POMEGRANATE PASSION

    My winter fruit passion is pomegranate. When I was a child, people sometimes called it a Chinese apple although that name is also used for other fruits too, so it was confusing. The pomegranate's versatile little seeds (called arils) are all the rage.  Many call it the new super fruit.  Studies have revealed many amazing benefits of the pomegranate.

    Pomegranates are loaded with Vitamins C and K and have been reported as having three times the antioxidant activity of red wine and green tea. They also have anti-inflamatory properties.  If you do a Google search you can find a multitude of articles and laboratory studies touting the benefits of pomegranates.  Some of the results of these studies include, but are not limited too the following:

• decreases in inflamation in the digestive tract
• decreases in inflammation in breast and colon cancer cells
• decrease in inflammation due to acne breakouts
• may help fight high blood pressure, stomach disorders
• may help reduce joint pain and arthritis as well as sore throat pain
• helps maintain healthy blood circulation
• may help fight bacterial and fungal infections

    Early hospital studies have even shown reduced deficits in memory for patients coming out of surgery and in elderly patients as well.  And doctors have been know to recommend eating pomegranates to help regain strength after chemo and long illnesses.
    You're probably thinking, well this is all well and good if you eat those little seeds, (which by the way, are truly a pain to extract from the fruit) but what do they have to do with soaps or body butters?  Well, I focused in on the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and found more detailed information as to the benefits on your skin.  Because those little seeds are loaded with Vitamin C, (48% of the recommended daily dose) they play a key role in collagen formation and cellular regeneration.  This translates to softer, brighter, more youthful skin.  Maybe even wrinkle prevention.  Aren't we all interested in that?  The antioxidant properties may even offer a  little protection from harmful UV rays. And the anti-inflammatory properties can help with inflammation caused by acne breakouts.  Plus there are moisturizing micronutrients inside.  Perfect for both soap and body butter, right? 
    So with this in mind I envisioned a creamy bar with beautiful, bright red swirls running through it created from the pomegranate juice that I would squeeze from those tiny, precious, powerful, little arils.  I found a YouTube video on the best way to open and extract them.  Turns out if you cut the top a bit, score it like orange wedges, pry the wedges open just a bit and tap with a wooden spoon, they just fall out.  Viola!  I decided to "juice" them using two different methods to see which would produce the best for soap.  First I used the back of a spoon and a strainer and burst half of them over a cup.  I put the second half of the arils into the Ninja and I thought if they were ground up finely enough, the soap would have a nice exfoliating feel to it.  
      I created a recipe base of coconut and sunflower oils and decided to save a small amount of the batch and infuse it with a little of the strained pomegranate juice because it was a strong red color and i thought it would create an amazing red soap swirl.  Well, was I ever wrong!!! As soon as I added the pomegranate juice, my creamy white soap turned a poop greenish black color!  I literally stood there in shock and didn't know what to do next.  You see, soap making really is chemistry and who would have thought that would be the chemical reaction?  When I recovered, I decided to continue with ​the original swirl pattern plan so I kept stirring to fully incorporate the juice and added some hibiscus flower powder and it slowly morphed into a greenish tan color.   This is how it looked the next day when I un-molded and cut it.

    It's really pretty and the color did become much more subtle, but it's definitely NOT what I'd envisioned!  I asked my Facebook friends and Instagram followers for help naming it and I think the most fitting name based on appearance, is "Macchiato"  So the winner is HSZ, and I'll be sending her a free bar.  I know she'll be uber-thrilled!  
    So back to the Pomegranate drawing board I went.  This time I decided to try making a hot process batch and that way I could add the juice after the final cook and hopefully get some beautiful red color in.  
    NOPE!  Nada, Niet, Nothing!  I was so disappoiinted. Again.  This is the final result of that experiment named Pomegranate Hibiscus Dream.

     Smells wonderful though. And it too has hibiscus flower powder. Hibiscus flower powder is full of antioxidants, will help reduce the appearance of age spots and provides a great moisture boost to soaps and creams.  
    Even though neither of these new additions turned out the way I'd hoped, and the color won't come out red,  I'm still excited to introduce them to the Artisan Soap Collection and Winter Delights Collection.
    I guess my very first creation with pomegranate was the most successful and it was just a simple melt and pour soap.  It had amazing lathering power, was beautiful, gently exfoliated and smelled great too!  Who knows why it had such an amazing red color because I know I used pomegranate arils for color in that one as well.  But I can't seem to replicate it and unfortunately, since it was M&P, I never wrote down the recipe.  So I'll just have to create a new one.  I'm adding this new one to the Winter Delights Collection as well and I've decided to tweak the red color just a bit and rename it Halos and Wings in honor of my dear friend, who loved this soap. She believed in angels and I'm sure has already earned her wings in Heaven.  This one uses a red shimmer mica instead of pomegranate for color.
                                         Love you more!