Laurel Berry Part 2

 The next morning the Aleppo soap was ready to unmold. Big difference. All that green sludge turned to a light tan. The fragrance was a bit milder also. 

 Aleppo soap is traditionally stamped with a big bold design but I only had some little soap stamps. I went with the peace dove.

 Since my previous attempts at soap stamping have been dismal I did some homework. I tried using plastic wrap between the stamp and soap and it worked. Now I have an army of little Aleppo soaps tucked away for their long cure.

 The next soap to be made was more Plain Ole Goat. I had just enough goat's milk powder left for one batch.

 I've been using this soap for washing produce and other things that I don't want scented. I think it needs to go into permanent rotation.

 Then........when I was organizing the curing racks I found this. This is bad. This is called Dreaded Orange Spot. It means your soap needs to be tossed. It won't hurt you but it's not very nice to see. I found it on one of the Castile soap batches that is curing for a year. I have no idea why this newly made soap did this. It's usually a question of the shelf life of your oils.  To get a naturally white soap I used a very light, expensive food grade olive oil for this batch. I am not happy. Since I am going through hand soap like crazy I've been dipping into my ancient soap bins-some of the bars are at least 4 years old and no spots on any of them so this is heartbreaking.

I went ahead and tested those white Castile bars and found them not as nice as the first batch I made where I used my regular olive oil. I love that soap. I wondered why people described this type of soap as slimy. Now I see why. I couldn't get it to lather much at all. It made a very creamy lather that might be nice for your face but terrible in the tub.
Oh well, I guess you can't win 'em all.