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Elderflower & Lavender Soap Recipe
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June 14, 2020 · 12 Comments

Elderflower & Lavender Soap Recipe

Beauty· Foraging· Soap

Natural cold-process soap recipe and instructions featuring elderflower infusion, rich cocoa butter, and a lavender and herb essential oil blend

by Jan Berry, author of Simple & Natural Soap Making

This natural soap recipe features elderflowers, an old-fashioned home remedy for softer skin, along with lavender essential oil for a relaxing scent. Before you make this recipe, you’ll first need to make elderflower tea. To do so, place about ½ cup fresh elderflowers (or 2 tbsp dried) in a heat-proof cup or container. Cover with 9.5 oz (269 g) simmering hot water. Let steep for around 30 minutes, strain, and cool completely. Weigh out 9 oz (255 g) for the recipe, adding extra distilled water if needed to ensure the correct weight.

Elderflower & Lavender Soap Recipe: Natural cold-process soap recipe and instructions featuring elderflower infusion, rich cocoa butter, and a lavender and herb essential oil blend #soaprecipe #soapmaking #elderflowers

Elderflower & Lavender Soap Recipe

Makes 7 to 8 bars (2.5 lbs/1.13 kg)

Lye Solution
3.95 oz (112 g) Sodium hydroxide (also called lye or caustic soda)
9 oz (255 g) cooled Elderflower tea, in a heat-proof jug

Solid Oils
8 oz (227 g) Coconut oil
3.5 oz (99 g) Refined cocoa butter

Liquid Oils
10.5 oz (298 g) Olive oil
4.5 oz (128 g) Sunflower oil
1.5 oz (43 g) Castor oil

Add at Trace
22 g Lavender essential oil
10 g Bergamot essential oil (optional)
4 g Rosemary essential oil (optional)

Equipment
silicone loaf mold
digital thermometer
digital kitchen scale
stick (immersion) blender

Lovely Greens Guide to Natural Soapmaking

Notes & Substitution Ideas

Learn how to wildcraft and identify plants confidently in the Botany & Wildcrafting Course!
  • Cocoa butter helps add hardness to palm-free soap recipes like this one; if you don’t have any, try using kokum butter, tallow, or lard for a similar effect. Shea butter could also work well.
  • If you wish to replace the sunflower oil, try using sweet almond or rice bran oil instead.
  • If you don’t have bergamot and rosemary essential oil to create the suggested scent blend, try using 35 grams of lavender essential oil instead.
Elderflower & Lavender Soap Recipe: Natural cold-process soap recipe and instructions featuring elderflower infusion, rich cocoa butter, and a lavender and herb essential oil blend #soaprecipe #soapmaking #elderflowers

Use fresh or dried elderflowers to make this soap

Step 1: Make the Lye Solution

Wearing protective gloves and eye-wear, carefully stir the lye (sodium hydroxide) into the cool elderflower tea until dissolved. Work in an area with good ventilation and be careful not to breathe in the fumes. Set the lye solution aside to cool for about 30 or 40 minutes or until the temperature drops to around 100 to 110°F (38 to 43°C).

Step 2: Prepare the Oils

Gently heat the coconut oil and cocoa butter on low heat until melted. When the solid oils are melted, take the pan off the heat and pour in the liquid oils. This helps cool down the melted oils while warming up the room temperature oils.

Step 3: Mixing

Pour the cooled lye solution into the warmed oils. Using a combination of hand stirring and an immersion blender (stick blender), stir the soap batter until it thickens and reaches trace.

Elderflower & Lavender Soap Recipe: Natural cold-process soap recipe and instructions featuring elderflower infusion, rich cocoa butter, and a lavender and herb essential oil blend #soaprecipe #soapmaking #elderflowers

Blend until the batter thickens into trace

Step 4: Add the Essential Oil

When the soap batter has thickened to the consistency of warm custard, stir in the essential oil(s) for scent.

Step 5: Pour in Mold

Pour the soap batter into your soap mold. Cover lightly with wax or freezer paper, then a towel or light blanket. Peek at the soap every so often; if it starts developing a crack, uncover and move to a cooler location.

Elderflower & Lavender Soap Recipe: Natural cold-process soap recipe and instructions featuring elderflower infusion, rich cocoa butter, and a lavender and herb essential oil blend #soaprecipe #soapmaking #elderflowers

Pour the soap into a silicone loaf mold immediately after it traces

Step 6: Cut & Cure

Keep the soap in the mold for 1 to 2 days, or until it’s easy to remove, then slice it into bars when it’s firm enough not to stick to your cutting tool. Cure on coated cooling racks or sheets of wax paper for about 4 weeks before using. The soap is safe to touch 48 hours after making it but it needs the extra time to allow the excess moisture to evaporate out. For full instructions on how to cure handmade soap head over here

Elderflower & Lavender Soap Recipe: Natural cold-process soap recipe and instructions featuring elderflower infusion, rich cocoa butter, and a lavender and herb essential oil blend #soaprecipe #soapmaking #elderflowers

More Inspiration

Jan Berry is the author of 101 Easy Homemade Products for Your Skin, Health & Home, and this recipe features in her second book Simple & Natural Soap Making. You can also find her at her blog, the Nerdy Farm Wife.

If you enjoyed this idea, check out my other elderflower ideas and there are plenty more soap making recipes on Lovely Greens too.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jo Pedersen says

    February 17, 2021 at 8:24 pm

    I make goat milk soap, but I want to use the elderflowers, is that possible? Can I make a tea out of the goat milk?
    Thanks,
    Jo

    Reply
    • lovelygreens says

      February 18, 2021 at 9:55 am

      Just to be clear about the elderflowers in this recipe — they will not scent the soap. You could infuse them into your goat milk beforehand if you wish to use them though.

      Reply
  2. Dina says

    November 12, 2020 at 3:49 pm

    Hello. I followed the recipe, but even after three days in the mold my soap was quite soft. I managed to cut it, but it had this brie cheese texture, which felt wrong. It was getting stuck to the knife all the time. What could it be due? Thank you.

    Reply
    • lovelygreens says

      November 13, 2020 at 1:41 pm

      Hi Dina, I expect that you didn’t bring the soap to a full trace before pouring it into the mold. Mix it a little longer next time so that the oils and lye get enough time to interact before pouring. Good luck 🙂

      Reply
  3. Darshan Patel says

    August 14, 2020 at 5:24 pm

    Hey any replacement of elderflower tea? Because I didn’t get it in my areas..
    kindly reply me if any replacement is available..

    Reply
    • lovelygreens says

      August 20, 2020 at 9:41 am

      If you wanted to, you can skip the elderflower tea and use an equal amount of distilled water instead.

      Reply
  4. Brandi Pilling says

    July 3, 2020 at 8:18 am

    Is the amount listed for essential oils correct? It seams to be a lot.

    Reply
    • lovelygreens says

      July 10, 2020 at 4:45 pm

      It is correct. You need quite a lot of essential oil to make scented soap — generally, 3% of the recipe but some soapmakers use a little more.

      Reply
  5. Rachelle Winter says

    June 16, 2020 at 11:07 pm

    Hi Tanya

    I just wanted to say I am really enjoying your website and all the inspiring information and beautiful pictures! I am looking forward to trying the elderflower soap but will have to wait a while as we are opposite your seasons here in New Zealand!
    Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  6. Irene blackwell says

    June 14, 2020 at 6:01 pm

    How do I make the elderflower tea please ?

    Reply
    • lovelygreens says

      July 10, 2020 at 5:18 pm

      Hi Irene, the instructions are in the first paragraph 🙂

      Reply
  7. debra says

    December 6, 2017 at 6:56 am

    can the water be replaced with frozen goats milk in ALL your recipes? wish you had a “print” button for your website recipes.

    Reply

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Tanya Anderson Lovely Greens Welcome to Lovely Greens. I'm Tanya and I share ideas on growing organic herbs, vegetables, and fruit and then creatively using them in the home, beauty, and kitchen. Learn more about Lovely Greens

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A Woman’s Garden, a new book from Tanya Anderson of Lovely Greens, covers eight categories of useful plants, over thirty-five plant-based projects and recipes, and features women gardeners from around the world
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