Will lemon rinds turn brown in my soap?

[SchenckOrchard]

I have been infusing my olive oil with grated lemon rind for about a week now, the scent is amazing and the color is great! I want to use the oil this week for making soap, should I strain out the lemon rinds, or add them with the oil for extra aesthetic appeal? I'm afraid they may turn brown or go rancid, any thoughts?

 

[AmyW]

I've used dried lemon peel (prepackaged from the spice aisle) in a couple of my gardener's soap batches and it did turn light/medium brown. It wasn't ugly IMO, but I love earthy colors.

 

[SchenckOrchard]

Thank you for your input, these rinds have been sitting in oil, so they are not dried, I wonder if fresh or "wet" rind will turn brown like lime rind does?

 

[Soaplady22]

Yes. Eventually.
Sorry ~

 

[SchenckOrchard]

I was afraid of that :/ Thanks for the heads up!

 

[LauraHoosier]

Anything not dried or fresh will turn brown and possibly leave black greasy spots behind. I infuse my oils with dried calendula petals, toss them when done, then use more dried petals in the soap for looks or decoration on top without any problem. I haven't tested this yet but I've read that ground up to powder dried calendula petals can help color the soap light yellow. Its on my list of test batches to try though

 

[DottieF.]

I wouldn't waste your lemon infused oil in soap. The sent will not come through unfortunately.

 

[carebear]

Anything not dried or fresh will turn brown and possibly leave black greasy spots behind. I infuse my oils with dried calendula petals, toss them when done, then use more dried petals in the soap for looks or decoration on top without any problem. I haven't tested this yet but I've read that ground up to powder dried calendula petals can help color the soap light yellow. Its on my list of test batches to try though

Calendula petals stay yellow in soap or on top. And you can infuse oils with the petals to get a lovely yellow color. Never used ground.