Using fresh lemon or lime juice in soap..?

[Jerry S]

Has anyone used fresh lemon or lime juice in his or her soaps? I do CP and I have a ton of fresh limes and lemons from my trees and thought about trying it but I don’t know how much to put in and whether I should discount the water with the amount of juice. Maybe the lye water would eliminate the scent of the juice.Maybe the citric acid would compromise the quality of the soap in some way. I've searched around some of the Forums and haven't seen where anyone has tried this.
Jerry

 

[PrairieCraft]

It doesn't work. I love lemon soaps so one of my first experiments was using lemon juice. The acidity of the juice neutralizes the lye. (that's my basic explanation, someone with more knowledge could explain it better) There are a few threads somewhere here on it.

 

[kelleyaynn]

Yes, the acid of the juice would neutralize some of the lye, so you wouldn't end up with enough lye for your recipe. What you could do is HP the soap and add the juice after the cook. That should work. Do you want it just for the smell? The citric acid content of the juice would make the pH of the soap lower, which might make it a bit milder on the skin. I'm not sure if it would affect the saponified fats at all. But hey, I'd go for it just to see what happens - just with a small batch.

 

[soap25]

lemon lime juice

Careful!!!!!

I used the juice of 4 lemons in water. Adding the lye, the whole thing came immediatly out of the lye pot. This happened in the sink , so all I had to do was to rinse the mess down. It was like opening a well shaked soda can

Adding too much acid after the saponification may cause a chemical reaction. My English is not good enough to explain it - but it will leave a fatty mess.

Put a lot of juice on soapflakes you will see what happens.

Putting some juice carefully to the lye makes the soap "softer". The lye neutralized the acid and the product - sodiumcitrat = watersoftener.

My buttermilk-lemon soap (juice of 4 lemons slowly added to the lye water, in 1600 gr. Oils) turned out nice finally. I only superfatted with 4% to compensate the "lost" lye. Sorry, no natural scent left.
:wink:

 

[Jerry S]

Ok....lol....enough said, guess if I want lemon scent or lime scent I'll have to stick to the FO's from the soap suppliers...

Thanks everyone for the tips...you've saved me a lot of aggravation.
Guess I'll just have to juice those lemons and limes for lemonade or use them in pies etc...
Jerry S

 

[yoenoess]

how about infusing oil with lemon zest? have you guys trying it?

 

[soap25]

lemon zest

Works fine as a peeling, but still no scent in the final soap.

But it should help to fix EOs in the soap, like lemon or orange. FO´s still work far better

I would rather use the oil on a salad, or in the bathtub....

 

[Laurie Gator]

how about infusing oil with lemon zest? have you guys trying it?

A good way to get the "lemon oil" out of the lemon peel would be with high alcohol vodka or with Everclear. This might be a fun idea if you are trying to make a "clear" soap with alcohol.

I make Lemoncello with lemons from friends. I peel the lemons and soak them in Everclear for 2 - 3 months until the peels have lost their color then add a simple sugar solution and let it age for a month or two... YUMMY!

 

[Rae]

Careful!!!!!

I used the juice of 4 lemons in water. Adding the lye, the whole thing came immediatly out of the lye pot. This happened in the sink , so all I had to do was to rinse the mess down. It was like opening a well shaked soda can

Adding too much acid after the saponification may cause a chemical reaction. My English is not good enough to explain it - but it will leave a fatty mess.

Put a lot of juice on soapflakes you will see what happens.

Putting some juice carefully to the lye makes the soap "softer". The lye neutralized the acid and the product - sodiumcitrat = watersoftener.

My buttermilk-lemon soap (juice of 4 lemons slowly added to the lye water, in 1600 gr. Oils) turned out nice finally. I only superfatted with 4% to compensate the "lost" lye. Sorry, no natural scent left.
:wink:

Hey, what if instead of adding Juice to the lye water I infused one of the oils with lemon? I've seen a girl do this with camomile, but im not sure if lemon Will work or if im going to end with sludge. What do you think?

 

[dixiedragon]

You probably won't see much result either way. You may get something out of it if you use the oil for lotion or something, but the lye monster will gobble up any benefits from infusion.

Have you looked into adding powdered citrus peel? Lemon and orange peel keep their color - I haven't tried lime.

ETA: I didn't realize this was such an old thread when I replied. Rae, you may get better responses if you start a new thread and link to this one, b/c a lot of people are just going to read and respond to the original post, vs scrolling down to see your question.

 

[cmzaha]

A good way to get the "lemon oil" out of the lemon peel would be with high alcohol vodka or with Everclear. This might be a fun idea if you are trying to make a "clear" soap with alcohol.

I make Lemoncello with lemons from friends. I peel the lemons and soak them in Everclear for 2 - 3 months until the peels have lost their color then add a simple sugar solution and let it age for a month or two... YUMMY!

Thankyou for the recipe. I love Lemoncello on pound cake and sprinkled over trifles. Yummy yummy. Going to make some with your method.
LOL, I also did not notice it was just an old thread. Guessing Laurie Gator will not see this!!

 

[dixiedragon]

My mom made limoncello. IMO---tastes like Pledge.

But here's a tip to save money - ask your local Chick Filet what days they make lemonade and get their lemon peels. If you want to save some $ and make a A LOT.

 

[lsg]

Soaping101 video on using lemon juice. .

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFOdi989-aU[/ame]

 

[DeeAnna]

Please see my article about using citrus juice and citric acid in soap: https://classicbells.com/soap/citricAcid.html

 

[HaniS]

I've added Lemon Juice several times to soap. I was actually goggling to learn more than I knew about the result of adding Lemon Juice, and I've found this page. Apart from soap-making process, when a steam-pressure pan is used to extract oils from a herb or a seed, adding lemon helps in dissolving or rather releasing the oil from the seeds, leafs or any other. As for soap making, it depends on the process (full-boiling, salting-out or cold process), and on the time (or stage) of adding the lemon juice. In cold process, adding lemon juice during saponification will make the ph more to acid. Due to the existence of raw Naoh, the later will help releasing the oil in the juice and turn it into soap. Other ingredients in the juice will be destroyed (or evolve to other substances...). Lemon juice in general will help in breaking down other oils in the recipe, aiding their saponification. On the other hand if the juice is added after the soap is fully cured (or neutralized), the lemon juice will soften the soap and make it more strong and more acid (this is good in a way) provided that the soap is super-fatted.

 

[RobinRogers]

How much lemon juice did you add per pound of oils?

 

[amd]

How much lemon juice did you add per pound of oils?

This is an old thread - you would be better to do a search on the forum or start a new thread with your question. We "frown upon" necroposting.

 

[cmzaha]

How much lemon juice did you add per pound of oils?

It would be best to look up the article from DeeAnna which is mentioned in post #14. Lemon juice like Vinegar will add you your superfat if you do not add the extra lye to change it sodium citrate. You cannot lower the ph of soap it is an alkaline product and will turn to mush if to much citric or vinegar is used. Sorry I am not great on sciency terms but I am sure DeeAnna, our resident chemist, will show up sometime today.

 

[DeeAnna]

...As for soap making, it depends on the process (full-boiling, salting-out or cold process), and on the time (or stage) of adding the lemon juice. In cold process, adding lemon juice during saponification will make the ph more to acid. Due to the existence of raw Naoh, the later will help releasing the oil in the juice and turn it into soap. Other ingredients in the juice will be destroyed (or evolve to other substances...). Lemon juice in general will help in breaking down other oils in the recipe, aiding their saponification. On the other hand if the juice is added after the soap is fully cured (or neutralized), the lemon juice will soften the soap and make it more strong and more acid (this is good in a way) provided that the soap is super-fatted.

"...In cold process, adding lemon juice during saponification will make the ph more to acid...."

Soap is a buffer. If you add lemon juice any time during saponification, regardless of the method used, or even after saponification is over, the soap simply decomposes into fatty acids. The pH does not drop appreciably until most of the soap has decomposed.

"...Due to the existence of raw Naoh, the later will help releasing the oil in the juice and turn it into soap...."

The oil in lemon is not a triglyceride. Lemon oil does not saponify.

"...Lemon juice in general will help in breaking down other oils in the recipe, aiding their saponification...."

Alkali breaks down the triglycerides into fatty acids which turn into soap. Lemon juice is not an alkali. The citric acid in lemon juice reacts directly with the alkali (NaOH). It does not react with the fats.

"...On the other hand if the juice is added after the soap is fully cured (or neutralized), the lemon juice will soften the soap and make it more strong and more acid (this is good in a way) provided that the soap is super-fatted...."

Lemon juice might soften soap because of the water in the juice and because of the increasing amount of fatty acids created as the soap decomposes from the acid you've added. Adding lemon juice after saponification does NOT make the soap "more strong" and "more acid." Adding any acid to soap decomposes the soap into fatty acids.

I would like to know what sources of information you have studied about the science of soap. Your statements disagree with every reputable source I have studied about soap chemistry.

 

[RobinRogers]

This is an old thread - you would be better to do a search on the forum or start a new thread with your question. We "frown upon" necroposting.

Then do NOT email me with the post! I checked the date on the post and it was today, so I responded. I’m about to quit this forum because you repeatedly email me with stuff and when I respond, you chastise me. Handle your forum better and there won’t be necroposting!!!!