Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Perfumed soap.
Add oil of lemon, oil of lavender, or other oil perfumes
(not any containing alcohol), or boil leaves of rosemary or rose geranium and
use this “tea” as part of the cold water used with the lye. Add it to the dissolved
lye when it has cooled a little. Since soap absorbs odors, it can be perfumed
easily after it is in bars (and aged at the same time) by wrapping it in tissue
that has been wet with perfume and dried out.
Green soap.
This can be made with vegetable coloring obtained by pound-
ing out a few drops of juice from beet tops, or use the vegetable coloring sold
for baking.
Mint soap.
Use 1 cup less water to dissolve the lye. Use this cup of water to
make a very strong tea from fresh mint leaves. Add this back to the dissolved
lye mixture before adding it to the tallow.
Deodorant soap without chemicals.
You can use up to 2 ounces of vitamin
E oil in your soap recipe, adding it to the mixture after stirring in the lye. It
has a mild deodorizing quality, which will prevent any slight bacon odor if you
have used bacon fat along with your tallow; vitamin E is also an antioxidant.
Honey complexion soap.
Add 1 ounce of honey and stir it slowly into the
soap after adding the lye and before pouring the mixture into the molds.
Laundry soap.
To make laundry soap fl akes or powder, let the soap age for
3 or 4 days. Grate it on a vegetable grater. Dry the fl akes slowly in an oven set
at warm, about 150°F (65.6°C), stirring occasionally. The soap can be pulver-
ized when very dry or just left in fl akes.
Dishwashing jelly soap.
Shave 1 pound of hard soap and boil it slowly with
1 gallon of water until it is dissolved. Put it into covered containers. A handful
dissolves quickly in hot dishwater. For many soft-soap and hard-soap recipes
and variations, see the soap- (and candle-) making topics in the Resources
section.
Mutton-Tallow Candles
Candles are another good use for the tallow. While not as practical as soap,
candles are a fun way to use excess fat to give as gifts or to sell.
Candle Wicking
Prepared wicking can be purchased (see the Resources section), but it is
simple to make your own from cotton string. You can make a good soaking
solution from 8 tablespoons of borax dissolved with 4 tablespoons of salt in
1 quart of water. Soak the wicking in this solution for 2 to 3 hours, then hang
