It’s about time that I started exploring rebatching soap, or also referred to as french-milled soap, as the result is supposed to be an even more gentle and longer lasting bar of soap, compared to normal cold process soap. And because there isn’t any saponification taking place in this process, you can add ingredients that would otherwise discolour or be destroyed in cold process soap, such as dried flowers and herbal powders.
So for this morning’s experiment I scratched this long-standing itch of wanting to make a real chocolate scented soap. The cocoa CO2 oil in my Double Duty balms makes for a heavenly out-of-shower treat, but I still haven’t managed to make a batch of soap that smells just as great.
Last night I grated down two bars of fully-cured Breakfast Bars. It really looks just like cheese! Then I dumped them into a double boiler at the office this morning to warm up and be melted into a mushy paste. I had to add a little water since most of it had already evaporated from the bar after curing:
It took about 30 mins for the soap to get to this state. Then when it was soft and gel-like, I measured out the cocoa CO2 oil and mixed it into the paste well. The aroma was smile-inducing! I covered the pot and let it stay warm for a little while more before scooping out the mixture into a lined plastic container. It was still rather warm (I kept the thermostat on my double boiler at about 90ËšC) but firmed up fairly quickly.
Then a few hours later, after I got home, I took the slab of soap out of the liner and this is what it looked like:
I adore its rough and rustic, crumbly-looking surface all round. Don’t be fooled though–it’s as solid as any of my other bars, if not even more so. I will let it sit out for another few hours before I slice it up.
Right now though, everytime I’m near that thing I can’t help but pick it up to inhale its subtly sweet, chocolatey scent.
Watch out people, you’ve got a dessert soap coming your way soon! :p