Let's All Do The Peppermint Twist!

As promised, here is the 'recipe' for the Peppermint Twist Bath Salts....

There is a secret to this. Have you ever bought the bath bombs from LUSH? They fizz and foam and are fantastic!

These Peppermint Twist salts do the same thing. They fizz and foam and are fantastic for your feet. Super tingly fun. When your feet feel good, the rest of the body relaxes and your entire mood changes. It's a proven fact. My Grandmother told me so.

If you want to do other fragrances, you can use them in the bath. (I don't recommend a straight peppermint twist bath because, um, well, 'tingly' might not be appreciated everywhere)

You might have also seen something similar offered at juried craft shows and if you ask about them, some lady might've raised her eyebrow at you and hissed that it was a top secret family recipe or some similar whatnot?

That was my mother. I gave her the recipe. teehee

I'm not going to go all Pioneer Woman on you with detailed photos and instructions. This is truly easy peasy to do.

This is what you need:

For each 'batch':

1 Cup Baking Soda

1/2 Cup Cornstarch (it got left out of the photo, poor cornstarch's feelings are hurt now)

1/2 Cup Citric Acid
Peppermint Essential Oil (6 droppers full)~Use a disposable dropper unless your looking to go into business with this

The Almond Oil is there for a variation, I'll tell you about that in a minute.

This is where it gets technical: Dump first 3 ingredients in a food processor. Turn it on. It will kick up a little dust (I didn't say this was a clean recipe, just an easy one). Put Peppermint Essential Oil in one dropper at a time giving the oil time to mix in. Turn processor off. And there you have it, Peppermint Twist Bath Salts! You'll get a nice batch of 2 Cups.

I usually package these up with directions to fill a basin with hot water and pour about 1/2 cup of salts into the water then slip your tootsies in. I try to make it sound relaxing, poetic and basically as though it would cure the common cold. That's how good these are!

Sue asked a great question: Can you use your mint from the garden in this? Why yes you can! Just make sure it's dried and process it along with the other ingredients to add more fragrance to the salts. Chocolate mint would add an even deeper fragrance note. Very cool.

Like I said, you can use other oils and turn them into salts appropriate for the bath. Maybe these?

Packaging is half the fun for me! You could decorate a papier mache box to nestle a bag of the salts in. Or wrap a bag of salts up in a vintage Christmas handkerchief perhaps? I'm putting small bags in little candy boxes. This one is vintage, but you can find some great reproductions at Silvercrow Creations.

I've put a few 'Bath Kisses" (the variation) in a bag that will go nicely in this little snowman's empty noggin:
To do this variation, you follow the same directions with this change: Before adding the essential or fragrance oil, blend 2 1/2 Tablespoons of a light oil such as almond oil into the dry ingredients as well as 1 Tablespoon of water. Then add your essential or fragrance oil.

You'll also need a plastic candy mold. I think the kind Wilton makes works great. Mine is OLD. As in crackly old, but I'm not making candy, so it works.

Now pack the wells of that candy mold with your mixture as though you were packing brown sugar into a measuring cup for cookies. Really pack those suckers. Now, gently turn them out onto wax paper and let them 'cure' at least overnight. Now you'll have foaming bath kisses!

Depending upon your humidity level, you may have to play with this variation to find great success. My first batch this year was crumbly, but they'll still work just fine.

Where can you find things like citric acid (not a real 'acid') and Peppermint Essential Oil or other fragrance oils?

Any good organic health market that sells in bulk will likely have essential oils and maybe even citric acid. Call ahead to check before you make the trip. A herb store or farm, will likely carry small amounts of essential oils. Atlantic Spice Company has citric acid, disposable droppers, essential oils and fragrance oils with a low minimum order of $25. If you like to cook, they have all the herbs and spices you might need, plus vanilla beans at a steal of a price. Sweetcakes has a seriously fabulous offering of fragrance oils that will make your head spin. She also carries essential oils and a host of other goodies that may send you off on a whole new hobbie trajectory. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Let me know if you have questions and I'll try to pull my feet out of the peppermint bath and over to the computer to answer!