Sunday, September 1, 2013

Saponification Sunday...Pure Lard Soap



Pure Lard Soap
Made with 100% Red Wattle Lard

Spent the day yesterday at the Mid America Homesteading Conference in Joliet Illinois. I taught two classes. One was dullsville incarnate, about the rules and regs related to slaughtering, processing and selling your farm raised meat. But the other one I did was a how to on the basics of soap making.

Fun times and a total success. "Success" measured by the fact that I did not burn myself or the participates with my lye water.

The soap worked well too. One guy got so excited he bought some of my soap sample bars AND a five pound bag of lard I brought to the class to show how  to make lard. I do not have any pictures as I did not think to ask anyone to take any so you will just have to trust me when I say the room was filled with almost 2000 people and the event was covered by ABC, CBS and Fox News.

OK. Closer to 15 and I think there was a student reporter drawing a caricature of me in chalk.

I kept the class simple so they could grasp the basic techniques. Also less for me to forget! I made pure lard soap which ironically I have never made before. Oh I have used lard along with other oils but never lard all by itself. That soap was so hard just 24 hours later I could hardly cut it! Can't wait to shave it up and use it in laundry soap since the rumor is that pure lard soap is the best for such.

We shall see.

My recipe was   34.5 oz of lard, 4.5 oz lye and 10 oz water. No colorants no scents
 

8 comments:

  1. Donna, I LOVE LOVE LOVE your new (at least I haven't seen them before)labels-WOW! In a word, they are FANTASTIC!
    We share a passion for vintage-inspired things, and my friend you have knocked this one out of the park!
    That pic makes me smile just to look at it. Grand job Farm Wife. ;)

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  2. Hi Donna, The first batch of soap I made was 100% Lard soap after our talk. Yes it is very hard! One bar has lasted almost a month being used every day. LOL It was very cool to make too. Thank you for the inspiration to make soap. However, I'll continue to stick with the no frills no foo foo stuff.

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  3. Lard is such magic stuff. This soap recipe sounds easy enough even for *me* to try!

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  4. Congrats on the classes! I'm glad that they both went well. I love your labels, too! I've never made lard soap before, but I've heard good things about it.

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  5. Hi I just want to tell you how much I enjoy your blog. I came to it 2 weeks ago and have been reading backwards since ( I am now up to, back to? October 2011. Loving it!!
    I have a small acreage in Australia with what my family call a zoo. 4 alpacas, 3 goats, 1 sheep, 1 giant steer, chickens and ducks and a dog. I am also making soap, and loving reading about your experiences. I have a list of things to do (spin alpaca fleece,weed veggie garden, weed orchard, weed normal garden) but after reading a little more of your blog this afternoon, made soap instead! Life is short, might as well enjoy. Thank you for making me smile, Veronica

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  6. Soap Sister! Thank you! Found the pic on an old cookbook from the 50's. Copyright had expired so I grabbed it. Been using for 3 years but rarely show it on my blog.

    Black Squirel

    YOU inspired me on this one! I have now used for laundry soap and I do believe it cleans really well. And my clothes are super soft afterwards

    Megan. It is simple but if you have never made soap watch a few videos by The Soap Queen on Brambleberry.com or go to YouTube and watch videos by Amy Warden. They are the best

    Jenny, Thank you too. The soap is so hard I could build a house with it! Lather is medium. As laundry soap: excellent when mixed with washing soda and borax

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  7. Veronica..welcome aboard! Sounds like your farm life is full of abnormalities as well. Do you have a blog? if so send me the link

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  8. I noticed this is from awhile ago, but I am trying to make a lard soap for a friend whose skin will tolerate lard. This seems to be 5% superfat. Have you made any recipes with a lower superfat? Can you speak to whether they would be more drying or not?

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