Caramel Soap Base 1kg

01 · OVER 3 % HONEY AND IT SOFTENS

The proportion is not a whim, it is chemistry

Honey is hygroscopic: it draws water. In a glycerine base — already damp by nature — going over 3 % honey by weight of the base leaves soft bars that take a fingerprint and never quite dry. Thirty grams to the kilo is the practical ceiling.

And it goes in with the base off the heat. Poured onto hot base, honey keeps on caramelising: it darkens too far and the aroma you were after leaves with the steam. The same goes for essential oils.

02 · 60-70 °C, NOT A DEGREE MORE

In a bain-marie and without hurrying

The base melts between 60 and 70 °C, and that range is a ceiling, not a suggestion. Overheated it loses water, turns rubbery on cooling and leaves the surface full of bubbles. A bain-marie keeps itself in check; in a microwave you go in short bursts, stirring between them.

Propolis tincture comes in alcohol, so it goes in last and sparingly: it lends colour and aroma, but too much delays setting and leaves the bar tacky.

03 · GLYCERINE SOAP SWEATS

Which is why you wrap it as soon as it hardens

It is the number one complaint of anyone starting out with melt and pour, and it is not a fault in the base: glycerine picks up moisture from the air and within hours the bar shows beads on its surface. It is not spoiled, but it sells worse.

The answer is to wrap each bar in film the moment it is unmoulded, not the following day, and to store them somewhere dry. On a market stall: wrapped, not out in the open.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

A ready-to-use base with honey as the lead.