Cloves, ground
Light brown. Makela, Making Natural Milk Soap primary source
Opens the calculator’s starter recipe, 1000 g of oils, with this additive at the dose it fills in, ready to change.
What it is
Ground cloves are the kitchen spice from Syzygium aromaticum; roughly 89 % of clove oil is eugenol, a well-recognised fragrance allergen.
USDA FoodData Central primary source, Cortés-Rojas et al. (2014) primary source, SCCS/1459/11 primary source
How much
- 0.25–1 tsp per pound of soap filled in (the source gives it for a batch of stated size, worked out here per pound) Cavitch, The Natural Soap Book primary source
The calculator fills in 0.25 tsp per pound of soap: 1.6 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.
When and how
- Usually: at light trace.
- Mix it first with a little of the recipe’s oil, about a teaspoon of powder to a tablespoon of oil, so it spreads without specks.
Makela, Making Natural Milk Soap primary source, Cavitch, The Natural Soap Book 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
- Caution: Cloves are about 9–15 % eugenol, a well-recognised fragrance allergen: in the EU, eugenol above 0.01 % of a rinse-off product must be named in its ingredients. Cortés-Rojas et al. (2014) primary source, SCCS/1459/11 primary source, Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Annex III primary source, USDA FoodData Central primary source
- In the EU soap is a cosmetic, and may be coloured only with the colourants in Annex IV of the Cosmetics Regulation. In the US the colour additives allowed in cosmetics do not include this one; a true soap sold as soap alone is not a cosmetic there. Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009; 21 CFR 73 primary source
Spoons and drops
- 1 tsp ≈ 2.1 g
- 1 tbsp ≈ 6.5 g
- 1 cup ≈ 104 g
USDA FoodData Central primary source
INCI name
Eugenia Caryophyllus Flower Powder
- CAS number
- 84961-50-2
- EC number
- 284-638-7
Guides that discuss it
Sources
Casey Makela, Making Natural Milk Soap (Storey, 1999; from Milk-Based Soaps, 1997): "Herbs will not keep their original color; most fade in reaction to the lye"; "½ cup (118 ml)" of cornmeal, "½ cup" of raw almonds blended "to a medium-coarse powder", ¾ cup of dried lavender flowers or rose petals, and "½ cup (118 ml) rolled oats" blended "to a medium-coarse powder", per batch of about 85 oz (2410 g) of oils, added "to the liquid when it’s blended for the first time"; "1 ounce (28.4 g) borax" in every recipe, added to the oils with the sugar and glycerin as the lye-milk goes in; soap "light brown if you use cinnamon and cloves".
Susan Miller Cavitch, The Natural Soap Book (Storey Publishing, 1995), chapter 5, pp. 53–54: "Powdered cinnamon is a favorite, but try cloves, nutmeg, and allspice as well. The soaps they produce are speckled and range anywhere from a caramel color to a dark chocolate. Curry powder and turmeric yield shades of yellow and peach"; "Cayenne pepper and paprika create beautiful, salmon-colored soaps"; "first beat it into a small amount of the soap mixture or into a tablespoon of avocado or olive oil"; "Experiment with the desired degree of color, from 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of spice up to ¼ cup (59 ml). If you increase the amount up to ½ cup (118 ml) for a 12-pound (5.45 kg) batch of soap, you run the risk of spicy lathers and a heavy-duty cleanup job." Her batches are 12 pounds, so 1 tablespoon to ¼ cup is 0.25–1 teaspoon per pound of soap.
D. F. Cortés-Rojas, C. R. Fernandes de Souza and W. P. Oliveira, "Clove (Syzygium aromaticum): a precious spice", Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine 4 (2014) 90–96: eugenol "is found in concentrations ranging from 9 381.70 to 14 650.00 mg per 100 g of fresh plant material"; "Roughly, 89% of the clove essential oil is eugenol".
Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, Opinion on fragrance allergens in cosmetic products, SCCS/1459/11 (2012): List A, "Fragrance chemicals, which according to existing knowledge, are most frequently reported and well-recognised consumer allergens", includes cinnamal, coumarin, eugenol and isoeugenol.
Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Annex III, entries 71 (eugenol) and 76 (cinnamal), as amended by Regulation (EU) 2023/1545: the substance must be named in the list of ingredients "when its concentration exceeds ... 0,01 % in rinse-off products". Both have been named allergens since Directive 2003/15/EC.
USDA FoodData Central, food 171321: Spices, cloves, ground (1 tsp = 2.1 g; 1 tbsp = 6.5 g).
EU: Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Article 14(1)(c), a product may contain as colourants only those in Annex IV. US: 21 CFR Part 73 Subpart C lists the colour additives for cosmetics, and turmeric, paprika and spirulina are listed for food only; under 21 CFR 701.20 a true soap, sold only as soap, is not a cosmetic.