Coloring Soap with Alkanet
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
When using alkanet, I put about two ounces of alkanet in an glass pint canning jar (16oz jar) and then fill the jar the rest of the way with whatever liquid at room temperature oil I’m going to use in my recipe. Carefully skake the jar and let it set for a week or until the oil is colored by the alkanet. During the waiting period you can shake it ever now and then. The longer you wait, the better the color. Your mileage may vary.
When I get ready to make the soap I use about 8 ounces of this oil in a 3 pound recipe. You will either want to pour the oil off the top of an undisturbed (unshaken or settled jar) or use a coffee filter or cheap paper towel to strain the oil bits of alkanet from the oil before you add the colored oil to your other oils in the recipe. I usually use the cheap paper towel method. LOL The paper towel has two layers which I separate and just use one layer because it seems the oil drips thru that a little faster than it does two layers or the coffee filter. Sometimes I run the alkanet colored oil through a layer of paper towels twice to be sure all the tiny bits of alkanet are removed.
The more colored oil you use in your recipe the darker the soap will be. You may have heard that you can get blue from alkanet, the blue color has to do with pH. Alkanet is sort of a pH indicator (but not really.) I’ve hot processed or cooked an alkanet colored soap and during the cook at one point the soap is a beautiful blue color, but it doesn’t stay blue. When the pH of the soap drops to a certain level then the alkanet colored soap turns a purplish color. Blue is a very elusive color when you’re trying to color soap with herbs. Most likely blue soap obtained by using alkanet is either not totally cured; perhaps even has a bit too much lye in it; or maybe you are just extremely lucky. However, I would be willing to bet it is something other than luck.
After using the alkanet colored oil from the jar more oil can be added and the alkanet will color the oil again. I’m not sure exactly how many times you can do this, but you can certainly use the alkanet more than once. The soap may be a little lighter the next time, but you may not even notice it. However, you may want to add a little extra alkanet powder to the jar. If your oil is going to sit and infuse for some time between batches I wouldn’t worry about a color difference.
The same method can be used for annatto seeds. You can use them over and over again.
You can find alkanet root powder and many other herbs at www.EllensEssentials.com
