Whole milk (3.25 % fat)
Replaces some or all of the water.
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
Whole cow’s milk, as sold to drink: the full-fat kind, and mostly water.
USDA FoodData Central primary source
How much
- 100 % of the water filled in Retnowati et al. (2013) primary source
- 25–100 % of the water Nature’s Garden supplier or guide
The calculator fills in 100 % of the water: 320 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.
When and how
- Usually: as the lye liquid.
- Also used: into the lye solution, into the oils, at light trace.
- Freeze it, and add the lye slowly.
Makela, Milk-Based Soaps primary source, Soap Queen supplier or guide
What it does to the recipe
- 88.13 % is water, taken off the recipe’s water.
- 3.25 % is fat, which stays in the bar as extra superfat.
- 5.05 % is sugar, which heats the batch.
USDA FoodData Central primary source
Worth knowing
- Caution: Hot lye scorches it: it darkens and can smell burnt or of ammonia. Keep it cold, and keep the soap cool so it does not gel. Soap Queen supplier or guide, Makela, Milk-Based Soaps primary source
- Danger Its sugars, heated above 84 °C with lye, can give off toxic carbon monoxide. Keep it cool and work where air moves. NOAA CAMEO Chemicals primary source
- Milk itself uses up 4 to 6 % of the lye in a typical soap, so there is no need to cut the lye further for it. Dunn, “Protein in Handcrafted Soap” primary source
Spoons and drops
- 1 tsp ≈ 5 g
- 1 tbsp ≈ 15 g
- 1 cup ≈ 244 g
USDA FoodData Central primary source
INCI name
Milk
- CAS number
- 8049-98-7
Recipes that use it
Guides that discuss it
Sources
USDA FoodData Central, food 171265: Milk, whole, 3.25% milkfat.
Casey Makela, Milk-Based Soaps (Storey, 1997): the lye into 3 pounds of cold milk, slowly, in a cold bath; cream "for either part or all of the milk", such a soap "considered superfatted because of the higher fat content"; "skim and powdered milk are poor choices".
Soap Queen, adding lye to milk: the lye into frozen milk, slowly; scorched milk turns "from a creamy white to a golden yellow" with an "ammonia-like smell for up to 10 days"; gel phase scorches it.
Retnowati et al., cold-process soap from cow’s milk, Jurnal Rekayasa Proses (2013): the milk was the only liquid, with the sodium hydroxide at 42 % by weight in it.
Nature’s Garden, soap with milk: the dairy as all of the water, or 50 %, or 25 %; cream at 25 % of the water, frozen, into the oils; dairy kept under 90 °F; high-fat dairy invites rancidity.
NOAA CAMEO Chemicals, sodium hydroxide solution: "reducing sugars other than sucrose, when heated (above 84°C.), evolve toxic levels of carbon monoxide in the presence of alkalis".
Kevin M. Dunn, "Protein in Handcrafted Soap" (Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild, 2014): milk "consumes 4% to 6% of the lye in a typical soap"; "If you use goat’s milk instead of water, you don’t need to discount your lye further."