Homemade soaps the easy way

If you have allergies or simply love certain scents, homemade soap can save you time and money. Making them is easy too. Here's how:

• Any animal fat and most vegetable oils can be used in soapmaking.
• A combination of rendered beef fat (tallow) plus pig fat (lard) is a commonly recommended mixture.
• Poultry fat alone is too soft but may be used in combination with other fats. Vegetable fats usually need to be combined with other fats as well.
• Coconut oil produces high-quality kitchen and toilet soaps, while palm oil soap is gentle and pleasant-smelling.
• Soya bean, corn and peanut oils all yield low-foaming, medium-quality soap.
• The whitest, best-smelling soaps are made from pure rendered fats and oils.
• Reclaimed kitchen grease and drippings from the frying pan, if properly treated, make good soaps.

Rendering is the process of melting and purifying solid fats.

1. Start with twice the weight of fat you need in the soap recipe.
2. Cut the fat into small pieces and heat over a low flame. Don't let the fat burn or smoke.
3. Although most of the fat will liquefy, solid particles called cracklings will remain.
4. After rendering, strain the liquid into a clean container and refrigerate until it's needed.

Kitchen grease and drippings from cooking can be reclaimed for soapmaking by clarifying them.

1. Start by placing the fat, an equal amount of water and just under 30 grams (two tablespoons) of salt in a pan and bring to a boil.
2. Remove from the heat, cool slightly and add cold water — about one litre per four litres of hot liquid.
3. The mixture will separate into three layers: pure fat at the top, fat with granular impurities next and water at the bottom.
4. Spoon off the pure fat and save it for soapmaking.
5. If the unclarified drippings are rancid, they can be rescued in the clarifying process. Use a mixture of one part vinegar to five parts water instead of plain water.

• To deodorize fat, cook sliced-up potatoes in the clarified fat. Use one potato for each 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of fat.
• To bleach fat, mix 500 grams of fat with a solution of a few crystals of potassium permanganate and 600 millilitres (2.5 cups) of soft water. Warm and stir.

With homemade soaps, you can save money and use some of your cooking leftovers for new purposes. With some dedication and experimentation, you can make soap that suits your tastes, and your nose.

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