Sunday, February 14, 2021

Update on Whipped Laundry Butter


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



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