filtered it (I'm not sure of her exact cleaning process). Her soap recipe included lard and coconut oil and a few coffee grounds to make it scrubby. It made a nice kitchen and cleaning up after working in the garden soap. My mom is a huge recycler.

 

[Lindy]

What I find so silly is that we think (our generation) we came up with all the recycling and green, when in actual fact is my grandmother's generation (she was born in 1900) that truly knew about recycling and making things go further. She didn't waste a thing and that includes oil. They were dirt poor and she would save their bacon grease as a spread on toast. So many of their daily way of living was greener than most today will ever be with a very small environment footprint. And we, who spout 'green' this and 'green' that turn up our noses as what that really means....

 

[CaliChan]

What I find so silly is that we think (our generation) we came up with all the recycling and green, when in actual fact is my grandmother's generation (she was born in 1900) that truly knew about recycling and making things go further. She didn't waste a thing and that includes oil. They were dirt poor and she would save their bacon grease as a spread on toast. So many of their daily way of living was greener than most today will ever be with a very small environment footprint. And we, who spout 'green' this and 'green' that turn up our noses as what that really means....

i totally agree. last year i decided i was going to make everything from scratch and make things last as long as i could, even do crafts with the kids with all the empty containers so that we could save money. what i didnt realize untill i was a few months into it, not only had i back tracked into the 1920s (as my mother puts it) i had gone "green" wich i never wanted to do before because i didnt want to spend the extra money to buy "green works" wich was more expencive.

 

[Lindy]

Exactly! During the summer we hang out laundry on the line and use wind power to dry them. We don't have a dishwasher so I do them by hand. I recycle/re-use boxes that come with my shipments and I use tallow for my soaps.

 

[Nikolye]

Anyone ever make soaps from re-used kitchen fats? I was thinking of making soap from clean fat from the fryer, etc. Clean fat meaning heat water and add all fat, boil, then cool. The water will separate the fat and the food and crud falls into the water. How would I use this in a lye calculator?

Did u ever do this? Was it a success? I'm very curious about this old post! My mom has a restaurant and I'd love to figure out how to clean her old fryer oil for a soap! Was thinking about soap calc as well, What I'd input and how to clean it..

 

[goji_fries]

I have heard of it. You have to render it a few times. There is a post on here I think showing you how to do it.

 

[ourwolfden]

Sounds like an interesting idea. I worked in a s a cook in a greasy spoon during high school and college (which wasn't green or sustainable at all for the record) and would not bring my clothes inside after my shift because they smelled so bad. My luck if I tried this I'd end up with soap that smelled like French fries.

 

[LunaSkye]

Sounds like a better way to get rid of that old grease. I was thinking of doing something like this, but my friend did not fancy the idea as much.

 

[Obsidian]

I've though about saving bacon and hamburger grease, seems a waste to toss it in the trash when I use animal fats in my soap.

 

[sassanellat]

It's an interesting topic. One of the reasons that a lot of fryer grease is 'retired' is that it fails (or decomposes) after a period of time at a high temperature and some of it's characteristics change. There is some concern about these burnt fats containing traces of potentially carcinogenic compounds (but I have not read anything on that, and it might be the burnt protein, so I'm just mentioning it in case someone wants to look it up). If there weren't any other issues, how would you 'clean it up'? Obviously, you'd strain it (coarse mesh, fine mesh, paper towel/Whatman), but after that? Some people baste a potato in it, others go for baking soda and other things. You could try activated charcoal, but you have to use a chunk-type that you could easily strain out after. Interesting.

 

[Nikolye]

It's an interesting topic. One of the reasons that a lot of fryer grease is 'retired' is that it fails (or decomposes) after a period of time at a high temperature and some of it's characteristics change. There is some concern about these burnt fats containing traces of potentially carcinogenic compounds (but I have not read anything on that, and it might be the burnt protein, so I'm just mentioning it in case someone wants to look it up). If there weren't any other issues, how would you 'clean it up'? Obviously, you'd strain it (coarse mesh, fine mesh, paper towel/Whatman), but after that? Some people baste a potato in it, others go for baking soda and other things. You could try activated charcoal, but you have to use a chunk-type that you could easily strain out after. Interesting.

I'm very interested in how it would be cleaned. I think I'll give it a go just strained at some stage.. Small batch for cleaning or laundry.

 

[goji_fries]

It's an interesting topic. One of the reasons that a lot of fryer grease is 'retired' is that it fails (or decomposes) after a period of time at a high temperature and some of it's characteristics change. There is some concern about these burnt fats containing traces of potentially carcinogenic compounds (but I have not read anything on that, and it might be the burnt protein, so I'm just mentioning it in case someone wants to look it up). If there weren't any other issues, how would you 'clean it up'? Obviously, you'd strain it (coarse mesh, fine mesh, paper towel/Whatman), but after that? Some people baste a potato in it, others go for baking soda and other things. You could try activated charcoal, but you have to use a chunk-type that you could easily strain out after. Interesting.

Hey sassanellat, I follow you on this one. I try to be careful with all soaps. The carcinogenic potential would be internal and not external? IDK

They do this same type of thing at rendering plants. they boil down everything animal like in a high temp industrial setting then sell the 'product' to perfume industry etc.

I'm curious too on a science level whether this can be used, whether bonds are broken etc etc yadi yadi

 

[LunaSkye]

It's an interesting topic. One of the reasons that a lot of fryer grease is 'retired' is that it fails (or decomposes) after a period of time at a high temperature and some of it's characteristics change. There is some concern about these burnt fats containing traces of potentially carcinogenic compounds (but I have not read anything on that, and it might be the burnt protein, so I'm just mentioning it in case someone wants to look it up). If there weren't any other issues, how would you 'clean it up'? Obviously, you'd strain it (coarse mesh, fine mesh, paper towel/Whatman), but after that? Some people baste a potato in it, others go for baking soda and other things. You could try activated charcoal, but you have to use a chunk-type that you could easily strain out after. Interesting.

The following links seem the most helpful:

http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/8461/is-it-unhealthy-to-reuse-cooking-oil

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/CookingOil.htm

The first site has links to other sites for information while the second site (albeit old) gives an expanded view on the one source without a hyperlink. Interesting stuff imo.

 

[sassanellat]

Hey sassanellat, I follow you on this one. I try to be careful with all soaps. The carcinogenic potential would be internal and not external? IDK

I would assume that internal would be worse, but because they are fat soluble, they might be retained in skin. IDK either. That's one to read about when I have a free minute... which sadly sounds like CHristmas holiday.