Introduction
For a number of years, my daughter and I would sneak off to a nearby bath shop that sold handmade soaps and bath salts. The quality of soap was so much better than the detergent based name-brand soaps from the grocery store.
After retiring, taking my periodic trip to the bath shop, my wife was not pleased that if I wanted to buy “that expensive soap” I would have to learn to make it. Little did she know I was more than happy to research and add yet another hobby to my arsenal!
In my teens, I was befriended by an older lady who lived a few doors down from my grandmother. I enjoyed hearing her stories when she was young and raising her own family. One of the stories she shared was over how they made their own soap in a wash tub over a fire in their backyard using lye and their collected cooking grease. Even then that intriqued me how taking a really caustic chemical combined with old grease could make such a useful product.
When I went to research how soap was being made today, I was taken back that animal fat was no longer used, but a whole list of a variety vegetable oils were being used. Though my first batch was not the greatest, I have since learned the technique and have made some really nice soaps. This section contains articles and some recipes I’ve used to make soap.
