Yucca Root Soap

 The other day I dug up a yucca plant to share with a friend.  The two that were planted here a decade ago have spread to about six or seven.  As I pulled the plant from the soil, being sure to leave plenty around the root ball, a tuber fell to the ground.  I didn't know if it came from the yucca, and mentioned it to my sister, who said, "oh yeah!  That's where the saponins are!"

I didn't plant these.  Her husband, my brother in law, has a thing for hostas and yucca.  He's a tree nurseryman, and he likes plants that you can put in and forget about.  If I'm not paying attention, there will suddenly be a whole patch of hostas in my back yard.  In fact there are two.  

Same thing happened with the yucca, but they are stately and lush, so I didn't mind.

The next day I went out and picked up the tuber. One reason was so that it didn't grow and another was because it seemed like a fun experiment.  As we talked about it, Maryanne told me that it was (is?) traditionally used by the Navaho to wash wool. 

These are the original two, on either side of a walkway out through the fence.  The closer one houses many small creatures around its base, which might account for the smaller size. 

 This one is smallish, about the size of a large fingerling potato. 
 

In fact there's a net bag of fingerlings on the counter, and it occurred to me that they looked similar except that the yucca has a dark, thick skin while the potato is pale and thin.  The yucca's texture is a cross between a potato and a water chestnut.  Very firm.  It is slippery as soon as you cut it. 

Normal people would look up how it is typically processed at this point, but that would be too easy.  Instead, I chopped it up into pretty small pieces.

Added water and put it into the microwave for a minute (where it foamed over a bit). 
It sat overnight and got nice and cloudy.  

 And when stirred vigorously with a fork, it got a layer of small bubbles.                                                                                                                                                           

On my hands, the feeling was definitely clean.  There's something else though.  Not a coating, but the skin feels soft and an indescribable feeling of having some kind of protective barrier.  There's no drag when hands or fingers are rubbed together - hours later.
So then I washed my hair.  Straining out the bits of yucca, there were about three ounces of liquid.  The first thing I noticed is that it's hard to tell where the "soap" has gone because there aren't any bubbles or foam.  Did I get the part behind my left ear?  What about the crown?  The feeling was "squeaky clean."  It took a while before it seemed to be rinsed out.  We have very hard water here, so I would never use it at the beach, where even regular shampoo or soap feels impossible to rinse off (super soft water).  My sister tells me that when detergents first went on the market, they didn't sell because they didn't bubble or foam.  In order to get people to buy them, they needed to add a foaming agent.  Using this liquid, I can agree that it was disconcerting.  
#1 I think I should have diluted it.
#2 A little vinegar rinse might have been a good idea.
BUT the results are great.  The volume and texture is increased, and it's very clean.

 Later, I sniffed around the internet and found that I could pound it (or use my Ninja) and then dry it for later use.  To use the dry root, it should be reconstituted.  It might be worth digging up some more tubers!