Sweet As Honey

"All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground." 1 Samuel 14:25

To say that honey is ancient is an honest observation. It is mentioned repeatedly in the Bible most well known in the phrase "the land of milk and honey". What vivid imagery that produces, flowing with milk and honey. It seems very idyllic but what is honey and what can it do today?

I often wonder about things we take for granted like nuts and berries but especially honey. What unknowing person decided to tackle the hive in search of food? Did they survive the experiment and why would anyone that witnessed the event, attempt it themselves? Never the less, we have honey today and surely it is still as valuable even if we have taken it for granted and forgotten it's historic utility. Honey is touted as the cure all around the world. It is said to be useful for everything from arthritis to bad breath.

What makes this natural sugar so special? It is mostly fructose and glucose and 17% water. The water is important in that it makes it thin enough to still be a liquid but not so watery as to allow contamination. Honey is shelf stable almost indefinitely. The reaction of glucose, water, and oxygen also produces a small amount of hydrogen peroxide making it useful as an antiseptic. Honey also contains amino acids and nearly all of the trace elements needed by the human body. Bees work tirelessly collecting nectar and pollen from millions of flowers to provide us with this delectable gift. Surely even non-Christians can see God's hands in the design of the diminuitive bee.

What does honey add to our beauty and cleaning rituals? Honey as a natural antiseptic is great for healing up blemishes. Just put a dab on your pimple before you go to bed. It will be amazingly better by morning. Honey also works wonders when applied to the face. Beauty Secrets of the Bible states that honey is a "natural humectant and exfoliant, and gives the skin better absorption of product." I would suspect the natural antiseptic is also beneficial in fighting breakouts. I have tried this and it really did reduce the fine lines starting to show up around my eyes. Now I am only 35 so if you are 70 and this doesn't make a noticeable difference, don't yell at me!

I decided that I needed to make my own lotion and scoured the internet for a good recipe. I found this one Basic Lotion and played with the ingredients a bit. My first attempt included too much beeswax and made a very thick lotion. I thought it was a throw away batch but my husband has been using it on his hands to fight eczema during the dry winter months. Surprisingly, this mistake works better than the expensive lotions he had been buying. I don't know the exact measurements though so I have been trying to recreate my mistake. So my second attempt included some precise measurements and it made a nice lotion for my face but not the thick hand lotion. I added 1/2 tbsp of honey and used brewed green tea in place of the water and increased the beeswax to 1 1/2 tbsp. At first I did not think it made very much but a little of this goes a long way. Even my normally dry brittle nails have been growing.

Perhaps my lye will come today and I will have some new experiments to try tomorrow. Until then, you are stuck with my interest in historical tidbits and the chemistry of it all.

Goats, Olives, & Napoleon's Buttons

Certainly my title is intriguing. After all what in the world do these things have in common and how could they possibly relate to soap? First a Bible lesson since it is Sunday.

What does the Bible say about beauty and cleanliness? God's laws were very specific on cleanliness. I believe God was taking care of his people and ensuring their survival by insisting on certain laws regarding disease and it's exposure to the tribe. They were instructed to go outside the camp and wait. Upon being deemed clean by the priest they were to wash their body and clothing before returning to the tribe. There have been soap making instructions found in ancient Babylonian times so it is not far fetched to assume the Jews had soap too.

Beauty is a gift from God. Not outward beauty, but the beauty of our spirit. He made us and we are beautifully and wonderfully made. Have you ever noticed that when you get to know someone they either become more attractive or less attractive. It is their personality, their heart, and their spirit that makes them truly beautiful. A friend brought a book to my attention that is a delightful book that I think all women should read. It is Beauty Secrets of the Bible by Ginger Garrett. She talks about beauty and gives some great beauty tips that are cheap and effective. It also contains a months worth of great devotionals. My favorite tip is the oatmeal and goat milk face scrub. Mix equal parts oatmeal and powdered goat milk in a blender and blend until fine. Mix it with a little water and scrub your face. I was a little skeptical at first but it did improve my skin. It also did wonders for my pre-teen daughter's oily complexion. The second skin care product that Ginger recommends is olive oil. It has been used for thousands of years in all sorts of beauty products. It was in the 8th century that Spain began making its Castile Soap. By the 13th century the soaps of Spain and France were famous for this luxury item (Napoleon's Buttons). Olive oil by itself is a wonderful moisturizer that does not inhibit the skins natural exfoliation or clog pores. Use it around your eyes especially to smooth away fine lines and wrinkles.

So goats refers to goat milk, olives to olive oil and Napoleon's Buttons, other than a previous reference, seems rather obscure. There is a great book called Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson. I read this book some time ago and it made me think about the molecules (foods) we put into our bodies. A slight change can mean the difference between something healthy and something deadly. Add another OCH3 to a common ingredient found in nutmeg, cloves, dill, and carrots and you get the drug Ecstasy. I believe this book spurred me on to find healthy foods, naturally grown, and without pesticides. Interestingly enough, this book also talks about soap. It details the taxation on salt which lead to a decreased use of soap because of the increased cost. Apparently Britain did not drop the salt tax until the industrial revolution. Without reasonably priced salt, mass production of necessities was impossible (p 306). Additionally there is an entire chapter on oleic acid found in abundance in olive oil. I will not ruin the book though and will leave the reading up to you.

No Lye, I've Been Reading

I am in research mode at the moment. The lack of lye has slowed my soapmaking process considerably so I am left with my books and a cup of tea. It's raining and raining here, so no better time to read and re-read the soap books. They are actually very interesting and I have read 90% of them. Of course if you have no interest in making soap, you might find the chemistry behind soap dreadfully boring. Just like if you have no interest in sewing, reading my beloved Ottobre Magazines would be equally boring.

So here are a few interesting facts I've learned about soap. The big scary word in soapmaking is saponification. The definition is: a process by which triglycerides (oils or fats) are reacted with sodium hydroxide (lye) to produce glycerol (AKA glycerin) and a fatty acid "soap". Soap works by trapping dirt and allowing water to wash it away. It is both hydrophilic and hydrophobic meaning it will dissolve in both water and oil which allows it to clean. It dates back to at least 600 BC and was likely discovered by accident. Lye was originally produced by running water through wood ashes. Sacrificing animals in a fire would have combined just the right ingredients to make naturally occurring soap when it rained. Because of the inconsistent nature of lye, the soaps made in the recent past were notoriously unpredictable. I'm sure we have all heard the jokes about Grandma's lye soap that would take your skin off. Today the lye is predictable and the measurements precise enough to make wonderful soaps, not that I have been able to try it yet.

So why do we use sodium laureth sulfate in most of our cleaning products? Blame it on the war! Fats were in short supply back in World War I in Germany so an alternative had to be found for soap. Enter some synthetic cleaners that were cheaper and did the job. Add a few whiteners and water softeners (more chemicals) and you had a cheaper cleaning product that preserved precious fats. The US jumped on board and converted airplane fuel factories into detergent production and the use of detergents became widely acceptable by the 1940's. They are also made from petroleum byproducts. Again, I am not a scientist but there is a raging debate over whether they are carcinogenic or not. The problem is that some of these detergents clean too well. They remove the oil that protects our skin and leaves us dry and scaly.

Another tidbit, just as the peanut oil is removed from mainstream peanut butters, replaced with cheaper oils, and sold for more money elsewhere, glycerin is removed from mass produced soaps decreasing the moisturizing properties inherent in natural soap. Did you know that glycerin is hygroscopic meaning that it attracts water?

Now that I've taught you all a bit of history, some big words, and a little chemistry to boot, don't you want to take the soapmaking plunge with me?

Lyes, Lyes, Lyes

Here is my attempt at an honest look at soapmaking. I have never done it before so I am a beginner for sure. My husband said he knew it was coming and was surprised my foray into soapmaking had waited this long. I am a self proclaimed nut about food. I found a ranch south of us that makes grass finished beef because I wanted natural beef. Hodge Ranch It is wonderful and if you are in the Atlanta area, definitely check it out. I buy organic when possible and grow organic during the spring, summer, and fall.

About 2 years ago I threw out all the cleaning products in our house and replaced them with baking soda, vinegar, and castille soap. I found this great book, Clean House Clean Planet, and started making my own cleaning products that work just as well as all those chemicals. It has definitely made cleaning a more pleasant experience. My husband also notices that there are no lingering chemical smells about the house. My only chemical laden cleaning product is Tide. I have to use the HE detergent. I've tried other earth friendly detergents and they all make me itch. I will keep looking.

With 2 young girls around the house, I began to look at all the ingredients in our everyday beauty products. I have been so focused on our dietary intake that I have neglected to look at our bath and beauty products. They all contain parabens among other things. Now I have not done any research for I am not a scientist but there is a debate, whether real or imagined, about whether parabens cause breast cancer. There is also debate about their estrogen mimicking properties. On the flip side, blueberries actually contain naturally occurring parabens, methylparabens. Looking at my hereditary struggle with hormones, I am not taking any chances on my girls.

Now that you know my reasoning for this quest into soapmaking, I will detail my days journey into gathering supplies. I ordered several well reviewed books from Amazon about soapmaking. I checked out one from the library which frighteningly said to add water to lye! I started at Wal-Mart thinking it would be one stop shopping. I found a red stockpot, some rubber gloves, goggles, a few oils, thermometers, and gladware molds. Then I went looking for lye which all the books said is readily available at the grocery store. Wal-Mart does not carry lye. They carry all sorts of drain cleaners but nothing clearly identified as pure lye. Off to Kroger where I was quickly disappointed again. Surely Home Depot would carry lye but alas all I got was a lecture from a clerk about the dangers of lye. I would not be outdone so I returned home and googled. Apparently Red Devil Lye was pulled off the shelves years ago. I looked up some soapmaking websites and quickly discovered why it was so hard to find...methamphetamines! It's true, if you are into meth, you're ingesting lye. YIKES! It's classified as a hazardous material and costs extra to ship. I ordered some anyway. When I told my husband he said well lets hope the FBI doesn't come after us because he uses sudafed on a regular basis for his deviated septum and chronic sinus infections. This may be my first and last post!