Adventures With The Sage

We have covered this week how to make decoctions, how to use decoctions, and now I would like to cover Storing Decoctions. 

You may have noticed, like I did when making the mushroom decoction that I had to keep adding in additional water to accomodate the ever expanding mushrooms. So what happened is that I ended up with some extra liquid that I would like to use in the future.

When making decoctions please remember that you will want to use your decoctions within a day or two if kept refrigerated. You will want to use your decoctions at their freshest. Any leftover decoctions that you want to save for a later day can be placed into a zipper bag, or other container, and kept in the freezer.  Another idea would be to pour your decoctions into ice cube trays, freeze, remove frozen cubes and place into a bag. This would make it easier to measure the exact proportions for future uses. Be sure to label your bags with the date and contents of each bag.

Happy Decoction Making!

Storing Leftover Decoction

 I wanted to share with you some of the botanical powders that we used in a few past blogs and their curing results.

The first photo shows – Safflower Powder; Ground, Vanilla Bean; Spirulina Powder; Paprika Powder; Orange Peel Powder; and on the end a green tea infused soap (not shown in other photos). This photo was taken the same day that the soaps were made.

The following three photos show different angle of the cured soap. The first soap on the left is a plain batch of soap, nothing extra added (not in the first photo), - followed by Safflower Powder; Ground, Vanilla Bean; Spirulina Powder; Paprika Powder; and Orange Peel Powder. They all turned out great! Which one is your favorite?

The last photo is the mushroom decoction that we prepared with different infusions, you can also see them in the first photo laying flat in the counter. I hope you have enjoyed this series of tinctures, infusions, and decoctions; and I’m looking forward to incorporating many of these extractions into future recipes. Any ideas or suggestions let us know!

Wow, this has been a very easy and fun process of making decoctions and adding in the fabulous extracts into our cold process soap. I have deciced to do a ginger decoction now, so I have gathered my supplies and I’m ready to start, first I will clean and cut up some ginger root and place into a sauce pan, add water (I need at least 6 oz for the recipe), so adjust the water amount to your needs. Then I brought the mixture to a boil and turn heat down to let simmer for 20-30 minutes. This will be the water portion that I will be using in making my next batch of soap. I am listing the soap recipe below and using 6 ounces of the ginger decoction that I am creating.

Caution – Please make sure that you allow time for your hot decoctions to cool before you add them to any lye.  

Supplies Needed:

Recipe:

I’m still using the same soap recipe as I did when making the soap with infusions, powders, and decoctions. This will give you a base for any ideas and suggestions when trying the infusions, powders, or decoctions in your soap batches.

Begin by weighing the sodium hydroxide and adding it to the ginger water. Now, weigh all of the oils into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until liquid. Add the cooled lye solution to the cooled oil mixture. Our target temperature is about 120°F because this is a small batch (1 lb). We do not want the soap to overheat and volcano out of the mold. When the tempeture is reached mix the oils and lye solution together with an immersion blender, continue mixing until trace is achieved then pour into a mold and allow to sit for 24 hours. Cut the soap. Allow the soap to cure. Longer curing time will result in a harder bar. If you want to add more or less of the decoction do a second batch so you can compare the difference and your personal choice. Try a half and half mixture; or a one fourth to three fourths mixture or the full amount of water could be your decoction, just like I have done in this recipe.

I have noticed that when adding this decoction that I am getting a slight creamy color to the soap. When adding decoctions to my soap I am most interested in adding beneficial elements of the ginger into the soap and not worrying too much about a significant color change. If I want to make a color change then adding the botanical powders would be the best option.

Ginger Decoction, Lye

Mixing Lye with Ginger Water

Blending Soap, Ginger decoction with oils

Blending until trace

Soap with Orange and Ginger Decoction

After completing the mushroom decoction I have decided to venture on and create a carrot decoction and ginger decoction. I have gathered my supplies and I’m ready to start cooking, first I will clean and cut up some carrots and place into a sauce pan, add water (I need at least 6 oz for the recipe), so adjust the water amount to your needs. Then I brought the mixture to a boil and turn heat down to let simmer for 20-30 minutes. As you can see in the photo the water came out a pale orange color. This will be the water portion that I will be using in making my next batch of soap. I am listing the soap recipe below and using 6 ounces of the carrot decoction that I just created.

Caution – Please make sure that you allow time for your hot decoctions to cool before you add lye to them.  

Supplies Needed:

Recipe:

I’m going to use the same soap recipe as I did when making the soap with infusions, powders, and mushroom decoction. This will give you some ideas and suggestions when you try any of the infusions, powders, or decoctions in your soap batches.

Begin by weighing the sodium hydroxide and adding it to the carrot water. Now, weigh all of the oils into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until liquid. Add the cooled lye solution to the cooled oil mixture. Our target temperature is about 120°F because this is a small batch (1 lb). We do not want the soap to overheat and volcano out of the mold. When the temperature is reached then mix the oils and lye solution together with an immersion blender, continue mixing until trace is achieved then pour into a mold and allow to sit for 24 hours. Cut the soap. Allow the soap to cure. Longer curing time will result in a harder bar. If you want to add more or less of the decoction do a second batch so you can compare the difference and vote for your personal choice. Try a half and half mixture; or a one fourth to three fourths mixture or full amount of water could be your decoction.

I have noticed that when adding this decoction that I am getting a light pale orange color to the soap. When adding decoctions to my soap I am most interested in adding beneficial elements of the carrots into the soap and not worrying too much about a significant color change. Maybe if carrots are in my soaps it will help improve my vision? Probably not. In any event, the carrots may be added if they are mashed up after cooking. Use no more than 1 Tablespoon of carrot puree to a 1 lb fat batch when adding your cooked carrots.

Carrots Blending soap to trace Soap with Carrot Decoction

Carrot Decoction Soap w/Carrot Decoction Soap with Carrot Decoction

Mixing lye Pouring Soap into Mold

Melted Oils and Lye Mixture

Here we go using our first Wood Ear Mushroom Decoction in a batch of soap! Yea!

Yes, I did take a moment and had some lunch, cooking the mushrooms made me hungry.

I gathered a few soap making supplies and I have my completed Wood Ear Mushroom decoction. Now, I’ll show you how easy it is to add your decoctions into your soap making process.

Supplies Needed:

Recipe:

I’m going to use the same soap recipe as I did when making the soap with infusions and powders. This will give you some ideas and suggestions when you try any of the infusions, powders, or decoctions in your soap batches.

Begin by weighing the sodium hydroxide and adding it to half the needed water. Now, weigh all of the oils into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until liquid. Add the cooled lye solution to the cooled oil mixture. Our target temperature is about 120°F because this is a small batch (1 lb). We do not want the soap to overheat and volcano out of the mold. Mix the oils and lye solution together with an immersion blender, midway through the blending time add the rest of the water amount as mushroom decoction, continue mixing until trace is achieved then pour into a mold and allow to sit for 24 hours. Cut the soap. Allow the soap to cure. Longer curing time will result in a harder bar. If you want to add more decoction do a second batch so you can compare the difference and your personal choice.

I have noticed that when adding this decoction that I am getting a muted cream color to the soap. When adding decoctions to my soap I am most interested in adding beneficial elements of the mushroom into the soap and not worrying too much about a significant color change.

I hope you are making some great soaps with me and enjoying the fun. Got questions? Just ask!

In my first decoction I will be using a dried mushroom called Wood Ear; also known as mo-er, black fungus and cloud ear. This mushroom is used throughout Asia as an edible fungi and an herbal medicine, it is also known for its antioxidant properties. Wood ear mushrooms can be found in many Asian dishes and soups, but today we will boil the mushrooms and use the decoction liquid in cold process soap.

I have gathered my supplies and a package of dried Wood Ear mushrooms. I started out with the 1:9 ratio (10% dried herb, 90% liquid) that we have done with tinctures and infusions; but my mushrooms began absorbing so much of the water that I kept adding more water and ended up using 2.5% mushroom, 97.5% liquid. So when making your decoctions please remember to keep notes and adjust as needed.

I put the sauce pan and water on the stove top and began heating the water and the mushrooms, bringing it to a boil, and then letting it simmer for about 20 to 40 minutes. Once the simmering process has completed to the desired extraction level (the item becomes softer and squishy), I turned off the heat and let it sit to cool a bit before straining. These mushrooms smell great, I feel like adding a bunch of other vegetables and making a soup; maybe next time. Check out the photos of the mushrooms. Don’t they look great?

Such a simple and easy to follow process, I’ll show you tomorrow how to incorporate this wonderful decoction into a batch of cold process soap.

Over the past couple of months I have been showing you how to use dried herbs in making Tinctures and Infusions; today I am going to introduce you to Decoctions. I’m really excited to finally get to this part – so that in future blogs I can incorporate these fabulous extracts into making my recipes and formulations significantly better.  

Decoctions are the resulting liquid from the extracting process called boiling or simmering. This process is used to extract fluids, essences, and active ingredients from hard plant materials. The plant materials can be items such as bark, branches, hard and woody roots, such as carrots, ginseng, or fungi. The extracting process is completed by placing the item in boiling water until the desired extraction is complete.

Here are some basic supplies that are needed when making decoctions.

Supplies for Decoctions
• Water
• Scale
• Plant material desired
• Stirring spoon or similar tool
• Stock pot
• Strainer
• Method of heating the water: stove, tea kettle, etc.
• Freezer storage container, if needed

Gather your stuff to make some decoctions with me! If you can think of any items to create decoctions from (maybe berries or ginger) then share your ideas and let’s hear them!

I’ll be back tomorrow to show you how to make a Wood Ear mushroom decoction.

I am super excited to announce that we have now written over 1000 blogs! I’m still a little surprised that we have finally reached this number, but I can also believe it.

When this blog was started in January of 2009, I remember sitting in front of my computer wondering what I could say that people would want to read. I’ll admit now, that I was scared to write down what I did or thought because I didn’t know how it would be received. I’m glad to now know we have many people who read this blog and will write in to tell us they agree or disagree with what we have written.

I remember dancing around the office every time I got an email, comment or mention on the web. I still grin when I read the comments because you inspire me to learn more!

I was a beginner to soaps and lotions in many ways that this blog has helped me grow to be a better soap and lotion maker. I still have many ways I want to grow and things I want to learn about soaps and lotions. My list of things I want to learn is very long, but I hope to continue chipping away at my list.

Thank you for reading this blog for the last 4 years and I hope to continue inspiring you as we continue writing more blogs!