Category Archives: Soap

Belize, Fermentation, Our Products, Saving Money, Soap

Hatcho Miso Belize Style.

April 9, 2015 Munchkin

Miso Madness is almost over as the Munchkin is starting to feel twitchy over our dwindling supply of soap…

…which means that our run of frenzied fermentation is coming to an end and the previously, prematurely terminated Soap Marathon is going to have to resume (yeah, our soaps are really popular and people just can’t get enough of them; this is A Good Thing, she tells me ;-P).

After the frenzy of rice koji making and the resulting shinshu and shiro misos, we are ending our run with a couple of pig tail buckets of hatcho miso. The first bucket was made two days ago, however, it turned out to be about a gallon short because I held back some of the black bean koji to reinoculate the next batch of beans. There was a slight set-back with that particular batch (yes, yes, I’m sure you’ve heard about the Great Bean Bungle…let’s move on…) and to make a long story short, another batch had to be introduced into the equation. Anyway, back to the short bucket: I just “happened” to have a gallon batch of miso from last year which was made with cacao beans and while very aromatic, the chocolate taste was just too overpowering (yes, chocolate-lovers, this is actually possible!). So, we emptied all of the containers, mixed them together again with the addition of bird peppers (Korean-style??) and a generous handful of black peppercorns.

Mixing Black Beans, Last Year's Chocolate Miso, Chilli Peppers and Black Peppercorns. — Mixing Black Beans, Last Year’s Chocolate Miso, Chilli Peppers and Black Peppercorns.

And voila’, the first full bucket of Belizean Style Chocolate (Cacao Bean) Hatcho Miso (with chilli and black pepper) was born:

Time to start thinking about soap…

Belize, Blog, Our Products, Soap

On-Line Apothecary is Open For Business!

February 18, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone. The Apothecary is now open!! After a few false starts, over cogitation and Type A anxiety and jitters, we have decided just to get it up and running. The ordering and payment options are really basic right now so that we can see if there is actual interest in our products. Once we get some orders and feel confident with sales, we will look into more E-commerce options. There are a few tweaks to take care of but for all intents and purposes, The Apothecary is open.

Belize, Our Products, Soap

Placencia Arts Festival.

February 17, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone!! We are glad to be back. We went out of town for the weekend to the Placencia Sidewalk Arts and Music Festival to sell and promote our wares. Here is a picture of our table:

Another picture:

Overall, we found that our wares were received well and the most popular and well-known product was the “Copal Medicinal Oil.” Since we have been around for a few years now, we found that it was more relaxed and we did not need to introduce ourselves to everyone so much. This is the 12th Sidewalk Festival in Placencia and other stalls included local jewellery, Paintings, Wooden Art, Pottery and lots more. The weather was hot and sunny. We were located at the stage area so we saw all the music activities including the drumming. It was definitely a good Belizean Cultural Experience and I would recommend this to anyone who happens to be in the country near Valentines Day.

That’s it for now. Back home so more farm stuff this week!!

Belize, Fermentation, Medical Related, Our Products, Soap

Jackass Bitters Oil and Bottling Mead.

February 13, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone! It is really funny weather today; first it was sunny and now its all windy and grey. It can really affect your mood sometimes so we have tried to keep busy today in order to keep out of trouble!

I have a new product called Bitters Oil which is made from Jackass Bitters and Neem. It is an effective treatment for cold sores and wounds of all kinds. Jackass Bitters is used traditionally in this country to aid in the natural healing of ulcers and neem is known for its anti-septic properties.

I have started selling a few bottles in the local pharmacy in Punta Gorda (Vance Vernon Pharmacy). The making of this product originally started with a personal request and since it has been working so effectively for this individual, I have decided to make it available to the public. A big Thank-you to Miss Joyce for using and supporting the Bitters Oil!

Meanwhile, Gnome is keeping busy by bottling Mead:

Out of a 5 gallon bucket, he ended up getting 57 bottles. Yay…we are going to get bubbly Mead!

And, he has been making soap:

And with a bit of Gnome Magic, beautiful soap was made:

Have a Good Evening!!

Belize, Medical Related, Our Products, Soap

A Day For Copal.

February 1, 2015 Munchkin

We are having a busy run right now with making our stuff. I made a batch of Copal Medicinal Ointment today. Here is copal (Protium copal) in its raw form with the cleaned-up material to the front of it:

A pound block of copal is sold in the Punta Gorda market wrapped up in a leaf as shown. If you actually look closely, you will see all sorts of detritus in the resin. Through a cleaning and filtering process we remove all the muck out of it to get what is shown in the picture. It is a really messy procedure because the resin is a very sticky.

So, here is the pot with my magical formula for copal ointment:

The bright yellow stuff is beeswax melting in sticky goo (sorry for the lack of technical jargon).

And then we package it into containers:

Copal is used for skin ailments including bacterial and fungal skin infections. It also has natural cicatrising properties which aids the healing of skin and helps the formation of scar tissue. You can read more about Copal if you press on this link.

And, Gnome has been working too…

He has been working his magic on the soaps and has been hand-stamping a custom order batch. This is definitely not his favourite chore but alas, somebody’s got to do it! Stamping soaps actually requires co-ordination and correct alignment…it isn’t as easy as it looks!

and this is the result:

Gnome will be cutting a batch of Copal Medicinal Soap later on so I will adding a few more pictures later. Okay, hope everyone is having a good Sunday!

More Pictures:

In the above picture, the piece of wood at the back is a frame with horizontal wires running along the whole length of it. The front piece of wood is pushed down to ease the column of soap through the cutting wires.

And, this is the result:

Gnome only uses the cutter for the Medicinal soap because the result can be rough-cut. For aesthetic reasons, the Artisan Soaps are cut one by one with a single wire.

Amusing, Belize, Our Products, Soap

Soap-making, Selling, Doctoring and Waiting!

January 30, 2015 Munchkin

Today we did a combination of things; the first thing was making soap which actually spans through the entire day. We begin by mixing and pouring the soap into molds. Later in the day, once the soap has hardened and done its magic, Gnome cuts it one by one with a wire implement; this is actually the longest part of the procedure and can take him about 2 to 3 hours to cut a whole batch of soap. The soaps that we made today are Chocolate Vanilla which involved the addition of essential oils. At first, you will see that the oils actually cause a lack of uniformity of colour:

As the soap ages, the blotchy appearance does fade and it takes on a smooth finish as you can see from the next picture:

This soap is a custom order and will be hand-stamped one by one over the next few days. Phew..making soap actually requires time and dedication!

I had to put on my “selling hat” today and show samples of our products to hotel management. Honestly…I don’t like this part because I feel like I am going through a script and I feel so automatic and robotic. You can see that I have not been to marketing school and what I would like to say is, “buy my stuff, it’s good ****!”

In between all of that, we saw some patients and did some doctoring.

Also, I had to queue up in a bank and a post office and it was painfully slow! This was actually the worst part of the day. Remember that every person in front of you is an additional 15 minute wait. Aaarrghh!!

Lastly, we saw a Fridge on a Pick-up, which is worth a 1000 points!! Donum Bonum!

Amusing, Belize, Fermentation, Medical Related, Our Products, Soap

Rorscharch Soap Test and Gnome Messing Around.

January 22, 2015 Munchkin

The Rorschach Test is an Inkblot test created by a Swiss Psychologist called Hermann Rorscharch. This test involves the psychological analysis of a subject’s perception of inkblot images.

We have transferred this same concept into our soaps since the swirls and blotches can form distinct images. Have a look at the following picture…I see mirror images of a toucan. What do you think…have I just got “Belize” in the brain!!

What do you see in the next Rorscharch Soap? How many birds do you see?!

On a different note, I just wanted to tell you that Gnome hasn’t got round to writing anything this week because he has been messing around with well, gnome stuff.

Here are some pictures; maybe he will explain them to you at some point.

As I write this, he is still messing around! And by the way, that was my nice lilac pillow case!

Gnome now refuses to explain what he is doing!!

Belize, Our Products, Soap

Soap Marathon!!

January 19, 2015 Munchkin

Living in Paradise sometimes isn’t all it is cracked up to be especially when it starts getting very buggy. Right now the weather is cloudy and rainy and it is bringing out the biting bugs; the no-see-ums (sand-flies) are the worse because you can hardly see them until you start getting an antsy, itchy feeling. They are coming out in swarms and as a result, we are staying indoors! So, this is the perfect time to do a soap-making marathon.

We started off by making our Artisan Chocolate Soap. This time we opted for a more blotchy appearance as opposed to our usual swirl. It turned out well and it is amazing how one batch can make such a variation in designs!

Splotchy-Designed Chocolate Soap. — Splotchy-Designed Chocolate Soap

Since some designs can be very unusual, interesting and unique, we have come up with an idea to pick 12 of the best looking soaps and offer them packaged in a Special Edition Silver Tin. So, when our Apothecary finally opens, look out for our specials.

Playing with the “Doctor” theme, Gnome has come up with an idea to select some of our soaps as Rorschach Soaps because they have that ink-blot look which is associated with this well-known psychological test. So, keep an eye out for the Rorsharch Gallery devoted to possible interpretations of pictures on our soaps!

Belize, Saving Money, Soap

Running Out of Laundry Soap!

January 11, 2015 Munchkin

The Munchkin told me that we are running out of laundry and washing up soap…what better way to spend a Sunday messing around with soap!

I think most readers have gathered by now that we make soap. Lots of different types of soap for every conceivable occasion. Now, not every batch of soap turns out right and figuring out what to do with this soap is a combination of a Bored-In-Belize project, not wasting things and not wanting to buy washing-up soap and laundry detergent (because one of us is Scottish and both of us are cheap!).

First you get old soap…

Old Soap Chunks From Unsuccessful Soap Batches.

…grate it like so…

…putting it in a pot with water to boil…

Boiling.Soap — Boiling Old Soap in a Big Pot (the camera lens steamed up!).

…and pouring it into the ubiquitous pigtail bucket for storage!

Old Soap Turned Into Laundry/Washing-up Soap by Gnome Magic!

The moral of the story is: keep all your old soap bits and you can do this too in the comfort of your own home by following the recipe in Bored-In-Belize Projects: Make Your Own Laundry Soap!!!

May all your laundry always be clean!!

Belize, Soap

Christmas Pudding Soap.

December 30, 2014 Munchkin

Hello Everyone! Just something short and sweet for the holidays. This is a picture of some Christmas Pudding soap which Gnome made over the holidays (when he wasn’t messing around with stingless bees).

These are coconut oil soaps with added cacao. Gnome likes to express his artistic side in his soaps. If only they were edible!

If you want to see more pictures of our Artisan Soaps, please take a look at the page link in the Products section. Our Shop will be coming soon!!

Casa Mascia Apothecary