Down on the Coast this Irish Spring...Hog Wash!

Down in Ocean City, Maryland - an Atlantic seaside resort that's like Mayberry all winter long and like Times Square on New Year's all summer long - a guy named Sam Delauter runs the Sunrise Diner. If you've dined there, I'd like to hear your reviews of his chow...and his hand soap. 

There is a connection...

You see, like everyone else in the world, Sam was fretting about the costs for everything, from his eggs to his bread and rolls to his bacon and the cost of soap.

Can't do much about supply costs in a world where everything is changing, but maybe you can do something with what you have. Sunrise Diner produces about 1,000 lbs of bacon grease a year. Like most everyone else, Sam used to throw it away. (I save mine in a little jar and use it instead of Pam for the pan, but that's old school me.)

Then, Sam remembered that the only soap his grandfather Russ ever used was homemade bacon grease soap.

Sam's great-grandmother Hazel began the family tradition of bacon grease soap back when everyone had to scrimp. 

All soap is, is what you get what fat and alkali meet and buddy up. Sam pours water onto his grease, which gives a layer of lard on top when cooled. Bacon bits and whatnot remain in the water, and when he adds lye to the lard and lets it harden, presto, soapo! 

Sam and his soap

Sam cuts this product into soap bars, which he sells, and that cuts 80% off the price of the bacon he needs to make the thousands of BLTs he makes. He offers a variety of scents he adds to the soaps. including lavender, patchouli and cedar mixed with cardamom.

So he is dumping less trash onto the world and keeping his business afloat with a scented Lifebuoy.

You know what I mean.