Fresh Avocado but not in a salad!

Friday, May 22, 2012

One of our customers has requested Avocado soap to sell in her shop.  We thought - no problem we have plenty, then we looked at our supply and realized we'd sold almost all of our stock at the Mountain Laurel Festival last week.  Today I whipped up a batch, Alison was way under the weather and visiting her doctor's office so I tackled the batch by myself.

There aren't very many pictures because making soap and being the photographer at the same time is pretty tricky and I have no desire to drop my phone into a bucket of soap batter!  So without further ado, here is a brief look at what transpired today as I flew solo in the soap kitchen.  The recipe we use is almost straight from Ann Marie Faiola's (The soap Queen) book Soap Crafting, we love this book and this soap and so do our customers!

First thing I did was prepare the lye/distilled water mixture so it would be cooling down.  Next I measured into my cuisinart 3.8 ounces of distilled water then I added 3 ounces of fresh avocado and pulsed it until it looked like a green milkshake.

I set the mixed avocado aside, then began measuring out my oils which were:  Avocado, Olive, Coconut, Palm and Palm kernel flakes.  I had heated the coconut, palm and palm flakes so the oils were a bit warm, while they cool down I'll mix my colors.

The coloration on this soap resembles the colors found in a fresh avocado, dark green, yellow green and yellow.

Once they were all mixed I checked temperatures and found I was in the high 80's for oils and low 90's for lye/water, just about ready to start.

I mixed up the FO's - The first time we made this soap we didn't have the Wasabi fragrance that Soap Queen uses, so we improvised and created our own blend using what we had on hand.  We mixed and tested and finally came up with a blend of three different FO's that when combined smell fresh and clean and maybe a little like avocado.  Our customers really like it so we decided to keep our scent and make it our own.


Now with colors mixed, FO's ready, measuring cups marked, and mold lined I am ready to mix.

I added the lye/water to the oils and stick blended to a really light trace, then I added in the mixed avocado.

Next I poured almost 4 cups of batter each into two different measuring cups leaving the balance in the mixing pot.

I added the dark green colorant to the batter in one of the larger measuring cups.  

The green/yellow color combination goes into the other 4 cup measuring cup.  

The plain yellow colorant went into the remaining batter in the mixing pot.

I used the stick blender on low speed to mix the colors, at this point the soap is at a medium trace and I know it will thicken pretty fast once I add the FOs.

The FO's were added very unscientifically, I eyeballed it, hopefully it was evenly distributed in the different colors.  I stirred the FO's in really well and as I did noticed a bit of ricing and definite acceleration.  No way to tell which FO is causing this as they were all mixed together.

Next I poured the darkest green batter into the lined log mold. It was still loose enough to actually pour which was nice.  I tamped it down once all the dark green was added to hopefully rule out air bubbles.

I poured the medium yellow/green batter in next; it was still pourable so I am a happy girl!  Once again I tamped it down and cross my fingers re air bubbles.

The solid yellow batter went on top. I wanted to mound it up so I stirred it a bit longer to help it thicken up.

Once all of the batter was in the mold, and the top of the soap was fluffed enough to make me happy I called it done and put it into the freezer.  This supposedly helps slow the heating of the soap which helps keep the avocado from turning brown. So far it's worked every time we've made this soap.


I finished cleaning the kitchen and called it a day.  I will un-mold the soap tomorrow and have the final shots for you to see.

The soap is all finished, and much to our dismay it looks like the ricing actually left a calling card, we can see spots of "rice" in the bars.

We've done extensive research and the "rice" bits don't do any harm, they aren't as scenic as we would like, but the overall effect is the same, as is the quality of the soap.

Fresh Avocado soap, will be cured July 3.