Susan Miller Cavitch - The soapmakers companion: a comprehensive guide with recipes, techniques & know-how

A C OMPREHENSIVE G UIDE WITH R ECIPES , T ECHNIQUES & K NOW -H OW

SUSAN MILLER CAVITCH

Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us .

Paul the Apostle
New Testament, Hebrews 12:1

DEDICATION

For Matt, who encouraged me six years ago when I felt called to this adventure and who encouraged me again as I felt called to bow out.

And for Peter, Jenny, Adam, and Mary, who have kindly shared soap with me and who make the choices easy ones.

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by
publishing practical information that encourages
personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Edited by Deborah Balmuth
Cover design by Meredith Maker
Cover and interior illustrations by Laura Tedeschi
Text design and production by Susan Bernier

(Based on original design by Carol Jessop, Black Trout Design)

Indexed by Northwind Editorial Services

1997 by Susan Miller Cavitch

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other without written permission from the publisher.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information. For additional information please contact Storey Publishing, 210 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA 01247.

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Printed in the United States by Versa Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cavitch, Susan Miller, 1959

The soapmakers companion : a comprehensive guide with recipes, techniques & know-how / by Susan Miller Cavitch.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-88266-965-6 (pb : alk. paper)

1. Soap. I. Title

TP991.C395

668.124dc21

97-5139
CIP

This book was my editor Deborah Balmuths idea. She and I had tossed around the idea of an eventual second edition to The Natural Soap Book, but a more advanced soapmaking book felt right to Deborah before I knew for myself. Deborah, your sense of order leaves the book reader-friendly, and your gentle manner makes collaboration enjoyable. To the extent that an editor can enhance or diminish the authors experience, your sweet spirit made the process a pleasure. Thank you.

Dr. Matthew White is a kind chemist who was willing to be interrupted to help a relative stranger in the middle of a busy day. As comfortable discussing covered bridges as esters, he is a patient teacher. Thank you, Matt, for helping me stay on track. If mastery involves stewardship, your generous sharing of the gift leaves you a fine steward.

Terrianne Taylor is a fourth-generation soapmaker. Both of her great-grandmothers were soapmakers. Her maternal grandmother, Paula Ohnesorge, lived on a small dairy farm in northern Minnesota where she saved her fat drippings all year long for the annual soapmaking and leached her own lye from wood ashes. Like so many of her generation, she worked hard, recycled everything, and wasted nothing.

When Terrianne was a child, her grandmother taught her how to make soap. Terrianne can still recall the smell of sparkling-clean laundry hanging on the line just after it had been cleaned with her grandmothers laundry soap. Of course, Mrs. Ohnesorges laundry soap was also her bath soap and her shampoo. Her animal-based soap contained no fanciful nutrients, yet Terrianne remembers a mild bar of soap with a fresh smell. The soap was made in orange crates lined with seed sacks. Some batches were permeated with the scent of the pine needles spread between the crates and the sacks; the unscented batches had a clean, fresh scent of their own.

Eva Mae and Cliff Pelton, Terriannes mother and father, continued the soapmaking tradition into adulthood. They made their own bath and laundry soap at home, and once a year, their German Lutheran country church group gathered to produce 500600 pounds of soap for World Relief. Donations of various fats and oils poured in all year long, and then over a two-day period, everyone came together to make soap in 5-quart ice cream pails. (Yes, they made soap in plastic containers, and yes, they and Mrs. Ohnesorge made tallow soap at 7595F (2435C)!) The soap was sent to impoverished countries along with the quilts and blankets the group had sewed throughout the year.

Terrianne has been around soapmaking all of her life, but recently made it her family business. She and her husband, Jim, operate the Pretty Baby Herbal Soap Company in North Carolina. It had been years since she had made soap when Jim arrived home from work to find her stirring something out in the backyard on the glider. He knew then and there that he was in trouble. What he didnt know was that a little over a year later, Terrianne would have a successful soap business and he would leave his job to join her.

Both Jim and Terrianne say they have learned to run a business just as they learned to parent by trial and error. Years of being around soap has left her with good instincts, so most of Terriannes experiments work first time around. Though her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmothers all made soap, they did not use the selection of vegetable oils available to todays soapmaker. Terrianne was on her own as she designed an all-vegetable formula. But her mother and father continue to share the soap-making adventure with her, passing along wonderful tips and stories, and I have a hunch that she gets a little help from beyond, from those women who made soap for function and never imagined swirls of violet and bars by the name of Medicine Man.

Terrianne has developed lovely soaps with rich, creamy lathers and beautiful colors. Her marbled bars are the prettiest Ive seen. She uses over a dozen ingredients in each batch. In place of plain water, she uses herbal infusions. Her refrigerator is filled with gallons of green and brown concoctions that are fortunately hard to mistake for lemonade or orange juice. With names such as Sassy Singapore, Sudzy Navel (Orange, That Is), My Sisters Soap (she has red hair), Kaleidosoap, and Oats & Goats, her soaps reflect the fun she and Jim are having together. Terriannes interest in natural skin care has led to a line of complementary products: Scented Sun-Dried Sea Salts for the Bath, Mineral Herb Scrubs, Shampoo and Body Bars, and a new line of creams and lotions. Pretty Baby Herbal Soap offers a soapmaking kit packed in a reusable wooden tray, with a variety of refills available for making different kinds of soap (see Suppliers section of appendix for an address).

Thank you, Terrianne, for the fun names you gave my soap, for your generous nature, and for a story that inspires others to be matriarchs and patriarchs.