10th ave. soapworks

Soap has been made with tallow and lard (beef and pig fat) for as long as soapmaking has been around. While I wouldn't want to give up plant oils, like olive and coconut, there are qualities in animal fat that can't be duplicated by plant oils. Last week I thought I would try my hand at rendering, the process of purifying fat, separating it from all the other "junk." I was able to get some nice big chunks of beef fat from a local butcher shop. This is 11 pounds of fat. I chopped it up into small chunks and put it in the biggest stock pot I have, which isn't enormous. I didn't want to risk burning it so I only used about half the fat that I had for this batch. I decided that this way, I could test the whole process without getting overwhelmed. To keep the fat from burning and stinking up the house (rendering's reputation) I added water to the pot. I didn't want to risk the water evaporating, so I added a lot--probably more water than I had fat. H...

I finally bought some colors--pop micas--so that now I can begin adding some color to my soaps. This was my first attempt and I'm pleased with how they turned out. I'm excited to try this batch out in a few weeks after it cures. I've been working on making my soaps even more moisturizing. To this batch, I added cocoa butter as well as my favorite ingredient--goat milk. I also added a touch of silk, which should add a nice feel to it, too.

This is the loofah right after I peeled off the hard rind. I then rinsed them out in the sink. Some had a lot of flesh inside (like a cucumber's) and it took awhile to clean them out. These are my loofah drying. Once they were completely dry, I was able to shake out the remaining stubborn seeds. I then soaked them in a very mild bleach solution to lighten and even out the color. I had been wanting to try growing these for years! I was so excited that it worked!