Berry seeds (raspberry, strawberry, cranberry)
A medium to strong scrub. Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making primary source
Opens the calculator’s starter recipe with this additive in it. Nobody has published what a spoonful weighs, so weigh it and enter the grams.
What it is
Seeds of raspberries, strawberries or cranberries, whole or ground, sold as a scrub.
Bramble Berry supplier or guide, Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making primary source
How much
- 1 tsp per pound of soap filled in Bramble Berry supplier or guide
- 1–2 tsp per pound of oils Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making primary source
The calculator suggests 1 tsp per pound of soap, but nobody has published what a spoonful weighs: weigh it and enter the grams.
When and how
- Usually: at thick trace.
- Also used: at light trace.
- Stir it in as it is.
Letcavage & Harden, Natural Soap Making primary source
What it does to the recipe
- It changes neither the lye nor the water: it is only weight in the bar.
Worth knowing
- In a thin batter it sinks: stir it in once the batter has thickened. Letcavage & Harden, Natural Soap Making primary source
- Coarsely ground it scratches: grind it finer for a gentler bar. Lovely Greens supplier or guide
Spoons and drops
- No source weighs a spoonful of it: weigh it.
INCI name
CosIng has no single INCI name for it: label it by what it contains.
Guides that discuss it
Sources
David Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making (Creative Publishing International, 2018), p. 19: exfoliants, "Start with 1 to 2 teaspoons per 1 pound (454 g) of oils or soap base"; calendula petals "retain their yellow color nicely"; coffee grounds, "scrubbiness is determined by the coffee’s grind"; "Citrus peel (dried and ground): offers a medium scrub; add at trace"; cornmeal, "medium scrub; premix with oil and add at trace"; eucalyptus leaves, "a medium scrub, especially if not very finely ground"; lavender buds "will turn brown in cold process soap and look like mouse droppings; gently grind them first to avoid this"; loofah, "light to medium scrub"; mint is "prone to bleeding; steep as a tea first"; oatmeal, "like coffee, the scrubbiness is determined by how ground it is"; poppy seeds, "light to medium scrub"; pumice, "heavy-duty scrub; great for mechanic’s or gardener’s hand soaps"; rose hips, "medium to high scrub; also adds natural color"; rose petals "turn black in cold process soap"; sandalwood powder "gives a medium to high scrub, and makes a lovely purple color"; "ground stone fruit pits (apricots, peaches) and berry seeds (ground or whole) give a medium to high scrub factor"; walnut shells, "a nice medium scrub and a lovely medium brown color".
Elizabeth Letcavage and Melissa Harden, Natural Soap Making (Stackpole Books, 2013): calendula "is the only flower that will keep its yellow color through the saponification process. Other flowers ... will turn brown or black"; "Lavender flowers will have a nicer appearance in soap if they are slightly ground"; light additives "(such as seeds, grains, or lavender flower buds)" are added at "heavy trace" to stay suspended; "Leaves of herbs such as mint, nettle leaf, and lemon balm are dried before use"; "Ground Nettle Leaf 2–3 teaspoons", "Ground Oats ¼ cup" and "Ground Cornmeal ¼ cup" in recipes of 48 oz of oils, added at light trace; the Basic Three-Oil Soap, 48 oz of oils, takes "½ cup ground oats or other additive".
Bramble Berry, cranberry seeds: "Start with 1 teaspoon of cranberry seeds per pound of soap, scrub, etc."
Lovely Greens, herbs and dried flowers in soap: "I tend to use 1-3 tsp of plant material per pound (454 g) of soap. One teaspoon for dense material, like poppy seeds, and three teaspoons for fluffier herbs, like calendula petals"; "Calendula flower petals don’t discolor in soap recipes"; "rose petals will turn rusty brown wherever they touch soap, and almost every herb turns dark brown when mixed in"; lavender, "Inside the soap, the buds turn brown"; "most fruit and vegetable juices or purees will turn your soap brown or fade to an unexciting tan or yellow"; "Botanicals can soften, mold, and rot if kept in moist or humid places"; "Too many dried seeds or herbs stirred in can feel scratchy or stop the soap from lathering properly".