It smells like Lye Soap, but not meat greases. I save all of the following greases and oils: Bacon Grease Hamburger drippings from my grill pan Ground Beef grease Shortening and/or oils used for frying meats. Oils used for any kind of fast frying (donuts, french fries, etc). Meat greases rendered from roasts (beef, pork, etc) and so forth. I don't fry very often, but I still save the oils and grease. It adds up faster than you might think! NEVER dump grease and oils down drains. Not only does this stop up sewer lines and septic systems, but it is a major cost to the public in city sewage systems repairs and maintenance and sewage processing plants. It pollutes the land and water systems...kills fish and other wildlife, creates algae in water ways, and more. Awful stuff. The chemical action in the soap making process removes the smelly odors of meat greases. Make sure you strain it well to remove all the bits and pieces. I just use my kitchen sieve. The soap will not LOOK like commercial stuff. Those are mostly detergents. This soap is wonderful. Leaves your skin soft. Gentle on clothes. The two commercial soaps that I know that are REAL SOAP are Castile and Ivory (or Ivory used to be real soap anyway). For JUST hand soap, you can add a little glycerin (found at all RX drug store counters), and omit the Kerosene. OPT. - Kerosene is not necessary for the recipe to work, but it makes the laundry soap better. Boosts the cleaning power. As mentioned above, you can add coconut oil (and/or other fancy oils) to make it more sudsy and feel softer. But, the purpose of this topic is HOW TO USE old MEAT GREASE that you should not put in your compost. There are all kinds of soap recipes on the internet. I've tried a few. The thing I object to in these NEW recipes is the cost and waste. Those fancy oils are EXPENSIVE. Cheaper to buy commercial soap and be done with it. Hope this explains my purpose in posting this topic: ***Recycling old meat grease rather than throwing it into the garbage that will go into land fills*** We can greatly reduce the amount of trash and garbage that goes into land fills (millions of tons of garbage dumped on the land and in the ocean )just in America) just by practicing the three "R's" of waste management for good conservation - REDUCE -> REUSE -> RECYCLE -> Don't waste food! Use those leftovers and compost your kitchen garbage. Many household items that most Americans tend to just toss in the garbage daily can be REDUCED, REUSED, and RECYCLED, including clothing, buttons, zippers, snaps, hook and eyes, and other items just in our households alone. Good conservation practices not only saves the Earth by preventing pollution and conserves our natural resources, but it will save each of us MONEY, not only collectively as a society, but in each household! There is an old Mormon saying: "A woman can throw it out the window with a teaspoon faster than a man can pitch it in the front door with a shovel." - Brigham Young, 1860. This is so true. ~Annie

In preparing for winter, I got out my hot chocolate/hot cocoa mixes and ingredients. I found 1/2 box of Godiva Dark Chocolate Truffle Hot Cocoa, 1/2 box Ghiradelli Hot Chocolate mix, and The Fresh Market Hot Cocoa mix. I thought this would be a good time to taste test. To my surprise, the less expensive TFM was a little bit better. I combined all three into a large Mason jar. This winter I have been heating half & half, milk, a TJ's truffle, then adding the combined mixes to the hot milk. Add marshmallow fluff. Wow, now that's a low cal breakfast drink. I don't know who to credit with this recipe, but it's good. I have been making half batches: Hot Cocoa Mix Makes about 20 servings 3 cups nonfat dry milk 2 cups confectioners' sugar 1 1/2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa powder 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips 1/4 teaspoon salt Combine ingredients in large bowl. Working in two batches, pulse ingredients in food processor until chocolate is finely ground. Store in airtight container for up to 3 months. To make hot cocoa, stir 1/3 cup of this mix into 1 cup of hot milk. Top with whipped cream or mini marshmallows.

Yes, it is called rebatching, and I will avoid it if at all possible. It's time consuming and tedious. To let you know, I make cp soap by the 10 pound recipes. I presently have 2 buckets of soap scraps, I would guess about a 2 or 3 cubic foot container. Instead of rebatching it I will add it to a new recipe of soap. Unlike what you have, this is still virgin soap scraps, not previously used. I will make soap and give these away or use them ourselves. What I would do if I had these previous used scraps, I would just add it to a new bar as they are being used; they do stick fairly readily, and they rarely come off. If you are going to still rebatch, I would grate them, then lightly mist them (not dripping) the night before, then add them to a crockpot on low or medium heat. You will need to set aside about 4 hours or so, depending on how much soap you need to do. The trick is to add just enough water (by the tablespoon) to keep the soap pliable and not dry, while you are trying to mash it, until it is thoroughly melted. Be careful, this soap is very hot while in the crock! Any scent of the scraps will disappear in the final product, so if you want it scented, then let the soap cool down a bit and mix in scent just before pour/mashing it into any molds. hth

I think the glycerin sells great at shows. I have noticed though that people who like pure essentials oils, aromatherapy etc tend to prefer the cold processed soaps. Soooo, I am going to try doing only the soaps that contain ess. oils ( Lavender, Patchouli, Peppermint, Eucalyptus etc)in CP and see how they sell. I am also considering doing a baby soap in a Castile Soap but will have to wait and see how Lavender Vanilla does in CP. In the M&P I do alot of Goat's Milk and love it. I know what you mean about the color, I have seen some peoples soaps where you can see that could not have been the color they were looking for. I am just leaving mine natural and let the herbs etc color the soaps. Susan, I tried handmilled soap and I did not have luck with it and did not try again after that. Let me know how yours turn out. I tried the crock pot method, mine just turned into a big CROCK!!!! My butter sells great as well. I took your lead earlier in another thread about mold in my butter and stopped adding water etc. just whipping the butter then scenting and I am so happy now, don't have to worry about preservatives and I can package in tins which I love the look of and so do my customers. So thanks for that idea. I will keep you posted on how future CP soaps turn out. Michelle