Lemon Balm Soap
Lemon balm grows like crazy around my house (which is a good thing!), so, of course, I had to turn some of it into a soap! If you’ve never made soap before, be sure to thoroughly research the process and precautions before proceeding.This is a Cold Process Soap recipe.This soap batch is sized to fit a 5 lb wooden loaf mold, with extra tall sides. The inner dimensions are roughly: 16 inches long x 3.75 inches wide x 4.75 inches tall.
moderate-
Prep time: 20 minutes -
Cook time: 30 minutes -
Total time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
| 28 | ounces olive oil |
| 22 | ounces coconut oil |
| 8 | ounces sunflower oil |
| 4 | ounces castor oil |
| 20 | ounces lemon balm tea |
| 8.9 | ounces lye (sodium hydroxide) |
| 1 | to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) lemongrass essential oil |
| 1 | teaspoon lime essential oil (or more lemongrass) |
| optional: turmeric powder mixed with small bit of oil to make a well-blended thin paste. Add a bit at a time near the end of mixing, to add a yellowish color. |
Steps of preparation
- Gather enough fresh lemon balm leaves to fill a heat proof quart jar around three-fourths full. (Or use 1/8 to 1/4 a jar of dried leaves.)
Pour steaming hot water over top and cover with a saucer.
Once cool enough to comfortably handle, let this infuse for a few hours in your refrigerator.
Strain and reserve 20 ounces of the resulting lemon balm tea for your soap recipe. (Make sure your tea isn’t too dark or strong, or it may affect the final color of the soap.)
*I usually use olive oil that has been infused with dried lemon balm leaves for part of my olive oil allowance, but you can use plain olive oil, if you wish.
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