# Simple Lye soap made with lard



## farmerpat

HELP! 
Does anyone out there have a very very simple soap recipe made with lye, lard, and water (and maybe a little eo fragrance)? I've been checking on the web, and most of the recipes call for oils that I've either not heard of (like kukui nut oil)  , or that I would not have access to except through mail order (we are very rural). Also, I keep hearing everyone talk about the stick blenders to trace with - what do you do (ok, worst case scenario) if you have no power? How long do you stir? This will be my first attempt at making any soap other than homemade laundry soap (fells, borax, washing soda), so I'm anxious NOT to waste my stores of lard.

Any help and recipes would be sooooooo appreciated! Thank you!


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## kidsngarden

go to www.soapcalc.com. Enter in how many pounds of lard you want to use. You can make any recipe you like and it will tell you how much lye and water to use. 

I put in two pounds for you and here's what came up (rounding to the nearest 10th) Soaping requires weight measurement, not volume...
32 oz lard
4.3 oz lye
12.2 oz water


try www.millersoap.com for basic soaping directions. Always run any recipes through a lye calculator like above.

you can make soap without a stick blender, but be prepared to wait a long time for trace especially with an all lard, or mostly lard recipe. A good stainless steel whisk is a nice alternative.

Bethany


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## Kazahleenah

(( without a stick blender.. use a wooden spoon and a well rested and strong arm))

I agree with that link. 

Kaza


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## MELOC

wow...been a while since i stirred for three hours. man, i love my stick blender!


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## farmerpat

Thank you thank you thank you! You guys are life savers! I have ALOT of lard that I'd like to use up...now, because I was sooo sick last summer, it's been sitting in foodgrade covered plastic pails from the processor in a shop that gets below freezing in the winter and about 70 in the summer - I'm sure it's probably rancid - Do I just melt it in a large quantity of water, skim the lard back off, and chill it? Will that not make it rancid (if it is - I haven't opened any of them to find out)? With the economy the way it's headed, I really don't want to waste the lard and then have to go out and buy more to replace it...


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## farmerpat

Okay, you've all convinced me that I desperately need a stick blender! I don't care if I should have to run the generator to use it during power outages - d/h can just check his emails during that time! I truly don't think that a teeny stick blender would drain that much power, anyway! ;-)


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## kidsngarden

I would definetely be concerned about using rancid lard in soap. The smell would be terrible! I use fresh lard in most of my soaps and I love it.

Maybe others here have had experience with using rancid lard can help you, but I would not recommend it.

Bethany


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## MullersLaneFarm

If this is commercial lard, you should be okay.

I would NOT try to re-render it with water... lard is so soft you will have a hard time removing all the water in the lard which will throw your weighted measurements off. Make a 2-3 lb batch and see how it turns out.


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## Puddin

FarmerPat.... I never use a stickblender to blend my almost pure lard soap recipe. I just leave my soap on the counter and every time I go past it I give it a good stir. It may take an hour to trace, but I'm not working at it for the whole hour either... I leave and prepare my molds, wash out pots, etc, and just give a stir every once in a while on my way by. 
You might not get much in the way of bubbles with your all lard recipe. I only make lard soap, but I add 2/3 cups of cocoanut oil to the 2 cup lard recipe so that it bubbles up nice. (put it through the calculator)
The rancidness of the lard.... I"m not positive but I believe the only thing you can do is add EO's or FO's to cover the smell. I have no experience with this. I do believe the lard itself will behave properly as soap, but just not sure of the smell. Maybe someone will come along to address this problem. I would not re-cook it however to try to remove the smell (maybe others would though). Be sure it is rancid before you assume it is.
Gloria


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## CraftyDiva

Has anyone tried using a cordless drill with one of those mixing paddles in place of a stick blender?


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## farmerpat

I never use a stickblender to blend my almost pure lard soap recipe. I just leave my soap on the counter and every time I go past it I give it a good stir. It may take an hour to trace, but I'm not working at it for the whole hour either... I leave and prepare my molds, wash out pots, etc, and just give a stir every once in a while on my way by. 
You might not get much in the way of bubbles with your all lard recipe. I only make lard soap, but I add 2/3 cups of cocoanut oil to the 2 cup lard recipe so that it bubbles up nice. (put it through the calculator)
The rancidness of the lard.... I"m not positive but I believe the only thing you can do is add EO's or FO's to cover the smell. I have no experience with this. I do believe the lard itself will behave properly as soap, but just not sure of the smell. Maybe someone will come along to address this problem. I would not re-cook it however to try to remove the smell (maybe others would though). Be sure it is rancid before you assume it is.
Gloria[/QUOTE]
- - - 
thank you! Maybe I'll try waiting on the stick blender and try your method of "slow trace". I haven't checked the lard for rancid-ness, and it is commercially rendered lard, so maybe it will be okay. I'll have to try to check on that tomorrow...we have so much I just HATE to even think about wasting it (especially when I saw that a small tub of lard at the grocery store today was over $7.00!). I also saw on another thread where you can make lard candles by just filling a qt mason jar with lard, and then sticking a pencil down in the middle, and then shoving a oil lamp wick down the hole...think I'll try that too! I just REFUSE to waste it!
Also - where can you get cocoanut oil locally? We are VERY rural here, and the closest drug store or WalMart (yuck) is a 2 hour drive.


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## Wendy

I use a regular mixer on my lard soap. Like Puddin I just give it a stir every once in awhile. I had an older mixer here & just decided to try it. It worked fine, so that's what I use.


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## kidsngarden

There are many places online to get coconut oil. www.columbusfoods.com is going to be your cheapest, but you have to order a lot.

Try
www.the-sage.com
www.brambleberry.com

And hate to tell you, but Super wally has been the cheapest place to get it in the past, but I hear it is going up.

You can try calling around to grocery stores and if they don't carry it, maybe they can get some for you? It's with the cooking oils.

Bethany


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## Hip_Shot_Hanna

A seven gallon pail of coconut oil weighing 50 pounds is available from Snappy Popcorn supplies for $60. (Be sure and get the white, not the colored or seasoned)

That will make a LOT of soap, but then again, it's edible so you can fry in it or bake with it. It has been refined so there will be no coconut odor. Melting point is 76 degrees so Snappy will not ship it except when it's cold.

I haven't yet used it for soap, as I've been using it for, well, popping popcorn and making bread and what little frying I do, I use that. It works very well for all of those things. However, I WILL make soap with it soon. 

It is shelf stable for a long time and unlikely to go rancid for years.

Just in case anyone wants to know - here's the link

http://www.popthis.com/cocpopoil.html


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## Puddin

farmerpat.....Sorry I cannot help you with the purchase of cocoanut oil. I get mine from the health food store generally. I have bought it online as well (but not since 9/11).
Gloria


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## used2bcool13

I have tried this before and it makes a single bar, or a bunch of little "bars" for cub scouts in an egg carton.
1/2 cup of cold water
2 rounded tablespoons of lye
1 cup of lard

slowly add the lye to the water, stir with wooden spoon, stick, whatever - wait about 20 minutes until it cools to body temp or 100 degrees. I use a Large pyrex measuring cup and feel the outside of the glass. Don't touch the lye it will burn you. When the lye is about 100 degrees add the liquified lard, which you want at about body temp also.
Mix it until it is the consistency of sour cream and pour into any non aluminum container. Makes one bar. 

This should let you figure out what the smell will be. I love the Miller's soap site. Hot process soap has less of a smell in my opinion.
Alison


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## Gailann Schrader

I've used a paint stirrer with a cordless drill, but the "action" isn't as nice as a stick blender. Still works though. Use it in a bucket so it doesn't fling the mixture everywhere.

I've also used a lid on top of the bucket with a hole cut in the center as a shield.


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## MullersLaneFarm

used2bcool13 said:


> I have tried this before and it makes a single bar, or a bunch of little "bars" for cub scouts in an egg carton.
> 1/2 cup of cold water
> 2 rounded tablespoons of lye
> 1 cup of lard


 :soap: 

I would NEVER make a soap (especially one so small) without weighing the oil & lye in grams.

Do you know how small 1 oz of lye is?? Even a little bit more than an oz of lye for a cup of lard will result in a lye heavy soap.


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