48 ounces Lard
6.2 ounces Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)
18 ounces cold water
1 ounce Green Apple Fragrance Oil

Equipment needed:
A digital scale that will weigh up to six pounds or more
A glass or stainless steel thermometer
A plastic pitcher or glass jar that can hold at least 22 ounces
A stainless steel pot
A stainless steel large spoon
Enough Soap Moldsto hold 4.5 pounds of soap
A stick blender (Emulsifying blender meant for home use, usually called a Hand Blender at the department store)
PH Meter for testing soap

All ingredients need to be weighed on a digital scale. These are not volume measurements.

Lard is rendered pig fat. It doesn't sound so good, I know, but it makes the very best soap! And it is so inexpensive! The best brand I have found is the Amour Star brand. This is the best deodorized lard I have used. The others have an odor that is really difficult to cover up. The Amour isn't so much. One issue I have found will all lard is that they put citric acid in it. Citric acid neutralized lye. They put it in there to keep the lard from foaming in deep fryers. For us it means that make soap is just a little bit more difficult. You will have to stir longer than normal to get it thick enough.

Your first step is to put 18 ounces of cold water into a glass or plastic container. Slowly pour in 6.2 ounces of lye. Make certain you water is cold. If you add lye to hot water it will volcano. When you mix water and lye heat it generated all on its own. Cover it and put this aside to cool down. Keep it out of the reach of everyone and every thing. If someone or something drinks it, it will be deadly.

Put your lard in a stainless steel pot and heat it until it is just about melted. Remove from heat when there are just a few slivers of lard left solid in there. Stir until those are melted too. Let it cool to about 130 degrees.

When lye solution is less than 130 degrees and lard is around 130 degrees, pour the lye solution into the melted lard. Stir with your stainless steel spoon. Start mixing with the stick blender. Use the stick blender off and on. Use the stick blender for only about one minute at a time. They are not intended for long stirring times. If you keep it on longer than that at one time it will fry the motor.

When the soap solution you are stirring starts to thicken up to a pancake batter or pudding, it is ready. This is difficult to achieve if your lard has citric acid in it. You may not get that thick, but it will certainly be a lot thicker than you started. It will be about 50% runnier than pancake batter.

Hand stir in your fragrance, stir well with the spoon and then pour into your molds.

Leave your molds just as they are for at least 24-hours. They will be ready to remove from the molds after their 24-hours. You will notice that when you touch the sides of the molds in about one hour after pouring that they are warm. The warmth is from the saponification process it goes through to make soap. This is normal.

After the 24-hours are up, pop the soaps out of the molds and do a ph test on them. A soap that is safe to use will be under a 10 ph. The ideal rage for a soap is 7-9.

Leave the soap bars out in the open air to cure for 6 weeks. This is when the water that is left over from the saponification process evaporates out of the soap. The soap is safe to use after the 24-hours, if the ph is okay, but it makes a much better lather after the 6 week curing time. So, if you can't wait, go ahead and use a bar, but leave the rest out in the open air to cure. When the 6 weeks are up, you can package them up for resale or store them.

For more information on how to make soap, please see our soap making step-by-step instructions.