My Laundry Soap Recipe

It all started with the N.O. Saints going to the Super Bowl. I had never watched a Super Bowl. Never, and I'm almost 40.  It's just not my thing. But growing up a stone's throw from New Orleans, I had to see this one.

So it's the morning of the Super Bowl. We're heading to a friend's house, and we hadn't bought any snacks. I envisioned the grocery stores out of guacamole, beer and frozen wings, so I thought we'd try one on the edge of town that looked little used.

There I am, standing at the end of an aisle waiting for my husband to hunt down some snack or another, and there was a display of soap next to me.

I picked up a bar to read the ingredients (I get fidgety when I'm bored).  To my surprise, it was real soap, as opposed to detergent (petro chemicals disguised as something that should clean, but really isn't all that good). Zote soap: made in Mexico, and I remember the scent from something my Hispanic mother used when I was a child.

"What's "real soap"?" you ask. Fats and oils saponified by adding sodium hydroxide to it and then left to cure. It's how soap has been made for eons.  This soap, other than a light fragrance, pink color, and a whitener (which I suspect is borax), is as natural as the soap I make, and only 79 cents a bar. I bought 2 bars, not much of an investment, and thought I'd make laundry soap with it.

I've made my own laundry soap for a few years now. Something I started post-Katrina when money was tight, but now I do it because I prefer my soap to anything store bought. I normally use batches of my homemade soap that have gone awry - like the green tea & hibiscus fiasco. But when I run out, I don't like using my good soap. Maybe this would make a good back up.

It worked wonderfully! I've tried making laundry soap in many different ways over the years - adding things like borax, baking soda, and washing soda (also known as sodium carbonate or soda ash), but it doesn't make any difference from using solely soap. Okay, it does make a difference, but not in a good way. It's really difficult getting the powder additions to dissolve, and they often leave a residue on the clothes. Maybe it's my water or maybe not.

Anyway on to the recipe and instructions . . .

Simple Homemade Laundry Soap Recipe
Yields 1 gallon
Ingredients:
Bar soap:

• I use any real soap. If it's my own homemade soap, I use 4 to 8 ounces, depending on how strong I want it. OR:
• 1 bar Zote soap: sold anywhere where there's a large Hispanic community - it's found at Albertsons or Calandros locally. Often on the bottom of the shelf and hard to find. Look for the pink and white label.

Water - sink water is fine.
Directions:
Grate the soap using a cheese grater (don't worry, it washes well - it is soap, after all). Any type of grating is fine, from slices to fine. The finer you grate, the less time it takes to dissolve. The larger you grate, the less time it takes to grate.

Place the soap in a large pot, and fill with water to about 2 inches from the top. Fill slowly, otherwise a-lot of lather and foam will be produced.

Put the pot on high heat, and bring to a simmer. Then turn the heat down to medium. Stir until all the soap is dissolved.  It will go from being lumpy, like the picture above, to clear, like the picture below.

Pour the whole thing into a gallon bucket. Add cold water to finish filling the bucket up. It will take one or more hours to gel. Every 30 minutes or so, give it a couple of stirs to make sure the mixture stays homogeneous.

As it starts to cool and gel, it gets thicker and "slimier," but that's normal. When it gels, it will look like the picture at the top. Once it gels, it's ready to use. I place between 1/4 and 1/2 cup (depending upon the load) of the gel in a coffee cup, add water to the cup and microwave it on the beverage setting. This will liquefy the gel. Add it to the running water in your washing machine and wash like normal.

For 79 cents, I now get a gallon of real laundry soap!