Soap Recipes With Rabbit Fat

[Soaper2024]

Hello,

As I could not find a suitable thread with all the information I was looking for, I decided to start a thread on the subject. I have made some soaps with rabbit fat and am looking for experienced soapers opinions on the subject. Working on taking photos and doing reviews at some point, but I have little extra productive time lately.

Feel free to discuss any recipe which involves rabbit fat, regardless of percentage.

 

[MrsZ]

I have no experience with rabbit fat, but it sounds intriguing! I used to raise rabbits for meat as a kid. It's hard to imagine collecting enough fat to do much with! Do you buy it or render it yourself?

 

[Soaper2024]

I render myself, and when you raise them in the cold like I do they have plenty of fat. It's very similar to lard and is still soft when refrigerated. I've substituted 25% rabbit in a 75% coconut oil batch, and a 75% olive oil batch.

I have a batch of 100% coconut oil that's still harsh after 8 weeks, even with 20% superfat. I was thinking of rebatching it and adding a bit of rabbit fat as a high quality moisturizer component.

Considering the quality of the fat, I would have expected to see more people using it.

 

[MrsZ]

I render myself, and when you raise them in the cold like I do they have plenty of fat. It's very similar to lard and is still soft when refrigerated. I've substituted 25% rabbit in a 75% coconut oil batch, and a 75% olive oil batch.

I have a batch of 100% coconut oil that's still harsh after 8 weeks, even with 20% superfat. I was thinking of rebatching it and adding a bit of rabbit fat as a high quality moisturizer component.

Considering the quality of the fat, I would have expected to see more people using it.

That's pretty cool! I think for a lot of us rabbit fat is not very easily obtainable.

 

[Soaper2024]

Well, if you can find it I recommend it for a lot of things. It makes an excellent and healthier gravy for one.
It's low in saturated fats, higher in polyunsaturated fats, high in vitamin A D E and K, and simply melts into skin without being greasy till you apply too much. Crazy stuff.

I like the 75% oo, 25% rabbit soap, but I need to get better at making/using soaps before I have an awareness of what it's doing.

 

[squidstings]

Well, if you can find it I recommend it for a lot of things. It makes an excellent and healthier gravy for one.
It's low in saturated fats, higher in polyunsaturated fats, high in vitamin A D E and K, and simply melts into skin without being greasy till you apply too much. Crazy stuff.

Have you used it in any balms, butters or lotions? Anything else you've noticed?

I occasionally get a whole rabbit from the grocery store. Sounds like it's worth saving up. Thank you for sharing this

 

[ackosel]

I haven't saved any rabbit fat for soaping yet. I did add a tiny bit (3%) of chicken fat to one of my first soap batches, but I don't know if it added any qualities to my soap. I'll save some when we start processing rabbits again in the spring and see how we like it!

 

[Soaper2024]

Chicken and other domesticated animal fats are not in the same category, though pork would come close on a limited number of attributes.

I did make a sort of wet lip balm for dry cracked lips. Messy, but it worked a treat.

I simply freeze the fat from each butchering, then render them all at once when I'm done. 4-6 rabbits (depending on age) makes a ziplock sandwich bag full of unrendered fat.

 

[bookworm42]

I have a batch of 100% coconut oil that's still harsh after 8 weeks

If you don't want to rebatch them, salt bars are often 100% coconut oil and are recommended to cure for 6 months to a year. Even if these aren't salt soaps, I would still recommend waiting that long to use them due to the harshness. Soap tends to mellow with age.

 

[Soaper2024]

Good point. I'll do a small rebatch and compare against the originals in 4 months.