Emu Baby Soap...Take Two!

My next attempt was planned carefully. The night before, I started my rice water by boiling 1 liter of water, adding 2 (level) Tblsps of jasmine rice and one cup of dried lavender blossoms. The lavender blossoms caught my fancy and I thought, why not. I boiled the mixture for 1 minute only. I then covered the pot and let it steep for 45 minutes. I strained it carefully and cooled it overnight in the fridge and all was well! The next evening after work I got the party started. The other problem I had encountered the first go around was the cornstarch. My solution to this was mixing the cornstarch with the emu oil....it worked perfectly! Everything else fell into place and the soap turned out fabulous!!! This time my happy soap dance was well deserved! My Emu Baby Soap is now curing and should be perfect for my grandson's first bath.

My Quest for the Perfect Baby Soap Recipe

I started making soap a little over a year ago. I can't explain how much I enjoy the process, not to mention the outcome! My new grandson is due to arrive in March so of course I have been searching the web over for the perfect baby soap recipe. As usual, I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I created my own. It's called Emu Baby Soap. My first try at making this soap was a complete disaster! To start off, I wanted rice water for my lye solution. The directions for this, that I had read, called for 1 liter of water and 2 Tblsp of white rice. I of course had to have jasmine rice, plain old white rice wouldn't do for my precious new grandson. That was fine, but when I decided that if 2 Tblsp was great then 4-5 Tblsp would be fantastic, things started going downhill. I boiled the water, added the rice and simmered for 45 minutes. When the buzzer went off, I was left with water and mushed rice. I strained it, but unfortunately the rice was so cooked down that it stayed with the water. I thought, wonderful, it will be all the richer! So I cooled it, then went about melting my fats. As soon as the solution was cold, I added my lye.......don't ever do this....it turned to smelly, hot gel. Lye rice gel, yum. I stood there wondering what to do??? I ended up dumping this disaster and starting the lye solution over with plain water. Everything went smoothly until the soap came to light trace and I added the emu oil and cornstarch...the cornstarch was lumpy (of course) and I panicked. Luckily, the soap didn't seize and I was able to incorporate the cornstarch completely and pour it into the mold without incident. I then celebrated briefly, doing the happy soap dance, which never fails to amaze my husband (he definitely doesn't understand, but he is very supportive). Anyway, I started cleaning up my equipment when to my horror, I discovered that one of my candy thermometers was broken!!! I had no way of knowing if any glass ended up in the soap...so I had to do the unthinkable... throw away my first batch of Emu Baby Soap. How very sad this day turned out. Not to worry, my second attempt was right around the corner!

Huckleberry Custard Pie

2 cups huckleberries
4 eggs
3 heaping tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 unbaked pie crust (top and bottom)

Combine sugar, flour and eggs. Mix by hand until light and creamy. Gently fold in huckleberries. Pour into bottom pie crust, add top crust, crimp securely and cut vent slits (in whatever design you desire). Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 to 50 minutes. Cool completely before serving. Homemade whipping cream is lovely with this pie. Enjoy!

Huckleberry Madness III

Now the picking is done and you can sit back and revel over your lovely jug of berries. I am always struck by the fragrance. It seems to waft up and swirl around your head like a warm sweet cloud. There is nothing else on earth like the smell of freshly harvested huckleberries.....When I get home I get out my gallon size Ziploc bags, look the berries over for sticks and leaves. Never wash your huckleberries, just pour them into your freezer bag, gently squeeze out the air and seal it up! Now, the madness....what exactly is it? Well, my confession is, that I horde my huckleberries. Sad, but true. I could never have enough huckleberries in my freezer, worse yet....I'm stingy! Each time I use any of my berries, I worry about how many I have left. What if I run out??? Lately, I have been really trying to over come this nasty tendency. Christmas before last I made copies of my favorite huckleberry pie recipe, bagged up enough berries for each of my friends at work and gave them this as a holiday gift. It was excruciating at first, then I felt a real sense of giving. Everyone loved the idea and was able to share a rare treat with family and friends during their own Christmas dinner. I didn't do that this last year, even though I have twice as many huckleberries in the freezer....One step at a time I guess.

Huckleberry Madness II

So after all this work, now its time to really get down to the nitty gritty. Picking huckleberries is rewarding but very tedious. For the first hundred or so berries you hear the loud plunk! as they hit the bottom of your jug. It's better not to look until you don't hear the plunk anymore...As you pick, your fingers turn a lovely shade of purple red, a sure sign of serious huckleberry picking. It's a fundamental mistake to look to far ahead, the bushes always look fuller on the other side of the hill. If you fall into this trap, you'll end up with less berries than your dear husband and he won't let you forget it. It's best to be patient and pick as you go, this way when you do find the 'mother lode' you haven't wasted the last half hour! You can also, in good conscience, gloat loudly about your find without being ashamed about the amount you already have in your jug. This goes along splendidly until about 3:00 pm...this time of day in the mountains is the witching hour. Giant deer flies, (I refer to them as elk flies) come out of no where and start buzzing and biting indiscriminately! Its not like being bitten by a mosquito, while that's bad enough. No, its like someone taking a pair of tweezers and pinching a hunk of flesh from your body! They are nasty critters and no kind of bug spray seems to discourage them. At 3:00 pm, berry picking is over. Now it's time to climb wearily into the truck and argue about who has the fuller jug. I normally do, unless I fell into the 'bigger berries over the hill' trap....Anyway, we head on home for a cold drink and relaxing afternoon. This is when the true madness begins..........

Huckleberry Madness

I love huckleberries......not eating them, although they are delicious. My obsession is hunting them. Stalking the wily, elusive huckleberry is one of my most favorite pastimes. Late in August or early September my precious, and very patient husband and I, head on up the mountain to at least 4500 ft. elevation to start the search. We always check out last year's prime spots first. Sometimes that works out great. Other times it's only the beginning of many frustrating hours of slim pickings...We have learned never to give up and think 'it's just a bad huckleberry year' the way we used to. No, we trudge on...until finally...pay dirt! A steep hillside (huckleberry bushes seem to shy away from flat ground) covered with waist high bushes dripping with burgundy colored berries. No, maybe more like Shiraz colored berries. Either way I am in heaven! My husband, not so much, but at least the search is over, for now. I strap on my huckleberry bucket, a secret family design passed down to me from my father. The bucket consists of a 1 gallon milk jug, top cut out, the handle threaded through your belt. Genius! Next the crazy quest for the perfect bush begins.