Tallow soaps

[akajoos]

this is just a nice, creamy "family-style" nuthin' fancy soap recipe you might like to try...makes a hard bar, too:

30% tallow
30% olive
25% coconut
10% lard (can't do without my piggy)
5% castor

I soap around 110-120* 5% superfat, water/lye 2:1, 2 tsp sugar to water BEFORE adding lye, add 2 oz canned coconut milk per pound of oil at thin trace...I usually add my f/o to the coconut milk & stir well...hth!

Thank you Heartsong!! That's very kind of you to share a recipe! I'll have to look up the whole process of actually making the soap haha. I've just been reading and researching before I try it yet! Do you discount the water for the coconut milk? I was actually looking that up earlier. (Substituting other liquids for water) and it looked a little more advanced so I kept going haha.


Kate

 

[heartsong]

since you're new to soaping, don't discount the water...this will give you a bit of extra time...when you feel bolder and have done a few batches (I recommend not more than 16 oz oils) then you can discount the water...because of the extra condition of the coconut milk this will be an average family soap...if you have someone with very tender of very dry skin, drop the coconut oil to 20% and increase the lard or tallow 5%.

if you need help with an exact oil/lye/water recipe, let us know.

 

[robtr31]

you could always post your recipe before you decide to make ,

i'm sure some will give a review for you,

welcome to your addiction

rob

 

[akajoos]

Is this a good recipe?
I was just playing around. I also have an all vegetable one. But I want to swap out something for the palm any help on that maybe?


Kate

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

I love my tallow soaps. Recently a friend who gets lots of soap gifts told me that she had noticed the most recent batches (this past year) were creamier and really felt good, better than older batches. She checked my labels and realized the new ones all had tallow in them and most of the older ones were all or mostly veggie. I live in a farming region where people are more likely to accept the use of AOs because they too have been raised with the attitude that you use what you have. I am almost out of tallow right now so am using it sparingly. Lard is a good 2nd place in my books, but they are very very close in my book. Rending it isn't as much work as I thought it would be. I know many people either don't want to try it or did once and never want to do it again. I rendered out about 80 lbs of hog fat to get 50 lbs of lard this year and hope to get more tallow this butchering season, and if the hunters are lucky, I'll try some deer tallow this yr too.

Go for it, with an open mind and enjoy your adventure

 

[akajoos]

Thanks Kansas farm girl!!
That's what I keep seeing is people, will do blind tests and most everyone is preferable to the AO soaps.
I'm actually from Kansas!! I live in Virginia right now but that's where I consider home.


Kate

 

[AngelMomma]

I would find your recipes agreeable to my skin. The only note that I would make is that I personally have moved away from using multiple oils at a low percentage(like 5%). I used to use a little of this and a little of that. It turned out for me that it just wasn't worth it at such a low percentage. I like to use at least 10% of an oil.....with the exception of Castor. I really like to use more than 10% as it seems that I can actually feel the effects of the addition.

 

[farmgirl62]

I am curious how to render the tallow or lard? Had a friend bring me the fat from some hogs he butchered. I put the fat in a low heat pan with a bit of water, it so quickly started browning=couldn't get to the white lard fast enough and it didn't make much. Hoping that makes sense, I, too, am in an area where I can get lots of beef fat from grass raised animals. Would love to hear your processes of rendering lard and tallow. Just reading on the internet is not quite the same as knowing someone who does it and can tell you what to watch for.
BTW, the 'brown' lard is awesome in cooking-it browns meat so well! without burning. Will definitely do the rendering again for the eating part but thinking that I shouldn't use that for soap since what makes it brown is the cooked bits of flesh that were in the fat.

Thanks...still learning in Louisiana!!

 

[Candybee]

akajoos - you can swap out palm oil by upping your olive, avocado, and shea butter. Or try adding some mango or cocoa butter.

 

[akajoos]

I tweaked my tallow recipe and I like this one better.


Kate

 

[akajoos]

Thank you for the input angelmomma! That's a good to know for future reference and I can make the best recipe!

Farmgirl; I'm not sure. This is my first batch so I haven't even done it yet. Maybe you didn't have enough water in it? I'm about to research how to.

Thank you candybee!! I'll try doing that until I get it where I want!



Kate

 

[Yooper]

I am curious how to render the tallow or lard? Had a friend bring me the fat from some hogs he butchered. I put the fat in a low heat pan with a bit of water, it so quickly started browning=couldn't get to the white lard fast enough and it didn't make much. Hoping that makes sense, I, too, am in an area where I can get lots of beef fat from grass raised animals. Would love to hear your processes of rendering lard and tallow. Just reading on the internet is not quite the same as knowing someone who does it and can tell you what to watch for.
BTW, the 'brown' lard is awesome in cooking-it browns meat so well! without burning. Will definitely do the rendering again for the eating part but thinking that I shouldn't use that for soap since what makes it brown is the cooked bits of flesh that were in the fat.

Thanks...still learning in Louisiana!!

The easiest way is to use ground fat (as it melts evenly and faster) but grinding it myself clogged up my meat grinder. If you have a better commercial grinder, try grinding the fat first.

I've found the best way for me is to put the fat in a turkey roaster and put it in the oven at 300 degrees. I cover it, and check it in about 1/2 an hour. I use a potato masher to squish it down. As it melts, I pour off the fat through a cheesecloth lined strainer into big freezer bowls that are microwave safe. It might take about 2 hours total if you have a lot of fat in the pan, so I keep checking/pouring. I save the cracklings at the end for the dog.

Once I"m done, I put the bowls in the freezer. A few days later, I melt again, and pour through cheesecloth again. That gets the rest of the debris out. Any that you miss will be very small. What I really like to do is pour that into ice cube trays and freeze. Then I pop out my "tallow cubes" and put them in ziploc bags. At that time, any debris still left will be at the very bottom of the last few cubes, and I scrape that off with a spoon.

At this point, the tallow will keep at room temperature if you did a good job of cleaning it. But I still keep it in the freezer in those ziploc bags. When I need some, I just pull out the cubes as that makes it easier to get however much I want.

Since I render tallow from grass-fed beef, we also use these cubes for cooking. One cube is perfect for browning a big skillet of chicken!

 

[akajoos]

Ok I need help hahahaha I went to the butcher today and got some suet. I've never seen it, besides fresh from butchering deer. It smells kinda gross how do I know if its good or not?? haha is it supposed to smell or I guess does it have a smell. I wouldn't think that fat would smell good but I just don't know if its bad.

 

[Nightlilly]

The easiest way is to use ground fat (as it melts evenly and faster) but grinding it myself clogged up my meat grinder. If you have a better commercial grinder, try grinding the fat first.

It seems I read somewhere that if you cut it into smaller chucks and run it through the grinder with ice (crushed maybe?) the ice will keep the fat from gumming up and clogging the grinder. It might work if you freeze the fat first too. I think the grinding action causes the fat to heat up and become gummy.

 

[Delynnr]

So - I made a batch of tallow a couple of weeks ago. Have you been around a rotting carcass of some sort? If it smells like that it would be bad...
Mine smelled a bit, but not horrible. However after grinding up the raw fat in the food processor it did let off a smell that ummmm was not pleasant!!!! It wasn't rotting animal, it was just not good. The rendering process did not smell good either IMO, but the final product does not smell much at all.

I rendered mine in a crockpot, filtered it, then heated it up again and filtered again. It is sitting in a 1/2 gallon mason jar in my fridge. I got fat from a meat processor in KS when I was back visiting family. All the meat from there is from happy cows as well and the final product was almost butter yellow in color. The more grass your cow ate the yellower the tallow. At least that is what I have read. Good luck!!!!

Half of family all thinks I am nuts for rendering my own tallow, the other half thinks I am nuts/cool/a throwback for all the gardening, canning, and other creative things (like soap) that I have gotten into. My sister is paranoid that I will give her soap made from tallow, but she uses commercial soap that has it in it. I don't understand her, but this is hardly the first time!

 

[AngelMomma]

I have rendered tallow myself before. I kept it in the fridge. It went bad in short order. I will freeze it if I ever render my own again. It was a LOT of tallow too. Very sad. But I have read that other people have had that happen as well.

 

[AngelMomma]

Ok I need help hahahaha I went to the butcher today and got some suet. I've never seen it, besides fresh from butchering deer. It smells kinda gross how do I know if its good or not?? haha is it supposed to smell or I guess does it have a smell. I wouldn't think that fat would smell good but I just don't know if its bad.

The beef fat that I rendered didn't smell to snazzy either!!! I started it inside in the oven to get it going slowly. It smelled up the whole house and started making me nauseous! I did the rest of the process outside on the burner so it wouldn't smell up the house anymore.

 

[akajoos]

Thanks ladies!! Ok well it isn't bad then. But I'm with you angelmomma it is making me nauseous. I guess we'll see how it turns out haha. Wish me luck!!


Kate

 

[sistrum]

The only thing I would add is take the time to trim out any bits of meat that you find still on your tallow before your first melting. This helps with the smell. After that put your rendered fat in a pot with about a third waterl add a tablespoon or so of salt and bring it to a boil. Cool it down and put in the fridge over night. Next morning pour off water and scrape off the bottom stuff until you get to the clean tallow. You may have to do this twice If you got the fat to hot the first time. Just never add water to the first rendering as this will mess it up, it will spoil faster and you can't fix it.

 

[tinglingclean]

I have used Tallow for years, and have been really happy with the results. I buy my product from a local meat store, and render it myself, although, it is very reasonable to buy from a supplier. The easiest fat to store, no spoilage.
I use other oils, but like the results from the tallow the best for a long lasting bar
Good Luck with your soap making, it is a wonderful way to get the creative urges into action and have something to show for it. Take care