I WAS LOOKING FOR A RECIPE TO MAKE GOAT MILK SOAP. OUR OLDEST SON WENT TO LIVE WITH THE LORD 04-99. HE HAD AN ENVIRONMENTALLY INDUCED CANCER. SO AFTER THAT EXPERIENCE WE ARE TRYING TO "GO NATURAL" AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE FOR THE REST OF OUR FAMILY.

-- DIANA COURTER (courterd@aol.com), January 11, 2000

Answers

Hi! I have a couple of recipes that are in my book (which I am sooo jazzed to tell you folks ...it's getting published soon!)

Anyway...here are the recipes I have... BASIC GOAT MILK SOAP 1 cup very cold goat milk 2 tablespoons caustic soda(lye) 1 cup melted tallow, lard or shortening Protect your work surface with several layers of newspaper. Wear rubber gloves, if desired, and an apron. Pour the cold milk into a heat resistant bowl or a glass mason jar. Put the jar or bowl down onto another bowl of ice. Add the caustic soda slowly, stirring with a sooden spoon. Do not inhale the fumes, they can be dangerous. Set aside milk and lye solution to cool to luke- warm, (95-98 degrees F) before using. To check temperature without a thermometer, put your hands or forearms UNDER the bowl or mason jar. Slowly pour the lukewarm tallow into the lye solution, stirring slowly with a wooden spoon. Stir until the mixture traces, or until you can lift the spoon out of the mixture and trace a figure using the mixture that drips from the spoon, the figure remaining a few seconds before disappearing back into the soap mixture. When the mixture traces, you can add any essential oils or fillers desired. Pour into prepared molds. Cover with dishtowels and leave undisturbed for 18 hours. After removing the soap from the molds, let it air dry for two weeks before using. When your soap is a few days old, you will notice a fine white powder on the surface. This is Sodium Carbonate and results from the exposure of the caustic soda to the air. Wash it away when the soap is mature, as it tends to dry the skin. BASIC GOAT'S MILK AND HONEY SOAP 13 cups lard or rendered fat (6.5 pounds) 1 can red Devil lye 1/2 cup honey 4 cups goat milk 1 cup hot water Dairy or photographic thermometer that will reach 240 degrees F. In a large stainless steel or enamel pan, dissolve the honey in the hot water. Add the goat milk, stir to mix well. Slowly add the lye to the milk/honey mixture. This will get very hot. Let it sit undisturbed until it cools down to 75 degrees. This may take an hour or more. Melt thelard over very low heat. Allow it to reach 85 degrees F. When the lye mixture reaches 75 degrees, you may have to re warm the lard to 85 degrees. Pour the lard in a slow steady stream into the lye/milk mixture. Stir constantly until the mixture reaches the consistency of honey. This will take 20 or 30 minutes. Look for signs of tracing, or a pudding like consistancy, too. When thick as honey pour into prepared molds. Allow to set for 24 to 48 hours. Unmold and cut into bars with a small gauge wire or sharp, thin knife. Air- dry the soap for 4-5 weeks to cure it. OATMEAL AND HONEY GOAT MILK SOAP 6 cups goat milk 4 cups lard (2 pounds) 2/3 can Red Devil brand lye 2 cups dry oatmeal (run through the blender) 1/2 cup honey Carefully mix the milk and lye in a stainless container, or glass mason jar. Allow to cool to 85 degrees. Warm lard to 85 degrees and slowly add to milk mixture. Mix for 15 minutes, let stand 5 minutes. Mix again for 5 minutes. Watch for tracing, the pudding like consistancy that tells you that the soap is nearly done. After tracing, add the honey and oats, stir well but do not beat. When thick like honey pour into prepared molds. Let set 24-48 hours until set. Cut into bars and air cure for 3 to 4 weeks. LAUNDRY SOAP FLAKES 1 quart cold water 12 ounce sodium hydroxide 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup borax 2 quarts washed strained grease 1 cup Ammonia scent Pour water in earthenware jar. Pour in lye and stir with wooden stick. Let stand till cold (will take around an hour). Put sugar and borax into an earthenware or enamel vessel and stir well. Pour warm grease into borax mixture and stir well. Add ammonia and stir. Add cooled lye solution to grease mixture. Stir until mixture thickens to fudge consistency. Pour into a mold and let stand overnight. (Use a paper box lined with waxed paper). The soap hardens in a few days. Grate the soap finely into soap flakes and use.

Hope these help! Idaho Cher

-- Cheryl Rovang (fullcircle@nidlink.com), January 11, 2000.

I am so sorry about your son. Here is how I make goat milk soap: Use 1/2 can of lye (weigh it in two yogurt containers until both containers have the same amount of lye, then put a lid on one and tape around the lid so none leaks out.PUT IT IN A HIGH PLACE WHERE YOUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER GET INTO IT) Then you will also need 3 pounds of fat.I use vegetable shortening,any fat should work.Also a quart of fresh goats milk. You will need a plastic pitcher, a wooden spoon with a long handle, an enamel or glass pot -it shoould hold a gallon or more,and a bottle of vinegar,uncapped. Lye is nasty stuff and it will burn you if it touches you. Vinegar will neutralize it. OK. Now pour the milk into the pitcher, and melt the fat in the pot or kettle. While the fat is melting,carefully pour the lye into the milk and stir it with the wooden spoon. The milk will turn a weird orange color. stir it from time to time.Do not let it thicken up, it will do this if you don't stir it. You don't want there to be any lumps in it.It will get hot. When both the lye and the fat are about at body temperature, put on some rubber gloves if you can.Carefully pour the milk/lye solution into the fat,slowly and evenly, and stir with your other hand. Stir as evenly as you can. Now you will have to stir it for a while,sometimes as long as 45 minutes. I set it in a place where I can sit beside it and read, usually on the wooden table. If your table is nice, use a countertop, or put lots and lots of newspaper down. If the soap spills or drips at all before it's done,it will eat right into the table. So stir it until it gets thicker.It should get thick enough that if you drip some of the soap into the pot, it will set on the surface for a moment. This is called tracing.As soon as it does this,pour it into molds.Use plastic,glass,or waxed cardboard for molds. Sometimes (often) my soap doesn't set up right. I can always tell,because when I wash the soap pot, it is greasy instead of soapy like it should be. The soap seperates. It feels greasy, and if you use it the lye will burn you because it hasn't combined right with the fat. If this happens,wait a day or two, cut the soap up,and remelt it in a glass or enamel pot set into another pot of water. The water pot can be metal.It may smell bad at first,but stir it and don't let it scorch.When it is all melted,stir it until it gets thick.This usually happens pretty quickly the second time,so have the molds all ready.It will get a funny,shiny consistency sometimes.This time the soap should be good. Add herbs or essential oils just before pouring. After the soap is poured, the pot is all covered in soap.You can take a washcloth and wipe the soap out with it,and then use it to bathe with,or throw it in the laundry and don't use detergent. When the soap in the molds sets up well,turn it out onto newspaper, and let it dry some more.Then cut it into bars. The best way is to let it age for at least a month before using,with each bar set on it's edge for even drying. Aged soap is much,much, milder. I hope you have fun soapmaking. We have a small business going with it.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), January 11, 2000.

I am so very sorry about your son. It must be comforting though to know he is with the Lord. I think every one would be healthier if we used more natural products and stayed away from all the chemicals and poisons that are sold in our supermarkets just for the sake of making money. I have a question maybe some of these ladies with these great recipes that I plan to try can answer. Not having access to fresh goat's milk, is it possible to make the soap with canned goat milk? God bless you Diana, Barbara

-- barbara (barbaraj@mis.net), January 12, 2000.

Barbara,I've never tried making it with canned milk but you coould certainly try it. Just be sure that you reconstitute it with water as the can directs. Sometimes you can buy it fresh in cartons.

-- Rebekah Leaf (daniel1@transport.com), January 13, 2000.

I own goats so the soap I make has whole fresh milk in it. However, a lady in my food coop makes soap with both canned and dried goats milk that she has rehydrated. Her reports indicate success. Incidentally, she gets the canned and dried milk through our coop. Good luck.

-- Marilyn Dickerson (rainbow@ktis.net), January 16, 2000.