Seal Oil Soap

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I miss the tang of the sea air! I wonder if my wife would like to visit there..................maybe ALASKA! eh? eh?

 

[Obsidian]

I thought it was probably CP when I bought it, but kind of wondered. Is there a good way to tell for sure?

Can you cut a tiny bit off and microwave it? See if it melts right down to liquid like M & P does?

 

[CaraBou]

Melt it to see if it's MP! Gee, why didn't I think of that?? I've never bought or played with it before, and usually just think of it as being transparent. Man, that stuff lathers like crazy! :razz:

Soooooap... it did melt. I have no problem with that; nothing on the label was misleading about that, and it wouldn't have influenced my purchase. But hopefully I didn't intimidate her too much with my oils question so she'll still answer my species and amount questions. Or at least the species question -- that's really what I want to know. I'm a biologist, these things interest me! Her second reply suggested she lives on an island quite a bit further north than the one where I bought the soap. That would be off of the main chain and squarely in the Bering Sea, where bearded seal, ringed seal or northern fur seal are more common. Oh I want to know!

 

[Seawolfe]

Oh gosh wouldn't it be fun if you could bring in supplies and make CP soap with her! Maybe exchange supplies and lessons for seal oil! That should be more economical for her to make CP soap rather than MP, wouldn't it? Though the shipping would be a nightmare.

How would you even figure the SAP for seal oil? I wonder if it varies with species...

 

[CaraBou]

Oh gosh wouldn't it be fun if you could bring in supplies and make CP soap with her! Maybe exchange supplies and lessons for seal oil!

Yes, that would be awesome! I don't think it's legal for me to possess seal oil except in a finished handicraft made by an Alaskan Native. So says the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). But I could possibly help her add cp to what is likely a short list of items she can market. Alaskan Natives harvest marine mammals primarily for food -- but they cannot sell food products. The MMPA's intent is for the indigenous people to be able to continue their traditional ways and live in today's world without exploiting the resource.

How would you even figure the SAP for seal oil? I wonder if it varies with species...

I had to look up how to determine sap values. I found the video below. A little more than your average soaper (like ME) can carry out, but at least it gives an idea. I would probably just formulate a low superfat recipe and add a little SO for good measure -- like I thought was probably done with the bar I bought. I would probably use tallow as a proxy in the calculations -- at least that's a mammal!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ersHDsiAVko[/ame]

 

[newtonandpelle]

I emailed the soapstress about her seal soap. She replied back, asking if I'd like to meet for coffee when she visits Anchorage this coming weekend. But I will be gone fishing! She said she may be back again this fall or winter. So we'll see what happens.

Her invitation was very friendly. But she didn't answer any of my questions yet (like what species of seal, how much seal tallow did she use, and what other oils are in the bar). I was clear that I was not asking for her recipe. She simply said, "Chances are you are probably a better soapmaker than I." Now I'm wondering if she used soap noodles or an opaque MP base and just added seal tallow to it. The bar is a smooth, opaque, white oval bar with a Christmas tree impression on the surface, and it lathers really well during handwashing. I thought it was probably CP when I bought it, but kind of wondered. Is there a good way to tell for sure?

Out there in the Aleutians, everything must be shipped in at great cost, and very few supplies would be available locally. I looked for lye at the combination hardware/ship supply/grocery store in Dutch Harbor but of course there was none (by contrast, there was lye in Kodiak, which is much more populated and less remote). And the few basic oils on the shelves weren't cheap. It would be hard to make soap economically. I paid $7 for the bar -- not bad, I thought.

Well I don't want to assume too much. But I am really intrigued now, perhaps more by her than by her soap! I hope it works out to meet her. There is always so much to learn from people who live in such harsh, remote places -- whether it's about soap or not!

There is a legal seal hunt where I live and I have made seal oil with the intention of making soap with it...and I came across this thread. Did you ever get the answers you were looking for from the soap maker? Seals have no solid fat (tallow) so the oils are rendered from the blubber (which can be upwards of 30% of a seal's weight). The blubber actually has no smell. In terms of figuring out the SAP value, seal oil never solidifies like lard or beef tallow even when frozen...???

 

[CaraBou]

Hi NandP, sorry for my delay. I have learned more from your posts than I did from the seal soapmaker I encountered in 2014 or subsequent sources. I am heading over to your thread to chime in there.