The Heiter Soap: how to make your own
My mother-in-law is an expert when it comes to soap making. When we visited her (and my father-in-law) a few weeks ago, she showed me how to make my own soap too. I absolutely loved the process — so much that I created a “heiter soap” recipe. Interested in making yourself some heiter soap too? Then follow the instructions below.
Please note that you need biocarbonate of soda for this recipe. Biocarbonate of soda is a chemical and gets very hot once mixed with water. Make sure you wear protective gear (gloves, googles) and use non-cooking pots/cutlery throughout the recipe. I would also suggest making the soap without your children close by.
The Heiter Soap
Ingredients (for about 6 bars):
375g olive oil
100g coconut oil
25g almond oil
65g biocarbonate of soda
60g almond mild
105g water (ideally, rain water)
essential oils:
about 30 drops of rosmary oil
about 30 drops of bergamot oil
about 24 drops of lemon
Equipment:
silicone soap molds
stainless steel thermometer
stick blender
Disolve the biocarbonate of soda in the water (use a container you don’t use for cooking!). Careful, mixing the two results in a chemical reaction, it gets very hot! Make sure you wear gloves and goggles. Leave on the side (ideally outdoors) so that it can cool down.
Melt the coconut oil, add the olive and almond oil. Heat the mixture slowly.
Once the biocarbonate of soda and the oil mixture have about the same temperature (somewhere between 42 and 48 C degrees), mix them slowly. Again, please be careful and make sure you use special pot/saucepans, gloves and googles.
Mix until the soap mixture gets a “custard like” consistency.
Add the almond milk and essential oils.
Carefully fill the soap mix into moulds.
Cover the moulds with a plastic sleeve and a blanket/old towel and leave in a dry room for at least 24 hours. If the soap mixture is still very soft after that, leave for another 24 hours.
Once you can easily get the soaps out of the moulds, do so and shape the soap to your liking.
Leave your soaps to cure (in a dry place) for four weeks before you use them.
Images: Katharina Geissler-Evans, heiter magazine
Recipe inspired by Joanne, my lovely mother-in-law
