cucumber puree question

[mummy]

I am looking at using cucumber puree in my next hp soap. What i would like to know is have any of you use it in hp soap as your water in your lye instead of water? Does the soap still smell of cucumber when the cure is done? Or would you use it at the end as a fragrance in your soap( like 30g of it as a water) ?

 

[IrishLass]

I use strained cucumber juice as my lye water in one of my specialty soaps, but not the puree. I personally would not use a puree of anything as my lye water because I'd be concerned that the lye would not dissolve properly/completely in it.

Unfortunately (and maybe even fortunately ) the natural scent from food additions do not carry over in soap in any lasting way. In order for any scent to remain in soap, it's best to use an FO designed to withstand the higher pH environment of lye-based soap.

For what its worth, the longest-lasting scent from a food addition that I experience in my batches is the scent of honey in my honey/beeswax soap, but it, too, eventually dissipates into nothing during cure.


IrishLass

 

[cmzaha]

I use strained cucumber juice as my lye water in one of my specialty soaps, but not the puree. I personally would not use a puree of anything as my lye water because I'd be concerned that the lye would not dissolve properly/completely in it.
IrishLass

I do use some frozen purees that I purchase from Smart & Final which are quite smooth as full water replacement. As you mentioned it is a bit tricky to know if the lye is fully dissolved. My method is to sprinkle a little at a time over the frozen puree and stir like crazy. For my fresh aloe soaps that are not completely smooth I use my regualer 50/50 materbaster batch lye and add in the aloe puree into the oils before adding the lye. For Cucumber I also use the 50/50 method since I cannot get it perfectly smooth. I also peel the cucumber leaving a titch of peel just to add in a little speckled look, and a little scrubby from it. I would never use all the peel