3. In a small skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil, and whisk in 2 tablespoons flour to make a roux. Add the goat milk and water, continuing to whisk while bringing it to a boil. Pour the sauce into the meat and carrot mixture. Cover and bake at 325°F for 1 hour or until the meat is tender.
This recipe assume you are using young goat. If you have purchased stew meat, it is probably from an older goat and will need to be baked for two or three hours or perhaps cooked in a slow cooker, and you will need to add more water to avoid having it dry out.
CHAPTER 18
SOAP
Shortly after becoming a goat owner, I decided I wanted to make goat milk soap, but all the talk of lye blinding you or burning holes in your skin scared me off for a few months. Then I met a soap maker who showed me how to make soap. After seeing the process in person, I purchased the ingredients and equipment and made my first batch of soap with water as the liquid rather than goat milk. I was milking only one goat at the time, and I didn’t want to waste a drop of milk on a batch of soap that might not turn out as it was supposed to. After making two successful batches with water, I switched to goat milk and haven’t made a batch with water since. I can’t go back to store-bought soap. I even take my soap with me when I travel because on the rare occasion when I’ve forgotten it, my skin protests by getting dry and itchy.
Processes
There are two methods for making soap — hot process and cold process. Every soap maker has their favorite method, for a variety of reasons. I learned to make cold-process soap first and never saw the attraction of hot process, which takes more hands-on time. In the cold process method, the oils and the lye are mixed together, and once the mixture reaches the thickness of a runny pudding, it is poured into molds. It continues to heat up and turns into soap in about 24 hours. The solid mass can then be sliced into bars, which are left to dry for about a month before being used.
In hot-process soap making, the ingredients are essentially “cooked,” causing saponification to happen within a few hours. You need to stick around during this time and stir frequently so that the mixture does not bubble over. A slow cooker is often used in hot-process soap making. During the cooking process, the mixture goes through the gel phase, and quite a bit of the liquid will evaporate, which means the soap will dry faster. You can often tell the difference between soap made by hot process and by cold process when you see the finished bars of soap. Cold-process soap bars will have a smoother finish because the mixture was poured into the molds while still liquid, whereas hot-process bars will have a rougher surface because the mixture was pressed into molds when it was the consistency of mashed potatoes.
Being a busy person, I love the idea of making a batch of soap in little more than half an hour, pouring it into molds, and then forgetting about it until the next day. But hot-process soap makers say their soap dries faster and that they can sell it or use it sooner. And although this is the case, the longer a soap dries, the longer it will last, so even hot-process bars can benefit from the month-long drying process that most cold-process soap makers follow.
If you are a fan of liquid soap, you will have to use a hot-process method to make it. The cold-process method can be used only for bar soap. Someone once suggested that I grate my bar soap and simply add water to create liquid soap. Unfortunately, when I did that, the soap developed a disgusting aroma within a couple of weeks. The problem with that plan is that, once you add water, bacteria starts to grow, so you need to add a preservative.
Safety
The need to use lye in making soap scares off some would-be soap makers. I understand completely because I felt the same way for a few months after deciding to learn to make soap. There are all sorts of horror stories on the internet about people who have been injured by lye. Although we definitely need to be careful when making soap, we shouldn’t be scared away from doing it.
The most important thing to remember is to make soap only when you will have an hour of uninterrupted time. If you have small children, don’t do it when you are the only adult at home. If you have a cat that likes to jump on counters, lock it in another room. And don’t make soap when you are rushed. Because that’s when you are likely to make a mistake. Don’t wear anything flowing or dangling, such as big sleeves or jewelry that could knock over a container or accidentally dip into the lye mixture or the unsaponified soap.
Some soap makers suit up with a lab coat, neoprene gloves, and goggles, and if you feel comfortable with this, it’s a great idea. There are a couple of things to think about, though. If you are wearing a lab coat, jacket, or sweater, it should be a second layer. In other words, don’t wear it over bare skin because an accidentally lye-soaked sleeve will be dragged across your skin when you remove the garment, thereby exposing more skin to the lye mixture. Although gloves don’t need to be neoprene, you should wear disposable gloves to protect your hands. Avoid bulky kitchen gloves that might make you clumsy. Do wear something to protect your eyes, such as chemistry goggles. Lye in your eye can blind you by causing chemical burns.
If you get a lye splatter on your skin, flush it with water, and if it still stings, rinse the skin with vinegar. If lye gets in your eye, you are supposed to flush with water for 15 minutes and then go to the hospital emergency room. Once lye hits the eyeball, damage is done, so you need to rinse to minimize the damage and then have the eye checked by a medical professional.
Equipment
None of your soap-making equipment should be made of aluminum because it will react negatively with lye. Glass and stainless steel are the best bets. You can also use plastic and wood. However, they should be used exclusively for soap making because they are porous and will absorb the lye, fragrances, and soap. I accidentally used my plastic soap-making spatula for frosting a cake, and when I licked the spatula afterwards, it tasted like I had just licked a bar of soap!
Digital Scale: Yes, you really need a digital scale. Although people did make soap for thousands of years before digital scales were invented, the quality of the soap varied. The difference between a great batch of gentle soap and a caustic batch of soap can be as little as half an ounce of an ingredient in a small batch, and that isn’t something you can eyeball in a measuring cup.
Pot: A glass or stainless steel 3-quart pot will be needed for the recipes in this book. If you want to double them, you will need a 5-quart pot for melting the oils and mixing the final ingredients.
Pitcher: A 2-quart pitcher or mixing bowl with handle is best for mixing the frozen goat milk and the lye together. The handle makes it easier to lift and pour the lye mixture.
Glass Measuring Cup: You will need this to hold the lye and the essential oil for weighing. A glass measuring cup has a wide mouth that you are unlikely to miss when pouring lye into it, and there is a handle for safety when lifting and pouring.
Thermometer: A standard cooking thermometer will work for making soap as long as it reads between 90°F and 140°F.
Utensils: A spatula and a long-handled spoon are needed. These can be made from plastic or wood and should be used only for making soap.
Stick Blender (Immersion Blender): Unless you want to spend hours stirring with a spoon, you need a stick blender. A mixer does not work as fast.
Commercial molds create soap bars in a variety of shapes.
Freezer Paper: Lining the mold with freezer paper makes removing the soap easier. I initially used wax paper, and although it does work, it is not as durable as freezer paper, and wax paper is more challenging to remove from the soap because it tends to tear. I can usually use a piece of freezer paper three times before I throw it away.
Molds: You can buy soap molds, or you can use containers that you already have. Plastic storage containers, cardboard potato chip cans, or a heavy-duty shoebox lined with freezer paper will work.
Vinegar: Lye is a base (or alkali), and vinegar is an acid, which neutralizes lye. In the event you spill dissolved lye or unsaponified soap on your skin, flush with water, and if the area s
till burns, rinse it with vinegar.
This soap mold was made with 1-inch-by-3.5-inch wood. Although it can be put together with screws, we put ours together with extra-long bolts so that we can take it apart if necessary. The soap should slip out easily if the mold is lined with freezer paper, but if enough soap leaks out to make the loaf stick to the mold, it’s nice to be able to take it apart easily.
Ingredients
To make soap, you need only oil, lye, and water, but by using milk instead of water and by adding a variety of other ingredients, you can make soap that is moisturizing or astringent or even exfoliating. Most of these ingredients can be purchased online from companies that specialize in selling products for making soap.
Frozen Milk: Raw milk can be used for making soap, and it’s the only milk I’ve used. But whether it is raw or pasteurized, the milk does need to be frozen. When lye hits liquid, it starts to react and heat up, and it will heat the milk quickly. Some instructions recommend placing the pitcher of milk in a sink of cold water to slow down the heating reaction when the lye is added, and if the milk you are using is slushy (or less frozen), this is a good idea. But if you are using chunks of frozen milk, you can add the lye and stir while the container is sitting on the counter. I freeze milk in freezer bags in the quantities I need for making a batch of soap (13 ounces or 26 ounces). I lay the bags flat for freezing so that I can take them out of the freezer within half an hour of needing them for making soap and break the milk into chunks. You can also freeze the milk in ice cube trays and weigh it before making the soap. Unlike the oils, which must be weighed precisely, the amount of milk you use is not critical. Using more milk will result in a bar of soap that takes a little longer to dry, whereas using a little less milk will result in a bar that takes less time to dry.
Lye: You cannot make soap without lye! I cringe whenever I see an advertisement for homemade soap made without lye because it is impossible. You must have lye for saponification to occur. Typically, “no lye” claims mean the soap maker did not make the soap from scratch. They purchased a melt-n-pour base, which is soap that someone else made with lye, and then they melted the soap, added color or fragrance, and made bars. Sodium cocoate or sodium palmate listed as an ingredient on a soap label means coconut oil or palm oil was saponified with sodium hydroxide (lye). Potassium cocoate means potassium hydroxide (also lye) was used for saponification.
Because sodium hydroxide is one of the ingredients in crystal meth, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find. Do not buy anything labeled as a drain opener unless the label clearly states that it is 100 percent sodium hydroxide. If you can’t find lye at your local grocery or home improvement store, you can order it online.
Oils: Any type of oil can be used to make soap, but oils cannot be used interchangeably. Each oil has its own saponification value, which means it may require more or less lye than another oil to saponify. Historically, soap was made with whatever oils were available locally. In North America, it was often lard from pigs or tallow from cows. In the Mediterranean, it was olive oil. In tropical areas, it was palm or coconut oil. Although you can make soap from a single oil, it will not be as good as one that includes different oils. Each oil contributes its unique properties to the soap. For example, lard and olive oil are good moisturizers and coconut oil is a good cleanser and creates suds. Blending coconut oil and olive oil in a soap will create a cleansing bar that is sudsy and moisturizing. Lard and olive oil don’t create suds, and without suds, most people today don’t feel like they are getting clean, so you’ll probably want some coconut oil in your soap. Although coconut oil is a great cleanser, it can be too drying for some people, so having some olive oil in your soap makes it more moisturizing. Unlike other oils, palm oil separates when melted, which means you either need to buy homogenized palm oil or melt the entire container of palm oil and stir before measuring the amount needed in the recipe.
Essential Oils: We like soap to have some type of fragrance. To add scent to a natural soap, you need to use essential oils, which are 100 percent plant based. Essential oils can be used singly, or you can blend them to make your own signature fragrances with all-natural ingredients. My favorite blend is lavender, ylang ylang, and grapefruit. Peppermint and rosemary is a popular combination, as is spearmint and lemon.
Fragrance Oils: Fragrance oils are a proprietary blend of whatever the manufacturer wants to mix together to create the fragrance, and the blend will include natural and artificial ingredients. I don’t recommend fragrance oils because they can include known carcinogens and endocrine disruptors that are illegal to use in other countries. Fragrance oils are much cheaper than essential oils, so they increase the bottom line for anyone or any corporation that sells soap.
Herbs: Adding herbs to cold-processed soap does not work well because the heat of saponification makes most herbs turn black or brown. They are essentially cooked and totally devoid of any fragrance in the end. You can sprinkle herbs on top of the soap after pouring it into the mold to create a unique appearance.
Oatmeal: The term “colloidal oatmeal” on a cosmetic label means oatmeal that has been ground up, which is easy to do with a coffee grinder. Ground oats can be mixed into the soap to create a soap that scrubs the skin gently. Whole rolled oats can be sprinkled on top of your soap after you put it into the mold, but you really don’t want whole rolled oats mixed throughout your soap because it would be more abrasive.
Clay: Clays from around the world are available from soap-making supply companies. Each clay has unique properties and affects different skin types in different ways.
Other Ingredients: The list of possible ingredients is only limited by your imagination. I’ve used all sorts of natural things, such as wheat germ, poppy seeds, and ground-up egg shells. If you have chickens that lay brown eggs, they will create a white dust when ground, so it won’t change the color of your soap.
Step-by-step Soap Making
Read through the list of equipment and ingredients and make sure you have assembled everything you will need before you get started. The process demands close attention and goes quickly once the lye is mixed in, so it is important to have everything within arm’s reach and ready to go.
Cold-process soap making is a two-phase process where the oil phase and the water or milk phase are combined until they are emulsified, poured into molds, and eventually saponified, which means turned into soap.
1. If the recipe includes any oils that are solid at room temperature, such as palm oil or cocoa butter, weigh them and put them in a 3-quart stainless steel pot on the stove. Heat the solid oils on low just until they melt and then turn off the heat. Weigh the liquid oils and add them to the melted oils and stir. This usually brings the temperature into the desired range, which is 110–120°F. If the temperature is higher than 120°F, wait until it comes down before moving on to the next step.
2. Eye protection must be worn for this step, so put it on now. Place the frozen goat milk chunks into the 2-quart pitcher. Weigh the lye, and slowly add it to the frozen goat milk. Stir the mixture gently until the lye is completely dissolved. The lye will melt the frozen milk within a few minutes. You must always add the lye to the liquid. Pouring liquid into lye can cause a violent eruption. When the milk has melted and the lye has dissolved, the temperature of the mixture should be between 100°F and 120°F. The more frozen the milk is when you add the lye, the closer you will be to this temperature range. If the temperature goes above 120°F, wait until it is down to 120°F before moving on to the next step. Some sources say the oil mixture and lye mixture should be the same temperature, but that is not important. When learning to make soap, you want to keep the temperatures below 120°F because higher temperatures accelerate trace, which is stressful for even an experienced soap maker to deal with and is a big headache for a novice!
Oh, No! My Milk Melted!
If the goat milk chunks are solidly frozen, the lye and milk mixture will be a pretty pastel yellow. The less frozen the milk, the dark
er the mixture will be. In fact, if the milk is mostly thawed, the mixture will be an angry orange, and there will be little white chunks of milk fat floating in the mixture. It’s not pretty, but it works. Don’t panic. Make a mental note of how thawed the milk was, and don’t do it again.
3. Carefully and slowly pour the lye and milk mixture into the oil mixture. Using the stick blender, begin mixing the lye solution and the oils. If you are adding oatmeal, egg shells, clay, or essential oils, do it once the oil mixture and milk mixture look like they are blended. The warmer the temperature of the mixture, the faster the mixture will reach trace, which is when it is the consistency of a runny pudding. When you lift the stick blender and drops and dribbles sit on the surface rather than disappear into the liquid, it is time to pour it into the mold. If the mixture gets to the consistency of mashed potatoes, it has seized and will be too thick to pour. You will need to spoon it up and mash it into a mold. It won’t be pretty, but it will still be soap.
4. After pouring the mixture into a mold, cover the surface with freezer paper to keep ash from forming. Ash is harmless, but it worries some people, who incorrectly assume it’s lye, which can be a challenge if you will be selling your soap.
5. Let the soap sit at room temperature, covered only by the freezer paper — no additional insulation is needed — for at least 24 hours before unmolding and slicing. A new fad online is to put it into a freezer during saponification, but you don’t need to do that. All of the recipes in this book are pretty forgiving, and you can slice the soap several days later if you don’t have time to do it sooner. But at some point, most soaps will become too dry and hard to slice, so don’t wait too long.
Raising Goats Naturally Page 32