Adding liquids at trace

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Nanditasr

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Newbie here -- I've made 5-6 batches of CP soap in the last 5 weeks, including a whipped one yesterday (see pic).

I am looking to use locally available natural colors and fragrances -- preferably NOT essential oils, since I want to use stuff from the garden. I used crushed dried rosemary leaves and was delighted with the results; there is still a mild smell a month later. However, I would like to get the smell of rosemary in the soap, but without the green specks from the dried leaves. I made a rosemary decoction (and an orange peel decoction) and put the lye in it, but I found that the smell just got eaten by the lye. So, my question is: How can I use my decoction and retain the smell?

What I'm thinking is: The standard lye solution is about 1:2.7 (lye:water). I'll make a lye solution of 1:1, and make up the balance 1.7 parts liquid with rosemary decoction, which I'll set aside. Once the mixture reaches thin trace (using a blender), I'll add the decoction. I'm planning to mix the oils and lye at room temperature (72-75 degrees F or 22-24 degrees C).

I've seen pumpkin puree recipes, but they call for very little puree, only about 5% of the oils. Will it work to add so much liquid at trace?

If the above does not work, will it work if I do this with the 'whipped' method?

Any other thoughts? Thanks!

WhatsApp Image 2017-12-10 at 21.52.21.jpg
 
Last edited:
You can replace half your water with pumpkin puree. Or all your water if you want to freeze the pumpkin before adding the lye.

I’d be careful adding 1/2 the water component at trace it might accelerate. I’d add it earlier. Adding it with the oils or at emulsion or at trace won’t save the scents or any properties of additives but it will mix everything properly if you add to the oils.
 
Adding part of your liquid at trace isn't going to work to keep any scent it has. There's still a lot of free lye in the soap batter at trace and it will eat what it wants. Even doing an oil infusion and doing a HP process and adding that oil after the cook doesn't work to keep a scent (I tried that with coffee infused oil, trying to get a coffee scented soap without using an FO).

I don't have any ideas of what might work, unfortunately. It may well be that in order to have a scent carry through in your finished soap you'll have to use EOs or FOs. Or put up with bits of crushed leaves in your soap, though be careful with that one. Most dried plant material turns brown and icky in CP soap.
 

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