Summer Blues

Top view of A Day at the Beach Soap before cutting into bars

      Summer is drawing to a close and I'm finally going to get a day at the beach!  Well a week actually. The beach is my happy place, my sanctuary, my true mental yoga.  As an infant, my parents would take a nightly drive to the beach to lull me to sleep and to this day, my best night's sleep occurs anywhere that I can hear the waves of the ocean singing to me.  It's actually a wonder it took me so long to come up with this beautiful soap aptly named A Day at the Beach!  Don't know why I didn't think of it before!

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​I love summer!  I love the warmth of the sun on my skin, the beautiful flowers, the long days.  I relish in being able to eat outside and swing in a hammock with a good book.  I probably live in the wrong part of the country, but ces ‘t la vie.  One day maybe I’ll be lucky enough to live on the beach.  

Meanwhile, ​I wanted to kreate  a bar that gives the illusion of the ocean; sand and sea.  So I thought of layering by using just a touch of mica colors in increasing amounts to create the motion of the ocean and a little oatmeal to create a touch of “sand”.  It came out so pretty!  It's a delectable mix of coconut, olive and shea butter.  A few more weeks of curing and it will be up for sale!

Another summery treat for me is the abundance of summer and tropical fruits.  Guavas, pineapples, papayas, quenepas, honey dew melon, raspberries, strawberries… the list goes on.  Not that you can’t buy most of them all year long, but they remind me of summer.  So why not make them into soaps that can stretch that summer feeling into the winter months? But I seriously doubt I can make quenepa soap!  Well, quenepas just remind me of Puerto Rico and my childhood.   

Quenepas are called by many different names in the Caribbean. You can find them on pretty much any one of those island paradises.  They grow in a small bunch on trees.  It has a shell that you need to pop off with your teeth and then you suck the fuzzy fruit until you get to the pepa (pit).  Maybe it doesn’t sound too appetizing, but they are sweet and refreshing and oh, so delish! The botanical name is Melicoccus bijuguatus and it is sometimes called a Spanish lime but it is nothing like a lime at all!  Some of its many names come from Spanish or French among others - limoncillo, mamoncillo, genip, guinep, genipe, quenepe, chenet, canepa, skinip, kinnip and ackee. But there would be no way to get enough of the meat of the fruit to make a decent puree.  Too much work.  And, as for me, I’d rather eat them.  They are super healthy too!  They're packed with fiber, Vitamins A and C, antioxidants, tryptophan for help with sleeping, lysine - important for growth and much more that help promote good overall health.  

​But I digress.  With summer fruit soaps in mind, I went to work on pureeing all the fruits in the fridge that would otherwise spoil while I was away soaking up the Puerto Rican sun.  Yep, getting a dose of quenepas whose memories will have to last on my tastebuds for at least a year.  

Frozen strawberry, honey dew,pineapple, guava and raspberry purees

​In the freezer are frozen little hearts of honey dew, strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, papaya and guava, anxiously awaiting their conversion into luscious skin softening soaps.  I already made the Do you like Piña Coladas? soap as mentioned in my last blog post.  Next up Papaya Guava Smoothie, Strawberries and Cream and something raspberry with a clever name.  I was thinking “She Wore a Raspberry Beret” or “Sun Ripened Raspberry” What do you think?  

Thanks for stopping by!  Maybe while I'm lying on the beach eating quenepas, inspiration will come to me on how to make quenepa soap!