From Soup to Soap.

Ok.  If you are vegetarian, vegan, fat free, don't like soup, allergic to citrus, disgusted by cold fat, think bones are only used by a medicine man........look away now.

Ready?

I made the most A-MAZ-ING soup a few weeks ago.  It was just boring old beef soup but the recipe had a couple of ingredients like thyme and orange rind that I thought might be nice.  What I did decide to do though was make my own stock using bone broth.  Bone broth?

Oh for goodness sakes...I told you to look away.

A while back I got the butcher to cut up some marrow bones into smaller pieces with his 'bone cutting saw' (ha ha I'm loving this) so that I could get them into my stock pot.  Get the picture so far?

The bones are simmered all day along with a few other ingredients like bay leaves, onions and general stock 'stuff'. After cooling in the fridge overnight the beef fat is taken from the top, set aside and then you can carry on your merry little way and continue to make the soup......voila!

It's the 'setting aside' bit that I'm interested in.  After collecting the beef fat, it needs to be washed by boiling for a little while with filtered water and then refrigerated for another night.  The clean beef fat is lifted from the top again, after which it is then called beef tallow and is ready for use.

Whew...about time.

I used this beef tallow topped up with some oils and butters to make my last batch of soap.  It looks a little bit mottled on the top but is becoming smoother and creamier looking as it's curing.  So beautiful and creamy to use too.

From soup to soap!


Pretty cool huh?