Most survival gurus would welcome the chance to get lost somewhere. We could live off the land, and abandon the so-called “civilized” world, in favor of a more natural existence. But, in reality, there’s one luxury I’d really miss, and that would be soap. Cleanliness in underrated in my humble opinion. When I get back from long outdoor adventures, the first creature comfort I treat myself to is a long shower with a bar of my favorite natural soap. That got me thinking. What if I could make soap in the wild? Then I could truly leave civilization behind, and not worry about using up that last sliver of soap I’d brought along, and needing to cut my adventure short in order to get clean. I could just make more!!

What would I need in order to make natural soap in the wild? Not much, but it would take a bit of a time commitment- which isn’t really a problem, since we’re out in the wild with no obligations!

Supplies and Ingredients for Soap Making in the Wild:
* 2 gallon-size containers (milk jugs, buckets, 2-liter bottles, etc).
* long handled spoon- preferably stainless steel (NOT aluminum!), or wood (but never use a wood soap spoon for food).
* stainless steel pot that can hold about a gallon worth of ingredients
* fat- about 2 cups of miscellaneous fat (lard, tallow, animal fat from hunting adventures, scraps from dinner, etc).
* 1 gallon of water
* pebbles or gravel
* sand or pine needles
* 4-5 cups worth of ash from a campfire
* cheesecloth or fabric
* a container to hold melted fat (2 cups worth)
* a handfull of fresh pine needles for scent and scrubbiness

Directions:
Cut the tops off of your gallon milk jugs creating as deep a bucket as you can. Poke a hole in the center of the bottom of one jug. Fill with a one inch layer of pebbles. Cover this with a 2 inch layer of sand or even pine needles. You’re trying to create a filter. Now cover the top with about 4-5 inches of ash from last night’s campfire. Place the now-filled jug over the empty jug. Pour about a half gallon worth of water *extremely* slowly through your rock/sand “filter” being sure to collect the water that trickles out into the empty jug. The slower you pour, the better. You want this step to take about 5 minutes total in order to collect enough lye from the ash.

Next, you’ll pour the collected lye water into the stainless steel pot and boil it until it is reduced to about 2 cups of liquid. Pour it back into the jug.

Now it’s time to clean your fat. This will keep your finished soap from turning rancid and becoming unusable. The process of cleaning fat is called “rendering.” You’ll boil the fat in the stainless steel pot with half as much water, and as the water evaporates, impurities will float to the surface. Continue boiling, and these “cracklings” will eventually sink. At that point, strain the fat through a piece of cheesecloth or fabric into a container.

Combine about 1 1/2 cups of melted fat with your lye water in the stainless steel pot, and boil it while stirring. Continue stirring and boiling until the water evaporates, and the mixture thickens. You want it to get really, really thick. Keep stirring and boiling until it gets as thick as you can get it. Adding a handful of pine needles to your soap while it’s cooking can provide a bit of scent and scrubby texture. Because you’re boiling your lye water and fat, and keeping it heated for quite some time, there won’t be any need to “cure” your soap further. It will be ready to use (and a bit gloppy), as soon as it gets really really thick. Store the soap in an open container- water will continue to evaporate out. It may never get as hard as an ordinary bar of soap- this all depends on the strength of your lye solution and the fats used.

Depending on the strength of the lye solution you were able to get from your ash, your soap could be really gentle, or a bit on the harsh side, but it will clean quite nicely! After making a few batches, you’ll know whether your ash solution is too strong or too weak. Adjustments in the amount of fat used, or in the preparation of your lye water (use more ash, pour water through the ash slower for a stronger solution, or faster to get a weaker solution) will allow you to fine tune your soap. Or, you could just start your adventure in the wild with a large supply of already made natural soap, and spend your time enjoying what you really escaped civilization to do!

Article written by Erin Lee of the Natural Bar Soap Company.