Mastic soap

[Mood Indigo]

Good morning happy soapers all over the word!
Last Sunday I was in an excellent mood and I wanted to make a batch using something rare, unusual, maybe something with a herby - woody smell but not mossy, anyway something very aromatic. And then I saw it: one of the small jars for spices that contained mastic drops! I have not mastic essential oil - its very expensive although it's a local product - so I tried to use the resin itself as we use it in confectionery. For a small batch, about 500 gr, I used 4-5 mastic drops and a teaspoon of crystallized sugar and I pulverized them together with the help of a small food processor. In the classic 3-oil recipe I also added a 5% almond oil and the superfat is about 8%. I cut it 48 hours later and until this moment it smells wonderful!
I hope this experiment to be succesful after 4 weeks of curing.

 

[judymoody]

Interesting! I hope the scent remains after cure.

For future reference, you can infuse resins in fractionated coconut oil or jojoba oil but it takes awhile.

 

[ToniD]

Since I am not familiar with mastic, can you try to describe what it smells like? I googled it and got descriptions, but no one said what it smells like.

Hope you have a successful experiment

 

[Mood Indigo]

Thank you very much! ToniD, it's not so easy to describe it because I can't find anything similar to this unique scent. I would say that it is something between freshly-harvested wood and pine needlles but it's more herby and exotic. I love this scent very much but I know people who just can't stand it. If you find mastic gum or mastic drops someday, I would like to hear your opinion about the scent.

 

[Mood Indigo]

Oh, by the way, JudyMoody, I have not infused resin in oil before (I thought that I could do this only by using herbs) but I find it very interesting. Could you please give me any advice about this process? Thank you in advance.