Vanilla Extract fail.

[TVivian]

So I was thinking about how to get natural vanilla scent into my soap (as I am almost always thinking about that) and I've read that using colognes and other alcohol based scents will cause the soap to seize. But I thought, what if I used vanilla extract (the kind for baking) and cooked the alcohol out first? So that's what I did.. I took a bottle of vanilla extract from Costco, simmered the alcohol out, scraped the seeds of 1 vanilla bean into the mix and added it to my soap ..... Well, here are the results. A year supply of perfectly useable, lovely, brown, unscented soap. SOOO.. If anyone was wondering if this works, it does not.

But you know what they say about knowing


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[CaraCara]

Well, you can say you've done it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Saswede]

I've thought about doing exactly the same thing for some time now - so glad that I saw this before trying! Thanks for sharing.


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[lsg]

Well at least you have some nice soap.:razz:

 

[judymoody]

It looks very nice even if the scent didn't come through. Live and learn.

You could rebatch if you want to add fragrance.

 

[savonierre]

It does look good.We all do something like this just to see what happens for ourselves, it is part of learning about soap making I think..

 

[alan117]

Hi
There is a “vanilla” fragrant oil available (in Australia) which I have used.
You might want to try obtaining some but I have found it is a bit disappointing as the fragrance is good and strong, but it colours the soap a dark chocolate brown- which looks nice- but makes a mess in the (bath or shower) soap holder.
You can see the colour in my soaps if you want (see post: semi -regular soap with high salt content)

Your soaps look great and what a clever idea – well done.

 

[kazmi]

TVivian you are like me. I always have to try things just to experiment to 'know'. I've tried just about all of the natural colorants just to learn how they work. I've tried many mixtures of EO and experimented with ingredients that would make them stick just to learn. I wasn't sure what I wanted to learn next but I'm thinking about playing with my recipe to learn different oils from the ones that I had settled on as my 'basic'. That's what I love about soaping. Your soap looks lovely and I'm sure your family will really like using it.

 

[tiffanyjayne]

Have you considered using whole vanilla pods? I don't know if they give off much scent but layering them through the soap would keep it natural, make it look cute and possibly offer an exfoliant and a scent?
A bag in the UK is around £7 for 50 pods which would do more than one loaf

 

[TVivian]

Thanks everyone for the kind words!


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[TVivian]

Have you considered using whole vanilla pods? I don't know if they give off much scent but layering them through the soap would keep it natural, make it look cute and possibly offer an exfoliant and a scent?
A bag in the UK is around £7 for 50 pods which would do more than one loaf

After I scraped the beans from the pod I did think about grinding it up to use in the soap. I may try it next time along with vanilla fragrance oil since clearly natural vanilla is difficult and expensive to come by. Wow! £7 for 50 pods is outstanding! Here in the US you couldn't get near that for that price!


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