Black sugar soap

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Stacie

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A friend of mine from Singapore said her dad uses black sugar soap made by some old man that has decided he's too old to make it anymore. She'd like to have me make some for her to give him as a surprise. She says their black sugar is like our dark brown sugar but even more sticky and strong. Any one heard of this soap? Or better yet, know how to go about making it? She can get the sugar for me, so that's not an issue.
 
I don't have a picture. She did say it is not scrubby at all.

I found some black sugar charcoal soap here http://www.wishtrend.com/skin-care/1162-gentle-blacksugar-charcoal-soap-klairs.html. That site claims the black sugar is for pore cleansing (fwiw). That's the only mention of black sugar soap I can find.

I found a blog post from a woman that makes soaps to sell. She has a recipe for brown sugar and oatmeal soap. The sugar is added as a swirl. He says in the comments that half a cup of sugar, brown or white, can be added to any two pound recipe. That is one way to approach it since I really know nothing about the soap beyond the black sugar content.
 
Here was the thread I was thinking of: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46259

I didn't have a lot of luck finding info about soap made with black sugar. Seems to be a soap more common in Japan, China, and nearby countries. I did get a vague (and possibly incorrect) impression it's not a scrubby type of bar and the soap is not black despite the use of "black sugar". I'm really curious to know more!
 
Well, I s'pose I'll just pick a soap recipe I've had success with, add black sugar and report back. Wish me luck!
 
Saw Deeanna's post, so I went google it (by translating it to chinese). The method use is the same as adding sugar to the soap. Using part of the water to dissolve the black sugar before adding to the soap. Something to try this weekend. :razz:
 
Well, I s'pose I'll just pick a soap recipe I've had success with, add black sugar and report back. Wish me luck!

Good luck!

I hunted for black sugar in the Asian food section at Meijier's. Didn't find it so I thought I might just blend some brown sugar and molasses together and try a test batch.
 
I kind of enjoy going through old periodicals. Found this.
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From 1970 New York Magazine
 
Well, I s'pose I'll just pick a soap recipe I've had success with, add black sugar and report back. Wish me luck!

I *think* the black sugar is just very unrefined cane sugar. Even modestly purified sugarcane wax is very, very dark brown (black), though if you get it highly purified, it's dark amber, so that would make some sense.

http://www.deurex.com/en/?id=323

Sugarcane wax is used in some cosmetics. I was just looking into it this week because of the environmental appeal.

Good luck!
 
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Since minipops mentioned using it the way I used to use regular sugar, I thought I'd try this method first. BTW, I forgot to thank minipops for searching and posting the info. I'm sorry but I got distracted and then forgot. :oops: So thanks, minipops! I appreciate you taking the time to do it. That was clever of you to think to translate it into Chinese.

Last night in Meijier's, I was looking at the blackstrap molasses and thinking "hmm..." :lol: I didn't buy it because I have molasses which I'd already decided to use. However, I did notice cane syrup in the same section so you can probably find it in some grocery stores. For people who prefer to use organic, Meijier's also has an organic cane sugar.


Interesting. Did you notice the ingredients? I didn't see any sucrose mentioned in the list. I re-read the description and realized it said "with the vibrant scent of yellow raspberries and black sugar". So, I don't think it really has black sugar in it. But I could be wrong and just not recognizing the INCI name of black sugar.

While I was roaming with Google, I found a reference to coconut sugar. Here's a Wikipedia link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_sugar Has anyone else heard of coconut sugar? I'd like to get some and not just for soap making. I'm interested in trying it in baking.

@ boyago -

Very cool. Thanks for sharing the ad. I think it's interesting that it's from 1970.
 
Sorry, Hazel, I guess I forgot part of my comment. It was the top result when I searched 'black sugar soap' and thought it was amusing they were using the scent of something so few people seem to be familiar with, I did not mean to imply it contained the sugar.

I did find this site that has black sugar soap for sale. Love the description: "Home made Black Sugar Soap. Good for new mother for the first month maintainence. All natural materials with Olive oil, Palm oil, Black Sugar, Ginger essential oil and Ginger"
https://www.h3touch.org/shopping/index.php?route=product/category&path=34_43

And for those who are curious about the sugar itself, I found this site. She tells a little bit about it and how it's used for cooking and diet and how to tell if it's the right stuff by the Kanji character on the packages. She has two affiliate links to it on Amazon but they both say it's out of stock. You can get candy and tea bags that use it--I think the tea sounds yummy.
http://kitchen.j321.com/black-sugar-asian-japan-taiwan-ingredient

This is premade teabags, I think I'll add them to my wishlist.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EL1XCOK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Okay, I need to stop playing with this. Oh, and I have heard of coconut sugar but never used it. I'd like to hear what you think of it if you try it. Have a great day!!!
 
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Coconut sugar? The dry coconut sugar tastes similar to dark brown sugar.....less sweet.
Coconut nectar (liquid) looks a lot like molasses, has a some molasses taste ( maybe 50%)
and can be quite sour.
 
Sorry, Hazel, I guess I forgot part of my comment.

You don't have to say sorry. I probably misread your original comment. It is interesting to see the ingredients are olive, palm, black sugar, ginger essential oil and ginger in the soap. Jodie's article was interesting, too.

I was shocked by the price of the tea brick. $14.99 for 40 g! I'd look around to see if anyone else is selling it. Also, the legal disclaimer put me off even if I wanted to buy it. I base my decision to buy something by what is shown on the site. I'd be really unhappy if I ordered one thing and received something which had different ingredients. Also, it does say black sugar in the title yet the description only mentions brown sugar. I wouldn't trust this item to actually have black sugar in it.

I blended 2 T brown sugar with 1 T molasses and got an extremely thick paste. That's all the farther I've gotten with the soap. I need to get to it.

I will post about results if I do ever get around to trying coconut sugar. I have a lot of things I want to do. It's getting around to it that I have the problem. :lol:

Coconut sugar? The dry coconut sugar tastes similar to dark brown sugar.....less sweet.
Coconut nectar (liquid) looks a lot like molasses, has a some molasses taste ( maybe 50%)
and can be quite sour.

Thanks for the info. I'm intrigued by the coconut sugar and am putting it on my wish list.
 
You're welcome Hazel. I eat very low carb, so cook/bake with those items often. Gingerbread is my favorite and it's difficult to get a dark molasses taste with brown sugar or molasses, so I use palm or coconut sugar.
 
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