Potato soap update

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@Peachy Clean Soap yup, made that with aquafaba and it was pretty darn good. Have also made meringue for topping a banana-cot pie, which was my FIL's favorite.

@KimW yup, I've always heard it called "super fine" or "baker's sugar," too.

Back to the original theme of this thread: Potato Soap. I cooked some potatoes in the InstantPot and was so proud that I remembered to save the cooking water! Hoping to soap with it later this afternoon. In my #SoapingIsCoping t-shirt, of course! :)
 
Exactly. But don’t panic regular sugar will do just as well. I’ve even used raw sugar and brown sugar - all work fine.
Yup, also in the end potato water in the lye concoction increases lye lather a bit more than sugar I have found anecdotally but certainly not massively by any means. Same for bean water.

Regular sugar works fine also IMHO. Same for molasses, honey and maple syrup but the color is much more brownish or tannish.
 
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Yup, also in the end potato water in the lye concoction increases lye a bit more than sugar I have found anecdotally but certainly not massively by any means. Same for bean water.
Sorry to be dense, but when you say, “increases lye” do you mean that the solution heats up more? Or that the potato water eats up some of the lye? Thanks for helping out with this as I still haven’t soaped with my potato water yet, and I am hoping to do so this afternoon or evening.
 
Oops.

Sorry to be dense, but when you say, “increases lye” do you mean that the solution heats up more? Or that the potato water eats up some of the lye? Thanks for helping out with this as I still haven’t soaped with my potato water yet, and I am hoping to do so this afternoon or evening.
Oh crap, that WAS a typo........I meant lather!!!!!!!!!!!! :nonono:

I edited it, thanks for the head's up and sorry for my dumb mistake.
 
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Im not sure if I posted my Raw Potato Juice Soap pict here' but I did on another thread. I wanted to show how much its darkened. 1st picture is the day I un-molded' 2nd pict is today, 16 days latter. FO & Vanilla FO. I don't mind it got so dark kinda gos along w/ the scent, Soap Name "Ginger Bread". This may not be the prettiest soap' but it sure is luxurious' check out them bubbles. I believe the "Raw Potato Juice" gives the soap more bubbles then just sugar. Defiantly Kicks It Up A Notch.
 

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Why what?

Why I add oil to pasta water to prevent the pasta from sticking together & to prevent the water from boiling over? Because my mother taught me to do it this way and it is also recommended by just about every Italian cook I've ever seen on Cooking shows as well as in cookbooks I have read.
I never add oil to water these days. I used to but then got lazy. I do tend not to have an issue with pasta sticking.

Why I use the pasta water in making soup? Because it adds to the flavor and since soup requires added water, less waste of water. I usually save the pasta water from pasta one day and make soup with it the next. Sometimes I use the pasta water for steaming vegetables or tamales, etc. (just another way of not wasting water.) Then that goes into soup when soup is on my agenda within a day or so.
This was what I was referring to. It makes sense. I just don't know if I will remember to look into that.
 
Im not sure if I posted my Raw Potato Juice Soap pict here' but I did on another thread. I wanted to show how much its darkened. 1st picture is the day I un-molded' 2nd pict is today, 16 days latter. FO & Vanilla FO. I don't mind it got so dark kinda gos along w/ the scent, Soap Name "Ginger Bread". This may not be the prettiest soap' but it sure is luxurious' check out them bubbles. I believe the "Raw Potato Juice" gives the soap more bubbles then just sugar. Defiantly Kicks It Up A Notch.
That looks GOOD!!!

Excellent lather also!!! :thumbup:
 
That looks GOOD!!!

Excellent lather also!!! :thumbup:
I was surprised to have such nice lather. Thx.
That's amazing! Very cool colour. Something is ticking at the back of my brain from chemistry classes long ago; something about starch and iodine, would that be right?
I'm not sure If Iodine contributes to more bubbles in soap' I know it effects the bar if its soft or firm. Starch is a bubble buster' however the two combined Starch & Iodine creates more bubbles in soap I don't know. The soap color change is mainly from the FO Vanilla, it's notorious for turning your soap a darker color.
 
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@Peachy Clean Soap I've always been told that starch the opposite of a bubble buster; it actually increases bubbles. Were you thinking of salt, perhaps? That is definitely a bubble-buster!
I'm thinking Starch increases bubbles cause it has sugar in it depending on the starch source. Salt / Iodine I thought harden bar soap' if not to much unsaturated fats ( liquid). does it decrease bubbles too?
 
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I'm thinking Starch increases bubbles cause it has sugar in it depending on the starch source. Now salt I thought harden bar soap' does it decrease bubbles too?
Yes, salt is a lather-killer! That's why salt soaps are usually very high in CO, so that they will lather. ;)

Anyway, I guess I misunderstood what you wrote above in Post 143: "Starch is a bubble buster." Sounds like we both agree that starch actually increases bubbles, yes?
 
Im not sure if I posted my Raw Potato Juice Soap pict here' but I did on another thread. I wanted to show how much its darkened. 1st picture is the day I un-molded' 2nd pict is today, 16 days latter. FO & Vanilla FO. I don't mind it so dark kinda gos along w/ the scent, Soap Name "Ginger Bread". This may not be the prettiest soap' but it sure is luxurious' check out them bubbles. I believe the "Raw Potato Juice" gives the soap more bubbles then just sugar. Defiantly Kicks It Up A Notch.

Is that a soap stamp or a painted on soap stencil? If it's a stamp you might be able to get it a bit deeper if you put plastic wrap down on the soap before you stamp it.

Salt makes all soap harder, it doesn't matter if it has all liquid oils.
 
Is that a soap stamp or a painted on soap stencil? If it's a stamp you might be able to get it a bit deeper if you put plastic wrap down on the soap before you stamp it.

Salt makes all soap harder, it doesn't matter if it has all liquid oils.
Good Morning'
I'ts a stamp, thx for the tip "plastic under stamp method" I'll try that next time. I cant recall why I didnt press down harder on the stamp? either the soap was to hard or soft.
 
That's amazing! Very cool colour. Something is ticking at the back of my brain from chemistry classes long ago; something about starch and iodine, would that be right?
You mean like this? I tried it with Povidine Iodine, (1% Iodine in solution) but it does not contain KI (potassium iodide), so it didn't work - the turning blue part, it did turn black, however, but no tint of blue in any light source. Who knows what else it did do as I was only observing for color.

But if you are referring to the color change, it's due to her FO, which contains vanillin.
I wanted to show how much its darkened. 1st picture is the day I un-molded' 2nd pict is today, 16 days latter. FO & Vanilla FO.


I did find an interesting article in Scientific American that addresses how starch contributes to bubbles in the presence of cold water, in an article about Boba Tea, of all things. But it also contains information about how starch decomposes in the presence of hot water, which I would never have considered, since in my experience starch thickens water even in the presence of heat, as that is exactly how I make Congee (heating water in gelatinous creating starch).

Another interesting tidbit when it comes to creating a gelatinous liquid from potatoes, rice or other starch, is that salt interferes with the way starch creates gelatin. (Link) So another thing to think of when adding starch to soap to create more bubbles.

Perhaps it is the combination of starch and high salt, however, those two together might be what Peachy was talking about. Put them together and the salt interferes with the starch, then that would likely decrease the expected bubbles, hence the bubble buster statement. Makes sense to me. I know if I add salt to my Congee concoction it does loose some of the gelatinous nature, depending on how much salt is added. So I tend to make it salt-free.

I'm not sure if or how Iodine itself contributes to hardening soap, though. I think that might be a misconception of what the soap calculators list as Iodine, when in fact it does not indicate a presence of Iodine in oils or soap. The iodine value in soap calculators is NOT the amount of iodine in oil, but the propensity for oxidation based on what is called iodine-uptake.

If anyone can show me studies where Iodine itself is added to soap, as it pertains to hardness, I'd like to read them.
 

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