Cornmeal
A medium scrub. Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making 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
Cornmeal as sold for cooking, whole-grain or degermed.
USDA FoodData Central primary source
How much
- 1–2 tsp per pound of oils filled in Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making primary source
- 1.33 tbsp per pound of oils (from a published recipe) Letcavage & Harden, Natural Soap Making primary source
- 1.51 tbsp per pound of oils (from a published recipe) Makela, Making Natural Milk Soap primary source
- 0.67–1.33 tbsp per pound of soap (the source gives it for a batch of stated size, worked out here per pound) Cavitch, The Natural Soap Book primary source
- 0.67 tbsp per pound of soap in hot process (from a published recipe) Grosso, The Everything Soapmaking Book, 3rd ed. primary source
The calculator fills in 1 tsp per pound of oils: 6.4 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.
When and how
- Usually: at light trace.
- Also used: after the cook.
- 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.
- After the cook: Stir it in as it is.
Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making primary source, Letcavage & Harden, Natural Soap Making primary source, Cavitch, The Natural Soap Book primary source, Grosso, The Everything Soapmaking Book, 3rd ed. primary source
What it does to the recipe
- It changes neither the lye nor the water: it is only weight in the bar.
Spoons and drops
- 1 tsp ≈ 2.91 g (2.54–3.27 g)
- 1 tbsp ≈ 8.72 g (7.63–9.82 g)
- 1 cup ≈ 140 g (122–157 g)
USDA FoodData Central primary source
INCI name
Zea Mays Kernel Meal
- CAS number
- 66071-96-3
- EC number
- 266-116-0
Recipes that use it
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".
Susan Miller Cavitch, The Natural Soap Book (Storey Publishing, 1995), chapter 6: clay, "add the clay to your soap just before pouring into molds, using ½ to 1 cup (118 to 237 ml) for a 12-pound (5.45 kg) batch of soap. Before adding the pure essential oils, blend the clay with 2 cups (473 ml) of soap mixture in a small container" (pp. 62–63); "Oatmeal, cornmeal, flax seed meal, juniper berry meal, alfalfa meal, flaked seaweed, and jojoba meal can all be added to soap for texture. Oatmeal, jojoba meal, and alfalfa meal exfoliate gently. Juniper berry, flaked seaweed, and flax seed meals are more coarse, with sharper edges; finely grind them before adding as exfoliants to soap"; "½ to 1 cup (118 to 237 ml) of meal is suggested for a 12-pound (5.45 kg) batch of soap", added "immediately after the soap has saponified" (pp. 66–67). ½–1 cup for 12 pounds is 0.67–1.33 tablespoons per pound of soap.
Alicia Grosso, The Everything Soapmaking Book, 3rd edition (Adams Media, 2013). Chapter 8, hot process: recipes on a "2-pound batch recipe of your choice" that each "YIELDS 3 POUNDS", the addition stirred "into the neutral soap" after the cook: "3 tablespoons baking soda" and "2 tablespoons lemon zest" (Lemon/Baking Soda Kitchen Soap), "2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal", "1 tablespoon dried lavender flowers", "1 tablespoon mint, dried and ground", "1 tablespoon dried yarrow"; "You can add liquid glycerin to hot-process soap to get it to flow more easily from the mold. Use 1 tablespoon for each pound of oils in the batch." Chapter 9, transparent soap: 19.5 oz of oils with "10 ounces (plus 2 ounces more if needed for clarity) 90 percent ethanol (190 proof vodka)" (190 proof is 95 %) and "5 ounces sugar"; "Alcohol fumes are highly flammable." Chapter 11, Lavender Oat Float: "1 tablespoon dried lavender flowers" for "1 pound casting soap".
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".
USDA FoodData Central, cornmeal: "Cornmeal, whole-grain, yellow" (FDC 169697), 1 cup = 122 g; "Cornmeal, degermed, enriched, yellow" (FDC 168867), 1 cup = 157 g: 0.52–0.66 g/mL.