Sugar
More lather.
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
Sugar is granulated sucrose, the everyday kitchen sugar. A 1922 soapmaking manual uses it to make transparent soap.
USDA FoodData Central primary source, Thomssen, Soap-Making Manual primary source
How much
- 1 tsp per pound of oils filled in Wholesale Supplies Plus supplier or guide
- up to 4 % of the oils Wholesale Supplies Plus supplier or guide
- 0.5 tsp per pound of soap Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
- 1 tbsp per pound of oils in a controlled test Modern Soapmaking supplier or guide
- 10–20 % of the batch for transparent soap Thomssen, Soap-Making Manual primary source
- 29.8 % of the oils for transparent soap (from a published recipe) Simmons & Appleton primary source
- 25.6 % of the oils for transparent soap (from a published recipe) Grosso, The Everything Soapmaking Book, 3rd ed. primary source
The calculator fills in 1 tsp per pound of oils: 9.2 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.
When and how
- Usually: in the water, before the lye.
- Also used: into the lye solution, at light trace, after the cook.
- Weigh it dry and dissolve it in the recipe’s own water: no extra water.
Wholesale Supplies Plus supplier or guide
What it does to the recipe
- 99.8 % is sugar, which heats the batch.
USDA FoodData Central primary source
Worth knowing
- Caution: It heats the batch: work cool and do not insulate it, or it can crack or overflow the mould. Soap Queen supplier or guide
- Too hot, it caramelises and darkens the soap. Simmons & Appleton primary source
- Too much makes a sticky bar that sweats in damp air. Cavitch, The Soapmaker’s Companion primary source
Spoons and drops
- 1 tsp ≈ 4.2 g
- 1 tbsp ≈ 12.6 g
- 1 cup ≈ 200 g
USDA FoodData Central primary source
INCI name
Sucrose
- CAS number
- 57-50-1
- EC number
- 200-334-9
Recipes that use it
Guides that discuss it
Sources
Wholesale Supplies Plus, "Alcohols, Sugars and Cold Process Soap", an unsigned article from its own lab ("In our lab, we master-batch our lye"): "Many people advocate a teaspoon of sugar per pound of oil"; "We have experimented with sugar portions up to 4% of the oil weight"; sugar before or after the sodium hydroxide.
Anne-Marie Faiola, Pure Soapmaking (Storey Publishing, 2016): "1 teaspoon of sodium lactate for every 16 ounces (1 pound) of oils or 0.5 percent" (the two disagree: a teaspoon of the 60 % solution a pound is about 1.45 % of the oils, so neither is taken from this book); salt at "½ teaspoon per pound of oil", added to the water before the lye; "Salt decreases lather significantly"; salt bars are 80–100 % coconut oil at a high superfat. Chapter 5: coffee grounds, "For extra scrubbing power, use a coarse grind, while for gentle exfoliation, a super-fine espresso grind is best. Use the grounds to make coffee before adding them, or they might bleed brown halos into the final soap"; "Adding colloidal oatmeal can accelerate trace in your soap recipe; premixing with water can help avoid this"; honey, "start soaping with lye-water and oils both under 100°F (38°C). Add the honey at trace ... Once the soap is finished, place it in the refrigerator or freezer immediately to prevent overheating". Chapter 7: "A half teaspoon of sugar per pound of soap added to your lye-water can help your bar lather up."
Modern Soapmaking, lather additive testing: sodium lactate 0.25 oz per pound of oils; sugar and bentonite 1 tablespoon per pound of oils; sodium citrate 3 %; yogurt for 58 % of the water. Of the bentonite bar: "Many soapmakers add various clays to their soaps to increase slip and glide, to make shaving soaps. It also adds a nice creamy touch with an increase on lather."
E. G. Thomssen, Soap-Making Manual (1922): hard water makes "insoluble soaps of lime and magnesia"; transparent soap with "10-20 per cent. sugar of the weight of the soap" (p. 83).
W. H. Simmons and H. A. Appleton, The Handbook of Soap Manufacture (Scott, Greenwood & Son, London, 1908), pp. 57–58, transparent soaps: for 112 lb of fats, "Twenty-three lb. of pure glycerine" and "the alcohol, which would be 45 lb. in this example"; with castor oil, 168 lb of oils and "the glycerine (25 lb.)" or "47 lb. of alcohol"; "the 'sugar solution' is prepared by dissolving 50 lb. cane sugar in 50 lb. water"; "If the sample be firm but opaque, more sugar solution is required". The alcohol’s strength is not given.
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".
Soap Queen, insulating soap: sugars and milks run hot, and insulating them "can cause the soap to volcano, crack".
W. H. Simmons and H. A. Appleton, The Handbook of Soap Manufacture (1908): bicarbonate "converts the caustic alkali into carbonate", and excess carbonate effloresces; the water must be "free from calcium and magnesium salts"; sugar "may caramelize if the temperature gets too high".
Susan Miller Cavitch, The Soapmaker’s Companion (Storey, 1997): honey only at trace, at lower soaping temperatures; buttermilk added to the lye solution; too much sugar syrup gives "a sticky, soft soap that sweats".