Goat’s Milk Soap
By Victoria Ries
Soap has been around for hundreds of years, and was first used for laundering clothes; social acceptance had nothing to do with personal hygiene in those days. The Roman’s were the first to use soap as a body cleanser. Before soap, essential oils were used in bathing rituals.
Lye is one of the main ingredients in soap making. Pioneers made their lye from scratch, by saving wood ashes from their fires, then trickling rainwater slowly through them, into a barrel. They’d save rendered clarified fats for their soap recipes, collected from the slaughter of chickens, pigs and beef etc. They’d make enough soap for the entire year on their annual soap-making day.
Soap making can be fun and easy, but first, a few words about safety.
Lye, sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda, can be fatal if swallowed—so it should be kept out of reach of children and pets, preferably locked in a high cabinet. While in the process of soap making, children should be kept out of the general area—outside in the fresh air would be ideal! Ventilation is important whilst soap making, as is avoidance of breathing lye fumes. Try to wear rubber gloves and eye protection of some kind, as lye burns and is a skin irritant. If lye accidentally comes into contact with your skin, wash the area well with vinegar, then flush with plenty of fresh running water. If splashed into your eyes, flush well with water and consult a physician immediately.
Lye doesn’t remain lye during soap making. It reacts as it is combined with the fats, and as a result becomes a soap/glycerin mix.
Goat’s Milk Soap
1-cup lard, melted
1-cup coconut oil, melted
1-cup goat’s milk
1/4 cup lye granules
1/4 cup water
Use stainless steel or glass utensils, including thermometers, as lye reacts with certain metals. Use plastic or wooden spoons for stirring. Dissolve lye granules in cold water; stir. Heat first three ingredients near 110 to 120 degrees F. Stir lye/water mixture into fat mixture and stir continuously for fifteen minutes. Then stir every fifteen minutes until a spoonful drizzled across the surface remains risen. Pour into molds. Leave in molds for two days. Freeze for about three hours. Remove soap from molds. Leave soap to age for around three weeks to become mild.