I don’t think I’ve ever tried a natural soap colorant
before, but I happened to wander into a specialty food store the other day and
noticed some packages of annatto seeds. I remembered reading that people used
them in soap for their natural color, so I did a little research and found out
that you can infuse your oil with annatto seeds to make anywhere from pale
yellow to deep orange colors. I thought the deep orange color would lend itself
well to carrot soap, so I decided to make a Honey Carrot Buttermilk soap with some
annatto-infused oil.
To infuse the oil, I used 4 teaspoons of annatto seeds in 16
ounces of olive oil. I put the oil and seeds in my crockpot, on low, for 2
hours and then shut off the crockpot and let the infusion sit overnight.
I love the rich amber color that developed from infusing the
seeds in the oil:
I used buttermilk and pureed carrots for the liquid portion
of the soap and added honey at trace. This is just after I poured it into the molds:
The soap gelled, so the orange color darkened even more. It’s
a nice burnt orange color right now….I hope the color holds up, but you never
know with CP soap!
Honey Carrot Buttermilk soap cut:
It sure looks like a carrot :) I need to check if there is Annatto seeds is Finland.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're able to find some...they work incredibly well! I found these in the Asian food section :)
ReplyDeleteI never used Annato seeds to colour my natural soaps,but I heard only good things about it.
ReplyDeletePlus, I love the color that came out to you soap!
As I am a fan of NATURAL COLOURS,100%,I put these seeds on my tests list.
Thanks for the information and experiment.
Much Love,
Claudia.
You're welcome Claudia, I hope you get a chance to try them. I'm a big fan of your naturally colored soaps, they're beautiful :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Cee Gee! The annatto seeds give the oil such a nice, rich orange hue. I haven't tried infusing oils, but I hear that it is a wonderful way to add color and luxury to your soaps. The carrot soap looks so gorgeous and the scent sounds yummy!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jenny! I was surprised at how deep the color was from the relatively small amount of seeds, they are very potent!
ReplyDeletegorgeous color! :)
ReplyDeleteSuch nice season soap!
ReplyDeleteI just love the pic of your soap in the mold,the tops are also so lovely!I have also tried this natural colorant, what precious ingredient!
ReplyDeleteHave a nice we!
Thank you Kalla, Moj sapun and Natalia =)
ReplyDeleteHey woman,
ReplyDeleteDo you ever end up with an ugly soap? Or a failure?
Beautiful colour, rich ingredients, so yummy...
Failures?! Why yes, I do..lol! But I’m saving those pictures for another day ;)
DeleteI bet those are just close to perfect!
DeleteI love the Carrot Cupcake-smell. First it smells sweet and last spicy, like black pepper. And the lather is so creamy.
ReplyDelete