Making Soap

At York Meadow Farm we make small batch, handcrafted soaps using all natural ingredients. Soaps are colored with herbs, spices, and clays and scented with pure essential oils.

Our soaps are formulated using ingredients known to be gentle on the skin. Some of the oils used in making our soaps are infused with calendula, an herb known for its skin soothing properties.

We use two standard methods to make our soaps – cold process and hot process. To make basic soap, three ingredients are needed - oil (animal or vegetable), water, and lye. While other ingredients can be added to provide color, scent, or other benefits to the soap, they are not necessary.

A lye solution, generally lye and water, is needed to create a chemical reaction with the oils (saponification). As lye is added to water, the solution becomes very hot. Lye is highly caustic so caution is needed to prevent spills, splashes, and burns. A soap maker must wear eye protection, long sleeves, and gloves. The lye solution should be mixed in a well ventilated area since fumes are produced. Using a lye calculator is critical to ensure the recipe contains the proper amount of lye for the specific oils used.

Cold Process Soap

In this method, no external heat is applied during the making of the soap. When the oils and lye solution are around 100 ℉, the lye solution is added to the oils and blended until the soap batter emulsifies. This starts the saponification process. Mixing continues until a small amount of batter dribbled back onto the top of the soap batter leaves a brief “trace.” This is the point where other ingredients and scents can be added to the batter and incorporated. The soap batter is then poured into individual molds or into one larger mold and left to sit for several days to complete the saponification process. Soap can then be cut and allowed to “cure” for an average of six weeks to let excess water evaporate. A longer “cure” means more water will evaporate, which makes a harder, longer lasting soap.

Hot Process Soap

Just as in cold process, a lye solution is added to the oils and mixed to “trace.” An external source of heat, like a crock pot, is used to keep the temperature elevated. This reduces the time needed to complete the saponification process. The soap batter can then be poured into a mold in the same way as cold process then cooled and cut. Unlike cold process, hot process soap only needs to cool for several hours before it can be cut. Generally hot process soap only needs to “cure” for about 4 weeks.