100% Coconut Oil Soap with Annatto

As I knew the builders would be coming back again at the end of July to start working on the laundry and toilet, I thought I had better make a quick batch of soap before emptying out all the 'stuff' in the laundry and moving it to another room for a few weeks. The quickest soap I make is 100% coconut oil soap and as I had made a batch a few weeks ago I wanted to add a bit of colour to this batch so I wouldn't get the batches mixed up which happened last time.

So I added a few drops of Annatto Red to the batch and threw in a few dried calendula petals I found in a bottle which I had forgotten about and came up with a yellowish soap. I buy my colourants from Green Living Australia and they also sell the Annatto Red for cheesemaking. 

I also picked some lemon balm and infused it in boiling water for a little while before straining and chilling it prior to making soap.

 Into the mould and thickening up by the minute

As I mentioned in a previous post about 100% coconut oil soap you put 20% superfat into the soap calculator when working out how much lye and water to use.

Made on 25/6/19

This soap hardens after just a few hours and  is thick enough for the mould to be moved at the side without it sticking after three hours. I think I left it for six hours before unmoulding and cutting.

6 hours later

This soap is for our son so I don't worry about using floral soap moulds or trying to cut it evenly like I normally do if I am giving it away as he doesn't care about the appearance. 

This is what it looks like alongside the soap from my last batch which is about six weeks old and quite hard. These are the ingredients I used as it helps me to look back and see what works and what doesn't:

100% Coconut Oil Soap with Annatto

(Use 20% superfat)

1000g Coconut Oil

380g   Lemon Balm tea which I infused beforehand and then chilled until ready to use

147g   Lye

Annatto Red colouring

Have you made 100% coconut oil soap as yet as I know some readers intended to? Nil from The Little House by the Lake has made a batch and I wonder if anyone else has. 

When the laundry is finished my first batch made in there will be Aloe and Cucumber Soap which is one of my favourites. 

As the place will be crowded with tradies this coming week I will hide somewhere and continue with knitting beanies on a loom. So far I have made three and they are so easy to knit. It helps to ignore the mess that is happening at the back of the house where the men are working. Thank goodness the drizzle should be gone by tomorrow and they won't be working in muddy boots as they are in and out of the house all day. We were hoping they would be too busy to come back before it warmed up once again around September but unfortunately they were free to do the work in the middle of winter. I have to get up early to get the car out before they bring in their big work trucks and being in retirement mode these days it's not easy. LOL! I don't know how I used to get up early to start work at 6am when I was nursing back in the day :-)