Yesterday I tried my hand at making goat milk soap. I was determined to not go the easy-peasy route and just add a little pinch of powdered goat milk to the regular recipe. That's kind of cheating. And I'm not convinced that it will make any noticeable difference in the feel of the soap. I wanted to go whole hog (or whole goat) and use the unpasturized, raw, whole goat milk. Fresh from the goat. Yum. I hadn't ever really tried goat milk. Or at least that I can remember. It's tasty. Like liquid chevre cheese. Well, duh. That's what the goat cheese is made from. And I love that stuff. So why wouldn't I like the goat milk? I'm not a milk drinker. But I tasted a bit. Then decided that since I had way more than I could use for a batch of soap, I needed to do something with it. I'll just say that it makes a very nice mashed potato. A tiny bit tangy, and extra creamy, just like adding chevre to the potatoes, which I am wont to do sometimes. And it added a little extra yumminess in the boxed mac-n-cheese for lunch. I'm glad that I measured what I needed before I got started with the cooking and drinking, or I wouldn't have had much left over to soap with!
So the upshot. The soap turned out great. After all the warnings and complicated directions that I had read about, I decided to make is really simple on myself. No freezing the milk into little chunks and adding it to the lye for a mini science demonstration of Mt Vesuvius. I just added it in while I was mixing. So far it looks great. Gelled nicely, no streaks or mess, and has turned a pretty caramel color, which is exactly what is supposed to happen. Still in the molds this morning, so hopefully it won't end up too sticky to remove, or not get hard enough later. I think it might work out. I added a pretty scent of almond and lemon sugar together -- and it kind of smells like cake. It's making me hungry.
My most favorite things in the garden right now -- big, ripe clumps of juicy sweet pink grape tomatoes, and the sunny Black-Eyed Susans, gathered daintily around the feet of the towering tomato plants.
Congrats on the goat's milk success. I am a long lost customer ( I now make soap as well!) and have tried the goat's milk thing. My first attempt scared to poo out of me because the milk curdled, turned orange and chunky and stunk and was awful! The end result turned out ok though. I now reserve some of the water and add the milk later in the process. It seems to work pretty well. I still do the powdered goat's milk thing from time to time. It is cheating but I do believe it adds a nice feel to the final soap. As for the long lost customer thing I really want to order some of your Healing Salve and sprays. I just need to get off of my duff and do so
ReplyDeleteCathi Umfress Thorpe