Why Preserve?

I saw on another site today yet another soapmaker who doesn't like preservatives, who thinks they're evil and so forth.  That's well and good, and I applaud those who firmly believe in creating all natural products and can do so safely. 

There's an easy way to make all-natural products which won't need a preservative:  Make them without water.  Such products as lotion bars, soaps and lip balms don't require a preservative.  (Water is part of the soapmaking process, but it's not in the final product.)  Lotion bars, lip balms, lip glosses and body butters (real ones, made with butters and oils) are anhydrous formulations, meaning they contain no water.  Since they don't contain water, they present an unfavorable environment for mold, fungus and bacteria growth and need only an antioxidant to slow down the rancidity of the oils and butters.

Then you come to lotions, creams and yes, even scrubs.  These products contain water, which means they present a very favorable environment for the growth of "nasties" - mold, fungi and bacteria.  In fact, these "all-natural" nasties can start growing in lotions within three hours of their manufacture without a proven, broad-spectrum preservative.  You can't see them.  I once had a soap seller tell me she had been using a bottle of the unpreserved lotion she was selling for two months and it wasn't growing.  It doesn't have to be visibly growing for nasties still to be present.  In fact, they're microscopic, and because they're so tiny, they can enter a person's blood stream through the most microscopic of skin breaks, such as are common in people with diabetes-related edema, and also those one might get after shaving.  These nasties can be particularly dangerous to someone whose immune system may already be compromised by other diseases, such as cancer, and can lead to sickness, hospitalization and even death.

Scrubs are slightly different.  When I make scrubs, they contain no water, yet still I preserve them.  Why?  Because they're very thick and can easily have water introduced into the container.  A wet hand dipping into the jar in the shower is enough to contaminate the whole batch.  I now make my scrubs with sugar, but when I first started making them, I used salt which, as most people know, is a type of preservative.  I opened the jar one day after not using them for a while and the inside was covered with spots of black mildew (a type of fungus).  Suffice it to say, that jar hit the trash!

I think everything needs to be a matter of perspective.  When I make my lotions, I use a paraben-free, broad-spectrum preservative at the lowest possible effective rate.  This comes to 0.8%, or 5 grams of preservative to over 500 grams of lotion, which makes 5 4-ounce bottles.  (To give you an idea, an ounce is about 28.4 grams by comparison.)  So, you've got five grams of preservative over four bottles.  What it comes down to is, even with the chemical preservative, my essential-oil scented lotions are still 99.2% all natural.  Compared to the risk of killing a customer by selling them a dangerous product, I'll accept that as close enough.

By the way, I have all my water-based formulas tested for preservative efficacy by a reputable lab before selling them.  So far, they've all passed with flying colors, far exceeding what even the FDA considers "safe."

Butternut Squash Soap, er, Soup - Seriously yummy for cold days

I encountered this recipe in an unassuming email from Allrecipes.com back in the fall, and have, since then, played with it and tweaked it to make it my own.  I think the best incarnation of this recipe to date was the last batch I made, and here's the recipe for it.

You'll need:

Ingredients:

2 cups butternut squash (1/2 large one)
1 large sweet potato (can also use white, but sweet gives you more fiber & nutrients, plus flavor)
3 T. butter or margarine
1 medium onion, diced
2 large leeks, chopped, white and light green parts only
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 medium tart apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 qt. chicken stock (chicken broth is OK to substitute)
1/2 cup half 'n half (or any milk over 2% fat)
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. fresh-grated nutmeg (can use ground)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Equipment:

Foil-lined cookie sheet
Dutch oven
Sharp knife
Cutting board
Stick blender

A couple of hours before you wish to start your soup, bake your squash and sweet potato.  Stab them both with a fork 8 times going around and bake them at 350 for an hour, turning halfway.  Placing them on a foil-lined cookie sheet will save your oven.  Once they're done, let them cool a bit.  It's OK if they're not completely done in the center.

Melt butter in dutch oven and cook the onion and leeks over medium heat until they're transluscent, about five minutes.

Slice the squash in half and discard the seeds.  Set half aside for later use; it freezes well.  Scoop out 2 cups (all of the half squash) from the peel and place it in the dutch oven.  Slice the potato in half and remove the peel; place in pot.  Put apple, carrot and chicken stock in the pot, and cook it for 20 minutes at medium heat, covered, or until carrots are tender.

Turn heat back to low.  Using the stick blender, puree the soup in the pot until it comes to a nice medium trace.  (Sorry.  Chose not to resist.)  Slowly stir in half-n-half.  Add spices and let sit for ten minutes before serving.

Makes 8 servings.  (The original recipe says it makes 4 servings, but we serve this in small salad/soup/cereal bowls as a side with dinner; each bowl holds 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups.)

This is a great, veggie-rich soup to accompany sandwiches or crusty cheese bread.  The squash and sweet potato combine to make the soup somewhat sweet, but the cumin adds just the right amount of "bite" to offset it, a trick I discovered after lunch at Atlantic Bread Company one day and which my daughter, who didn't much care for the first 3 batches of soup, declared "really good."  You can adjust the spices to your taste.  Just be mindful that the nutmeg and cumin both impart pretty strong flavors and should be used with care.

Bon Appetit! :-)

The Mystery of the Corona

I mentioned in this blog post that I had Corona beer going flat in the garage, but couldn't mention what I was going to do with it, because it was too close to Christmas.  Well, that beer became part of the Ultimate Buffett Soap and was a gift for my aunt, who joined us at the Summerzkool tour last year when Jimmy came to Raleigh.  The Ultimate Buffett Soap featured Corona beer, hemp seed oil (to commemorate all those joints smoked at his concerts) and a zesty Margarita Lime fragrance.  So, you've got your Corona, your cannabis-derived product and a little scent-trip to Margaritaville, minus the smell of boiling shrimp.  She loved it, and it was fun to make, especially as I soap-glued a soap lime slice to each bar.

~Sara

Shout Out to Swansboro!

You know who you are. You live in or near Swansboro, NC and you really seem to enjoy browsing my site.  I have Google Analytics on my site to help me see from where my site traffic is, and I keep seeing Swansboro show up on the map and graph.  I don't mind; really, I'm glad you found my site and you keep checking back to see what's new.  I guess what always brings my attention to "Swansboro" on the North Carolina map at Google is, we have warm memories of that town and a big dream of living there one day.  I'd love for you to introduce yourself, either in a comment here or privately by email.  Thanks! :-)

Here it is! The EPA Post-Show Special

What's the deal?  How about 10% off your total purchase and FREE shipping?  Pretty nice, huh?  What a great way to maybe buy a couple more stocking stuffers!  Or, perhaps you're looking at that one particular item and thinking, Ya know, my sister-in-law/admin/boss/office mate would love one of these, too, and I wish I'd gotten one.  Well, now's your chance!  I'll happily send you the coupon code.  You simply have to email me at sara@sarassoapsnsuch.com and tell me something about my set-up yesterday.  It could be my location, something about a vendor beside me, something near me or who was with me.  After all, you have to have been there to know this, and this is an exclusive offer for RTP EPA employees, contractors and the 200 people in the workshop yesterday.  I apologize for this extra step this year, but I still look forward to hearing from you! :-)