From My Backyard to Your Soap Dish: The Story Behind Our Hop Soaps
There is something especially satisfying about making soap with an ingredient I grew myself. This year, the hop plant in my Edgewood yard gave me enough to make ten loaves of soap. At roughly eleven bars per loaf, that is about 110 bars from one plant. It is only the plant’s second year producing, so I am already curious to see what next year brings.
If you have only met hops in a glass of beer, you might be wondering what they are doing in a soap dish. For me, the answer started with those papery green cones growing right outside my home. I wanted to make something that carried a little piece of that harvest into an everyday routine. That idea became three Sarcastic Narwhal bars: Fresh Off the Vine, Ale Yeah, and Hop To It.
I used the hops in more than one way. First, I brewed them into a tea and let it steep for a full hour to make a strong infusion for the soap. I dried the hops that remained, saving some to finish the tops of the bars. I ground the rest and mixed them into the batter, so the plant is part of the bar throughout, not just a decoration you see before the first wash.
That choice gave the soaps the earthy, textured washing experience I was hoping for. You can see the dried hops on top and feel the character of the ground hops in the bar. It makes each loaf look a little more connected to where it came from. No two cuts have quite the same pattern, which is one of my favorite things about handmade soap.
Hops are interesting plants in their own right. The cones contain naturally occurring compounds, including aromatic oils and plant polyphenols, that researchers have studied in hop extracts.[1] That research is one reason hops sometimes appear in conversations about botanical skin care. But an extract studied in a lab is different from my brewed tea and dried hops in a rinse-off soap. I cannot tell you that these bars deliver a particular skin benefit based on that research, and I would not want to promise something I have not tested.
What I can tell you is what the hops contribute to these soaps: a locally grown ingredient, a distinctive botanical look, and an earthy feel as you wash. The bars are made to cleanse and to make an ordinary trip to the sink or shower a little more enjoyable. The hops are part of that experience, alongside the rest of each bar’s recipe and scent.
Making ten loaves from one plant also changed the way I looked at the harvest. While the tea steeped, I knew those cones were becoming something I could share well beyond my own home. Drying, grinding, mixing, pouring, and topping the bars took time, but it let me use the hops in several thoughtful ways. Even the little pieces on top have a purpose: they show you where the story began.
Each of the three hop soaps has its own personality. Fresh Off the Vine feels like the most direct nod to the harvest. Ale Yeah brings a playful, woodsy spirit to the collection. Hop To It rounds out the trio because, apparently, one hop pun was never going to be enough for Sarcastic Narwhal.
This is the part of soapmaking I love most. An ingredient can start in the yard, pass through my hands at every stage, and eventually become a bar someone else uses in their daily routine. When you pick up one of these soaps, you are getting a little piece of an Edgewood harvest and the work that went into turning it into something useful.
You can explore Fresh Off the Vine, Ale Yeah, and Hop To It at sarcasticnarwhal.com. And if you are local, come say hello at Orting Home for the Holidays on December 5. I would love to show you the bars in person and tell you more about the hop plant that started it all.
[1] Hops are the cones of Humulus lupulus. A published review of the genus Humulus discusses compounds found in hops and research involving their extracts. Findings about isolated compounds or extracts do not establish benefits for these finished, rinse-off soap bars.
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