Annatto Seed Infusion (Honey Carrot Buttermilk Soap)

I don’t think I’ve ever tried a natural soap colorant before, but I happened to wander into a specialty food store the other day and noticed some packages of annatto seeds. I remembered reading that people used them in soap for their natural color, so I did a little research and found out that you can infuse your oil with annatto seeds to make anywhere from pale yellow to deep orange colors. I thought the deep orange color would lend itself well to carrot soap, so I decided to make a Honey Carrot Buttermilk soap with some annatto-infused oil. 

To infuse the oil, I used 4 teaspoons of annatto seeds in 16 ounces of olive oil. I put the oil and seeds in my crockpot, on low, for 2 hours and then shut off the crockpot and let the infusion sit overnight. 

I love the rich amber color that developed from infusing the seeds in the oil:

I used buttermilk and pureed carrots for the liquid portion of the soap and added honey at trace. This is just after I poured it into the molds:  

The soap gelled, so the orange color darkened even more. It’s a nice burnt orange color right now….I hope the color holds up, but you never know with CP soap! 

Honey Carrot Buttermilk soap cut: