Power of the Seed - book review

This book crossed my desk, and while I found it interesting because I use lots of oils in things like salves and such, I passed it along to my sister, Maryanne Schwartz of Lancaster County Soaps, Etc. because oils are such a big part of what she does.

Here's what she had to say:

Power of the Seed, Your Guide to Oils for Health and Beauty

Susan M Parker

This is a great reference book for those who use oils in creating health and beauty products or even a great reference for those who just use those products. 

It came to me at a time when I am in the process of formulating some new products for my business and we were using fractionated coconut oil for one of the products.  Someone casually said, “What is fractionated coconut oil, anyway?”  I knew something about the properties of the oil and why we were using it in the product, but really wasn’t sure how it was made. The very next day, I started looking through “Power of the Seed” and there it was - the whole explanation of fractionated coconut oil! 

The book contains a lot of in depth information and it is easy to be drawn into various sections. As a soap maker, I am always striving to get a better understanding of my craft and the discussions of saturated and unsaturated oils, saponifiables in oils,  explanations of various properties that will definitely help in the design of products.  I will admit that for the first year or so of soap making, we were constantly changing and refining our basic recipe with the little information available and a lot of trial and error.  This book would have been very helpful.

For those who want a springboard of nice recipes to get started - the information is here, but better than just a recipes, the author supplies reasons why each ingredient is used as well as possible substitutes. So, it is a source of information as well as inspiration.

Although this is not the kind of book to read cover to cover in one sitting, as the author says, it is a great place to “go look it up”!

The book is published by ProcessMediaInc.com 
Direct link to purchase: http://processmediainc.com/power-of-the-seed/