The Kudzu Experiment: Out of the Mold

My soap was finally hard enough to take out of the mold 5 days after pouring!! That's a seriously long time, when most of my soaps are ready to take out of the mold after 2 days, but I shouldnt be surprised, since I had over 60% olive oil in these tiny batches.

The first one that I unmolded was the soap make with the kudzu-infused olive oil. The color greened in the mold, and the final result was a creamy green.
The second one that I unmolded was the soap make with the powdered kudzu. It actually took on this really deep, gorgeous green color, similar to a forest green! I'm going to watch this soap anxiously, since most plant add-ins tend to go brown over time (Lavender buds are notorious for this!).

I've been slowly adding videos to m blossoming YouTube channel, and last night, I added a video of me popping out these kudzu experiments... I forgot to mention in the video that I put the molds in the freezer for about an hour before I tried popping out the soap!

Enjoy! Check back in about 4 weeks for another video... My kudzu experiments will be cured, and I'll be trying them out for the first time!

The Kudzu Experiment: (Finally!) Making Soap

It's finally time to make my kudzu soap!

If you need a recap, here are my first and second blog posts on the Kudzu Experiment.

For both batches of soap, I made tiny 3 ounce batches of soap batter. Both batches contained the same oils: olive oil, coconut oil, and castor oil, which makes a mild and bubbly bar of soap.I did not use a fragrance oil or essential oil in either batches.

First, lets take a look at my kudzu-infused oil soap...
For this batch, I substituted my kudzu-infused olive oil for regular olive oil. The oil had a rich, forest green color, but once the lye/water mixture was introduced, it morphed into a creamy green shade. The batter did not a or d (accelerate or decelerate, which is the speed that the batter traces), which is fantastic!

Coconut oil, Castor oil, and Kudzu oil

Mixing everything together!

 Next, lets take a look at my soap with kudzu powder...
With this batch, I waited until the soap batter had reached a medium trace before adding the powder. This ensured that the kudzu did not all sink to the bottom once the soap was in the mold, but stayed suspended throughout the bar of soap. Before adding the powder, the soap batter was egg shell white (a nice off-white, traditionally what I get with this recipe), but once the powder was added, the color changed dramatically to a rich green with dark-green specks. This kind us surprised me a bit, because not all plant additives to soap will change the color throughout, but rather just make the soap speckled.
The powdered kudzu has always had a green tea-like scent to it, and I sniffed this soap in the mold last night, and it retained the smell! I'm very anxious to see if the scent lasts through the cure... Usually, with other plant matter, they dont!

After adding the powder!

Coconut oil, Castor oil, Olive oil

I had a little left over from each batch, so I mixed them together and made two more bars, which will be interesting!

Batch #1 in top, Batch #2 bottom middle, Mixes of the two on the bottom sides

 These soaps will be in the mold over the weekend. Usually, soap can be unmolded in about 2 days, but when I made up this recipe, over half of the oils are olive oil, so the soap will still be soft. I cannot wait to see what these babies are going to look like after their cure!!

I will be posting a YouTube video of the unmolding (yay!), and I plan on making a second video trying out the soap in about 4 weeks, so keep an eye out for those!

The Kudzu Experiment: Prepwork

Dried Kudzu

Here's the second installment of my kudzu experiment!

My kudzu leaves have been drying for a few (quite a few!) weeks, and they were ready to grind once they became brittle to the touch. A few people I know will grind herbs and other things using a blender or magic bullet, but I prefer to do it with a mortar and pestle.

Grinding the old fashion way!

The leaves were quite easy to grind. I would only work on one leaf at a time, or I had trouble with spilling. Also, when grinding the leaves, be very careful to remove all of the stems, because they will not grind up in the mortar and pestle.

Oh! And the kudzu smelled lovely as it was being ground up... similar to the smell of unbrewed green tea.

Once I had the leaves ground up into a powder, I decided that the best way to experiment with the kudzu would be to use it in soap in two ways: for one batch, I will add the powder straight to the soap batter and for the second batch, I will use kudzu-infused olive oil.

Ground Kudzu

To infuse oil with kudzu (or any herb you wish), you will need:

-A glass jar with a tight fitting lid (mason jars work fantastic!)

-A carrier oil (I prefer to use olive oil)

-A n unsealed tea bag

-About 3-4 tsp of your herb

-A pot (You'll need this to do a stovetop infusion)

You'll start by pouring your herbs into the tea bag and placing the bag in your jar. Pour your carrier oil over top of the bag, and seal up the jar.

After that, you can infuse your oil one of two ways. The traditional method is done using natural sunlight. You will need to place your jar in a window that gets lots of warm sunlight. The infusion will take about 6 weeks to completely finish.

Infusing: Stove Top Method

The second way is to do a stovetop infusion. You will place your jar in a pot with water, and place it on a low heat for a period of between 6 and 8 hours. The infusion will be sped up by the heat. Make sure to check the pot periodically and add water as it evaporates. Make sure to never leave your stove unattended, or leave the house with your stove on! Safety first! Your jar will be hot to the touch when it is finished, so take care when handling. Make sure to let your oil cool before using it.

Kudzu-Infused Olive Oil

I will be making my two kudzu soaps soon, so stay tuned to see how they turn out!

The Kudzu Soap Experiment: Background

Kudzu... Anyone who has ever driven around in the south can tell you that kudzu is everywhere down here! It can be seen on roadsides and in fields, covering everything in its path with a mess of vines and leaves and flowers. It suffocates other plants as it crawls over them, and can grow very quickly.

Now, most people that I have spoken with consider kudzu to be a nuisance plant, something that needs to be cut back every now and then... However, when I was a kid visiting my grandparents in northern Mississippi, I learned that people made jelly out of kudzu! As a kid, I thought Wow, how amazing! And as I grew older and grew craftier, I began to rack my brain about how to use this seemingly-useless plant.

And, a few weeks ago, it hit me... SOAP! Kudzu is supposed to have wonderful medicinal properties, and is used frequently in Asia to help with ails, so why cant I use it in soap?

I started off by picking a few vines of kudzu a few weeks before our first frost hit, and I dried them in the darkest part of my closet. Now that they are dry and good and crunchy, I will be grinding them down into a powder to be added in my basic soap base...

Look for pictures coming soon!

Happy Crafting!