Berry soap with syrup smelling like caramel?

[Anstarx]

I unmolded a batch of soap using frozen berry juice as water yesterday. It was in a PVC mold so I froze it, tap it out, and let it thaw. When I was wiping away the liquid oozed out during thawing I found it smelling somewhat sweet. When the soap was soft enough I cut it open and found the whole thing smelling like caramel! Not a single whiff of the usual common raw soap smell.

I didn't use and FO and EO, all oils are just regular ones I always use, 1:2 lye ratio, no colorant and only added sodium lactate and syrup. I was mostly just interested in seeing how berry juice will react in soap. The only different from my regular soap is that I used more sugar syrup for lather. For a total of 600g oil, I used 4 pumps, about 32ml syrup. I made the syrup from cane sugar myself so it's probably not as concentrated as commercial ones and I usually only use 2 pumps.

I'm curious if the smell was caused by the syrup or the berry? I might do a small batch with the same syrup ratio sans the berry juice to experiment. Had anyone ran into this situation before? I don't mind it and I hope the scent stay then I won't need to buy caramel FO anymore lol

The full recipe just in case:
CO 25%
Palm 25%
Castor 5%
OOEV 20%
Rice bran 15%
Canola 10%

 

[Obsidian]

Its most likely from the sugars caramelizing. Berries have a lot of sugar, combined with the extra syrup must have been enough to make it smell.
I've had it happen once but I don't remember how much or what additives were used.

 

[shunt2011]

I agree it's from the sugars caramelizing.

 

[szaza]

That's an awesome effect! I'm super jealous!!