slipty slide..I replied to you on the first thread.

:>)

Either yellow or spotted (orange) jewelweed will work. A couple of methods: first, just whizz the (well-washed) fresh plant, roots and all in the food processor & add the mook to the soap at trace. This will get all of the active components in the jewelweed in the soap but your soap will 1) look very "natural" & 2) probably rot in a few months. Second method: Make a tea out of the whole plant (a good handful per quart of water) & use this as your water portion to mix with the lye. If you must, add potassium hydroxide as a preservative. Don't water reduce with this method-- you want the max jewelweed tea you can get into the soap. Third, dry the plant & grind it really well into a powder-- if you don't grind it, it will scratch like h**l, which is not fun when you're already hurting. Then add 1TB/# or so to the soap at trace. I you are gearing up for summer, this is a better method, as your soap will be cured right around the first PI outbreak.

I said in an early thread to add potassium hydroxide as a preservative when using fresh jewelweed tea in soap. I mean POTASSIUM SORBATE. Sorry. Have soap on the brain.

I have never preserved any herbs added to soap. For the very simple reason that once I stick the fresh herbs in my soap and hit it with the stick blender to form an herb/soap emulsion the alkalinity of the soap will keep the herbs from "rotting"in the soap. The soap dries out and viola! I have never had an issue with this and I have been making soap for over 15 years and had a shop. I have hundreds, if not thousands of big batches under my belt. The place you need to worry about preservatives is in cosmetics such as lotions, etc.