All of these recipes have pureed fruit in them that has been used in place of some of the water. There are 3 different ways you can do this. You can add the lye directly into the water and fruit mixture. You can add your lye to your water and then after the solution cools down add the fruit to the lye solution and then mix it in with the oils. Or, you can add your lye to your water and then pour the lye solution and the pureed fruit into the oils at the same time. I tried this all three ways. The soaps all ph tested at 9, and lather really well.

There are a few differences between them though. When I added the lye directly into the fruit, it changed color quite a bit and stunk to high heaven by the time it cooled down. I was afraid that smell wouldn't go away. However, I added fragrance and it smells really yummy! After five weeks, the soap is a beautiful caramel color and the bar is quite hard.

With the other 2 methods there was no color change at all, except for the natural color that the fruit lends to the soap. When I added the fruit to the lye it did start to smell a bit, but not nearly as much as the other batch. When I just added it to the oils, there was no smell at all. The one drawback though is that after 5 weeks, both of the batches are still quite soft. They are getting a little bit harder each week but not nearly as hard as the one in which I added the lye directly to the fruit.

So, I guess you can choose between a longer cure time and soap that will have more versatility in being colored.

Okay…enough technical stuff! On to the recipes!!

Strawberry ~ Peach Soap

One large ripe peach
2 large strawberries (fresh or frozen)
puree the fruit and weigh it.
Add enough water to bring your liquid amount up
to18.1 oz

6.3 oz of lye
31oz palm oil
12oz coconut oil

Heat oils to 130 degrees. Add liquid to oils.

When it reaches trace add:

1oz of mango butter, melted
1oz jojoba oil ~warmed
1 oz of avocado oil ~ warmed
4 tsp peach nectar fragrance---it's a good idea to mix these together a day ahead of time (At first the peach nectar will climb all over the top of strawberry, but then in a day or so the strawberry comes into its own.)

Pour into molds

**Note
Strawberry seeds can be a bit scratchy so if that concerns you, just peel the berries before you puree them

Cucumber Melon Soap

½ of a small cucumber (peeled or unpeeled)
1 small slice of a cantaloupe, peeled
(you can also us honey dew melon or seedless watermelon or all three)
puree the fruit and weigh it. Add enough water to bring your liquid amount up to18.1 oz

Heat oils to 130 degrees. Add liquid to oils.
When it reaches trace add:

1oz of mango butter, melted
1oz jojoba oil ~warmed
1 oz of avocado oil ~ warmed
4 tsp cucumber fragrance

Pour into molds

Kiwi Lime Soap

2 large, ripe kiwis peeled

Cut one kiwi in half and set it aside. Take the rest of the kiwis and remove the middle section with the seeds and discard that section. The seeds are kinda scratchy so you don't want a lot of them in there. You can opt to remove all of them if you wish. Puree the seeded kiwi and the half with the seeds. Weigh it. Add enough water to bring your liquid amount up to 18.1 oz

Heat oils to 130 degrees. Add liquid to oils.

When it reaches trace add:

1oz of mango butter, melted
1oz jojoba oil ~warmed

1 oz of avocado oil ~ warmed
4 tsp Paradise fragrance

Pour into molds

I Like using really simple, familiar recipes when I am doing something different. It is easier to tell the differences when it is a recipe I have made often. Feel free to try these with your favorite recipes.