The Art of Saponification
Soap-making is our primary value-added agricultural enterprise, and at Dry Hollow Farm we handcraft thousands of bars of artisan goat milk soap every year.
Soap-making is a craft that requires patience and attention to timing. Our soap begins with goat milk provided by our pastured flock of Nigerian Dwarfs and Nubians. During milking season, we milk twice a day, at twelve hour intervals. Although we have on occasion used vacuum or hand pumps, we generally milk by hand while our does enjoy a snack of cracked corn on the milking stand. Then we turn our fresh, raw milk into soap.
This is what we have learned:
#1 A batch of soap must begin with frozen milk. After straining our raw milk and refrigerating some for any bottle babies we may have at the time, we pour the remaining milk into ice cube trays for freezing. If the milk is not frozen (or at least slushy with ice), the lye will scald or burn the milk when added. This will turn the milk a bright yellow and will interfere with the saponification process.
#2 Lye must be added to the milk slowly, incrementally, a little at a time until the milk cubes are completely melted. For our batches of soap, this usually takes forty-five minutes or so, depending upon air temperature.
#3 Understand the definition of saponification! A batch of soap includes the milk/lye mixture and a blend of melted oils or butter. Liquids and oils do not mix (or saponify) without a saponification agent. This is organic lye, created by dripping water through wood ashes. Without this, the goat milk and oils will separate, and no solid bars of soap will emerge.
#4 While the lye and goat milk are blending, slowly melt the oils and butter together in a separate pot. Once melted, remove the oils from the heat to allow them to cool. Why? Heat affects the saponification process and the process of making trace (the moment when your soap mixture blends together into a smooth, thin pudding consistency). If the oils are too hot, the soap mixture will seize when blended with the milk-lye solution and skip the thin pudding stage to leap directly into a mountain of solid soap which cannot be poured into molds.
#5 Know your fragrances. The type of essential or fragrance oil used if scenting your soap also affects the time available for pouring the mixture into molds before it hardens or seizes up in the pan. Remember that this process allows seconds, not minutes to achieve a molded bar of soap.
#6 Handcrafted soap produces a powdery layer of lye ash on the top of each bar of soap as it cures (because it is releasing moisture to produce a hardened bar of soap). This ashiness does not affect its use, but a few spritzes of 91% rubbing alcohol while the soap is drying can prevent the ash from forming.
Making soap by hand is an artisan craft that requires patience and an attention to timing. If a batch does not produce perfect bars of soap, do not give up!
Or stop by the Soap Shop at Dry Hollow Farm and peruse our soap offerings!
Dr. Kathryn Bush owns and operates Dry Hollow Farm, a working goat and sheep farm in Huntingdon, Tennessee. Together with her husband, Russell, she creates skincare products from their fresh goat milk, grows organic herbs, welcomes visitors to their two cabins on the farm (available for stays through Airbnb), keeps the farm’s on-site soap shop stocked with their handcrafted products, and enjoys working the farm in company with their Great Pyrenees dogs (who work hard guarding the animals). Check out their natural products featuring farm-grown ingredients here, and sign up for the Dry Hollow Farm newsletter to stay in touch and be the first to hear about farm news, events, and new products.