From time to time humans decide to take shortcuts. Sometimes the shortcuts can work and at times the result is a complete disaster. I made lots of soap last year. It was just collecting dust and waiting for me to make laundry soap from it. I made the soap from coconut oil, lye (sodium hydroxide), water, and essential oil. This soap was made without extra fats or colors (zero fat). I used lavender essential oil for fragrance when making the soap. I usually grate the soap up and follow the laundry butter recipe. In our house, we ran out of all laundry butter and had to use store-bought laundry soap. Due to the extra cost and extra chemicals in store-bought soap, I was in a hurry to make more laundry butter so I wouldn't have to buy more at the grocery store. I couldn't find my salad shooter so instead of shredding or grating the soap up nicely, I chunked up the soap. I made a double batch, where I would need 12 ounces of chunks. I poured 12 cups of boiling water onto the chunks into a large plastic container with a lid. I placed the lid on the soap and water and left this mixture alone for hours. When I got a chance to work on the soap again, the water was cold and the soap chunks had melted into the water. I added 2 cups of washing powder (made from baking soda) and 2 cups of 20 Mule Team Borax to this mixture.
I blended a few minutes (2-8 min.) with my stick blender and it whipped up and thickened. I wasn't sure if the whip would go down or not so I was hesitant to pace the soap into containers. I did it anyway and it stayed nicely whipped. I have since made 3 more batches and this still works fine. The amount it makes depends on the amount of air whipped into the mixture. This last batch made 7.5 quarts. I am very happy to find that this shortcut worked! If you try this and it works for you, let me know. Thanks for viewing this post! Dawnie
