How We Make Our Soap

It all starts with lard.

Our lard comes from our American Guinea Hogs. Our pigs have 10 wooded & pastured acres to roam and forage in. Along with their daily feed, our spoiled pigs also receive delicious kitchen scraps on a regular basis. They are joined on the farm by chickens, goats and a goose named Lucy Goosey. 

After our pigs are butchered, it's time to render the fat. Rendering involves slowly melting small pieces of fat over heat until it reaches liquid form, then filtering out the impurities. When we render lard, we do our best to get every bit of fat on the hog, so that there is no waste. Once the lard has cooled, it is ready to be turned into soap. 

After measuring out our lye and water according to our recipe, It it carefully mixed and set to cool. (The chemical reaction between the water and lye causes the mixture to heat up.) While the Lye mixture cools, the lard and other oils are heated up and melted. When both mixtures are approximately 100 degrees, they are ready to be combined. Using an immersion blender we mix our soap. This is the beginning of the saponification process or the chemical reaction that turns the mixture into soap. 

Next, we put in the essential oils and clay to color our soap. After a quick mix, we promptly pour the raw soap into a mold. We have to be quick about this or the soap will start to set. Once the soap has had at least 24 hours to set, it is taken out of the mold and sliced into bars. Our bars cure for 4-6 weeks before they are ready to be sold. 

*After the soap has cured, it contains no lye.