I picked up a couple of lovely soapwort plants from Fat Cat Farm a few years ago. The chickens ate some of the plants but I managed to keep one alive in the front. This year I ended up with my soapwort growing into the path so I decided to make liquid soap for the house. Looking around in the front I also noticed that I have more mint than I can use all winter for tea so I decided to pick some of the mint to scent my soap.
Looking around I found a couple of guidelines for using fresh soapwort leaves and stems as opposed to using the root in the winter time. In short the ratio was 2 cups of soapwort to 4 cups of water. Bring this to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes. I simmered the soapwort and the mint together so that it could get some of the mint oils as well. I then let the soap cool completely. After this I strained the soap into my old soap bottle and added a couple of sprigs of mint for extra scent and the batch was ready to use. I used the soapwort pieces to scrub dishes until it was all gone.
The result was a lovely peppermint scented soap that I will definitely make again. Next on my list of things to try - liquid soap made from soapnuts.
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