Tuesday, August 12, 2008

An Appreciation for Soap!


I made my castile soap recipe the other day...I had forgotten how stubborn and mean it is, but it always turns out good if you are willing to wait about 10 weeks for it to cure! Yes, I said 10 weeks!

Castile soap is considered to be the first real soap ever made, long ago in medieval times, near present day Spain in the Kingdom of Castile. Later in history, the Italians, Greeks, and French tried to take credit. I'm a purist, and still believe that castile soap should be made from 100% olive oil only.

A few days ago, during the soap making process, I stick-blendered it to death...and it FINALLY traced. Then, I waited 48 hrs. to unmold it...then another 12 hrs. so it would be hard enough to cut into bars. But look out! It was still quite alkaline to the touch, and my hands were stinging just from handling it.

Ah, but in 10 weeks, it will be some of the tamest, mildest soap on the planet! Just wait...

3 comments:

Hello Crafty said...

Great post!

I remember back before I had a stick blender when I was first making soap, it took about 8 hours for me to finally beat the stuff to a trace. I think I got tendinitis from all that stirring!

Dana said...

I have never made castile ... but I have made soap CP soap that didn't go to gel and it's like you describe when you unmold it. ;)

Bless you ... 10 weeks! OMG, how do you EVERY wait that long? It kills me to wait 4. *snort*

I voted in your poll; most important to me are ingredients so I chose "Something Different."

Peace,
Dana

Corri Taylor said...

i picked other i just want to make sure everything is natural and it smells great! oh and swirly colors in soap rocks!