@QuasiQuadrant -- Rancidity is an end result of the fat or soap reacting with oxygen in the air or compounds that contain oxygen. Salt can't reverse oxidation. You'd need to use a "reducing" chemical to have any hope of that.
Yep, the oxidation process I do understand. I'm thinking along the lines of 'neutralizing' the issue to prevent it from further developing, and then somehow using a process or substance to make that already formed soap base useable again, even if it isn't necessarily in soap bars. Perhaps a different product. This is a different way of looking at the issue. I'm not saying salting will work. I'm simply saying that SOMETHING might work. That opens up the potential of possibilities.
As I have been thinking about this today while putting up new fencing to keep the deer from pillaging & plundering my beloved plants, my mind kept going to the question: has anybody actually tried salting out soap which has developed orange spots? Has anyone tried ANYTHING in regards to coming up with an actual solution to this issue? And if so, what end result did they observe? If not, why not? Because they were told 'it can't be done'? That simply isn't a good enough 'answer' for me, because it's not an answer at all. That's enough for me to want to try it out & observe the results, and to play with it. If the end result is 'I haven't been able to figure it out', that doesn't necessarily mean it can't be done either. Regardless, I would learn a great deal in the process, adding to my personal knowledge base. I consider that growth. There is an answer to everything. Just because we haven't found it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist or can't be done.
There are many things that scientists & chemists still don't understand about working with 'natural' substances - as well as 'chemical' substances - and with which experiments have not been done because they too have been told 'it can't be done'. Soap is made up of nature-derived oils and butters, as well as manufactured chemicals. Experimentation along this vein needs to be done.
That's the only way that someone is going to figure out what options there are when something such as this occurs: if people keep trying various methods of salvaging batches such as this, someone will eventually figure it out. Often, it's those working hands-on in these professions, not those working in labs in a 'controlled' environment who find the answer.
So yeah, I am going to make a small batch of soap at some point, do my utmost to create orange spots - probably just use some rancid oils, simple enough - salt the soap out after things develop, then make new soap & maybe even something else from it & see what happens. The answer may be a completely different story if the spots are due to contamination with metal such as brass or copper, which might require a different solution. I will need to find some rancid oils to work with.
I was told I couldn't grow a garden on the solid granite bluff beside my house, 'can't be done' I was told by 'expert' gardeners who are only used to working under conditions they are capable of controlling, rather than working WITH the conditions they have. They don't know how to work any other way, which really limits their ability to think outside the box. Yet I now have a fairly big garden area on that same granite bluff
It just took some innovative thinking & problem solving on my part.
Anyways, food for thought
