For those who would like to make vegetable soaps, below are a few recipes that I know you’ll like. I’ve had a lot of fun making these and designing recipes that use vegetables.
A Basic Vegetable Soap
28 ounces of coconut oil
24 ounces of olive oil (make sure you get the lightest color)
30 ounces of vegetable shortening (the best one available at reasonable cost)
12 ounces of lye
32 oz. cold water
1.5 – 4 ounces essential oil or any fragrance oil.
Temperatures should range from 95-120 degrees.
Vegetable Perfection Recipe
48 ounces Crisco
21 ounces Soybean Oil (Canola or Olive Oil will also work)
18 ounces Coconut Oil
28 ounces of cold water
12 ounces lye crystals
Temperatures: 100 degrees
If you trace this by hand is should be ready in about 20 minutes.
Then cure it for about 24-48 hours before cutting.
Totally Vegetable
56 ounces olive oil
30 ounces vegetable shortening
9 ounces Castor oil
12 ounces lye crystals
28 ounces cold water
2 Teaspoon of salt dissolved a little hot water. Then add to lye solution.
Advanced users can try this without the salt to see a different texture.
Almond/Peanut Oil
36 ounces almond/peanut oil blended
16 ounces coconut oil
36 ounces olive oil
24 ounces cold water
12 ounces lye crystals
Temperatures: 90-100 degrees
24 hours later is the cutting stage. This will give you very firm bars.
Almond and Chocolate Swirly
16 oz. palm oil
14 oz. coconut oil
52 oz. olive oil
6 ounces cocoa butter
32 oz. cold water (4 cups)
12 oz. lye crystals
Add at trace:
1 ounce Bitter Almond fragrance oil (order from Sweet Cakes)
2-3 T. cocoa powder blended into about 1/4 of the soap at trace (after pouring 3/4 of it into mold)
Temperature: 95-100 degrees
Add the Bitter Almond oil early in the trace. Then pour 3/4 of the soap into your mold.
Quickly mix the cocoa powder into the remaining soap (using a stick blender will make this very easy), then drizzle it on the top of the white soap in a swirly fashion or simply a back and forth direction. A butter knife run gently back and forth will help the two colors blend together.
The soap may have ridges on top from the swirl.
This soap will come out hard and will lathers well.
This makes a great gift for friends, as they usually love the scent of chocolate and almonds.
Peaches and Almonds
32 oz. soybean oil
16 oz. palm oil
16 oz. olive oil
14 oz. coconut oil
8.5 oz. almond oil
28 oz. cold water
12 oz. lye crystals
Temps around 90-110 degrees
Added at light trace:
2 oz. Peach Deluxe Fragrance Oil from Sweet Cakes
1 tsp. Bitter Almond Fragrance Oil from Sweet Cakes
1 Teaspoon paprika (to give it some color)
This recipe gives you a soap with a wonderful smoothness and texture to it.
Small bottles of sweet almond oil are available at most grocery stores.
Decadent White Chocolate
40 ounces soybean oil
16 ounces olive oil
16 ounces coconut oil
8 ounces palm oil
8 ounces cocoa butter (food grade is fine)
28-32 ounces cold water
12 ounces lye crystals
1 oz. fragrance or essential oil if desired at trace, such as peppermint or almond.
Temps 100-110 degrees
The cocoa butter will give the lather a rich creamy feel and it will be very gentle on your skin.
Lots Of Suds – All-Vegetable
24 oz. coconut oil
24 oz. olive oil
20 ounces soybean or canola oil (or feel free to blend it)
16 oz. palm oil
12 oz. lye crystals
24–26 oz. cold water
Temperatures around 110 degrees.
This will produce a very hard bar that will have a great silky lather.
Vegetable Soap With A Hint Of Coconut
40 oz. olive oil
24 oz. soybean oil
14 oz. coconut oil
10 oz. palm oil
12 oz. lye crystals
26 oz. cold water
Temperatures around 110 degrees.
The Best Classic Soap
24 oz. coconut oil
40 oz. olive oil (Harder soap – substitute 2 oz. cocoa butter for 2 oz. of olive oil)
18 oz. palm oil
12 oz. lye crystals
24 – 28 oz. cold water
Temperature around 110 degrees.
Castile Soaps With Tons Of Olive Oil
It is best to use a stick blender. Hand stirring could mean a 36-48 hours to trace, instead of just a few minutes.
78 oz. olive oil
6 oz. coconut oil
6 oz. palm oil
24 oz. cold water
12 oz. lye crystals
Oils at 140 degrees, Lye Solution at 110 degrees.
This is a basic castile recipe. The soap will turn out nice and smooth.
My Best Castile Soap
24-28 oz. cold water (depending on how firm you want the bars in 24 hours)
12 oz. lye crystals
55 oz. olive oil
16 oz. palm oil
16 oz. coconut oil
Temps around 110-115 degrees
My Best Castile With Soybean Oil
40 ounces olive oil
16 ounces coconut oil
16 ounces palm oil
16 ounces soybean oil
Temperature between 90-100 degrees.
Make sure that this soap have a lot of air or it will sweat.
Castile – Coconut and Soybean
40 ounces olive oil
28 ounces soybean oil
18 ounces coconut oil
28 ounces cold water
12 ounces lye crystals
Temperature: between 90-100 degrees
If hand stirring you may want to use higher temperatures up to 120.
Using the stick blender with lower temperatures will give you more time before trace.
Mint Swirl
3/4 oz. spearmint essential oil (1.5 Teaspoon)
3/4 oz. peppermint essential oil (1.5 Teaspoon)
1/4 oz. eucalyptus essential oil (1/2 Teaspoon)
You can buy peppermint and eucalyptus oils at your local pharmacy.
After mixing the essential oils at light trace and while you wait for the soap to thicken, pour most of the soap into a large mold. Leave about 1/8 of it in the pan.
Then add Crayola crayons, which have been kept warm and melted in a small container on the stove:
1/2 blue/green Crayola crayon
A little bit of the original oils in a bit of warm water.
Mix the coloring in thoroughly and drizzle this over the white soap in the pan, keeping it even in back and forth motions. Then take a knife and run it back and forth, first in one direction and then other or even on a diagonal. Try reaching the bottom and sides of your molds.
For a good swirl you need to do this at a thin trace. If the soap gets too thick, your contrasting color will just rest on top and not feather very well.
Soap Scrub For The Gardener
Use Castile base recipes for this soap.
The following were added at medium trace:
2 ounces orange oil
1 ounce eucalyptus oil
1/2 ounce citronella oil
1/4 ounce tea tree oil
1-1.5 Teaspoon poppy seeds
1 Teaspoon pulverized dried orange peel
The orange eucalyptus fragrance that will make you pucker-up a bit! People either hate this soap of love it. It has a really nice clean scent and repels bugs.
