The year is flying by! It’s now March and my attention is drawn to all things green including these Irish Tea Foot Soak Cakes.
Popping up on my Calendar is the wonderful St Patrick’s Day and no matter how you choose to celebrate it (or if, in fact, you celebrate it at all) this soothing and relaxing foot soak will definitely be of benefit to you.
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Why am I putting tea in a foot soak?
I was reading up on the benefits of black tea the other day and discovered some uses for black tea that are not commonly known.
Apparently the tannic acids contained in black tea have a whole host of everyday wellness applications making tea a great ingredient for many a home remedy.
Today we are looking at a remedy for tired, sore, smelly feet (you know, the ones you get after dancing the Irish Jig all day 😉), and this Irish Tea Foot Soak recipe is perfect. To give it an extra Irish twist, I’ve formed the foot soak into Shamrock-shaped salt cakes using a cookie cutter. How cute do they look?!
Soaking those tired feet in this foot soak will quickly rid them of any smell as the tannic acid kills bacteria and closes the pores to help your feet sweat less. Plus I’ve added Lavender and Blue (German) Chamomile essential oils to the ingredients which will soothe the skin and muscles also (and the scent is so refreshing!).
Irish Tea Foot Soak Cake Ingredients
Epsom Salts
Epsom salts lie at the heart of every good foot soak recipe due to the many uses and benefits they have for our well-being.
Rock Salt
Adding a variety of salts to your foot soak will add to its benefits. Consider sea salt, Dead Sea salt or pink Himalayan salt to give your foot soak an extra boost.
If you don’t have rock salt simply replace that amount in the recipe with Epsom salt.
Baking Soda
Baking soda (or bi-carb soda) has long been a staple ingredient in bath and foot soaks for many reasons including keeping fungal skin and nail infections at bay.
It’s also the glue that’s gonna hold these cute little cakes together. If you don’t use the baking soda sometime down the track your cakes are going to crumble back into little pieces.
If your baking soda is lumpy, sift it as you add it to your mixture.
Black Tea
Since this is a special St Patrick’s Day project it should come to no surprise to you that I have used Irish Breakfast Tea in my recipe.
Irish Breakfast is a blend of several black teas and has a more robust and stronger flavour compared to its more commonly known English Breakfast counterpart.
It’s the strength of this blend that I’m counting on to really deliver the benefits of a black tea foot soak, but if you can’t get your hands on Irish Breakfast Tea, you can use any strong, black tea as a substitute.
Carrier Oil
As this recipe uses essential oils, I have included a carrier oil for dilution purposes. Essential oils should always be diluted, especially in the bath (where they have access to all sorts of nooks and crannies they might not ordinarily have).
Common carrier oils include fractionated coconut oil, jojoba oil, sweet almond oil (beware of nut allergies if you are giving these bath salt cakes as a gift), grapeseed oil, avocado oil, and the list goes on.
Essential Oils
I’ve scented my foot soak cakes with 10 drops each of Lavender and Blue (German) Chamomile essential oils. Lavender is soothing to the skin and mind while Blue Chamomile will soothe any aches and pains.
If you don’t have Blue Chamomile essential oil don’t worry, you can substitute Roman Chamomile, Blue Tansy, Yarrow or doTERRA’s ‘Balance’ blend.
Water
To increase the storage longevity of your essential oil project, do not use water from the tap in the recipe. This can lead to mould growth. Instead I recommend distilled, demineralized, or water that has been boiled and then cooled. Alternatively rose water (also available from the supermarket) is a great idea (and will add to the beautiful scent of your foot soak cakes).
Colouring
Feel free to add some colouring to your foot soak cakes. Of course for this project I recommend the colour green.
Soap colouring is preferable when colouring salts because it provides a stable and consistent colouring across all colours and will not fade.
However food colouring will also work perfectly well to colour salts. Just don’t leave your finished foot soak cakes sitting out in the open for long periods (I’m talking months) as the colour will fade (and so will the scent for that matter).
I recommend using natural food colouring wherever and whenever you can.
Cookie Cutters
I thought it only fitting to use a Shamrock-shaped cookie cutter for my Irish Tea Foot Soak Cakes.
Mixing Bowl & Spoon
You will require a mixing bowl and spoon to make this recipe. To be on the safe side, I recommend you use a non-plastic bowl and spoon for this activity as essential oils can quickly corrode some plastics. A glass, ceramic or stainless steel bowl and a metal spoon is the way to go.
Grease-Proof Paper Lined Tray
These Foot Soak Cakes need to stand for 48 hours to dry. You cannot touch them during this time as they are fragile when wet. Also some of the water and oil may leak out during the drying process. A baking tray or serving tray is the perfect solution as you can then pick them up and move them to a safe place to dry. The grease-proof paper allows for easy clean-up once your project is finished.
Want your Irish Tea Foot Soak Cakes to look like mine?
You can see from my pictures that I have two different coloured foot soak cakes. This is because some of them have the tea mixed into the foot soak cakes and the others have the tea running through the middle (you can see little bits peeking out around the edges). It’s your choice how you wish to add your tea.
Irish Tea Foot Soak Cakes
Equipment
- Glass, Ceramic or Metal Mixing Bowl and Spoon
- Tray lined with Grease-Proof Paper
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Cups Epsom Salt
- 1/2 Cup Rock Salt
- 6 Bags Irish Breakfast Tea Bags
- 2 Tbsp Baking (Bi-Carb) Soda Sifted
- 2 Tsp Carrier Oil
- 10 Drops Lavender Essential Oil
- 10 Drops Blue Chamomile Essential Oil a.k.a. German Chamomile
- 2 Tsp Water
- Colouring Optional
- Shamrock Cookie Cutter
Instructions
- Add salts and sifted bi-carb to a non-plastic bowl and mix well. Cut open tea bags and add tea (or set aside if you want to add it to the middle of your cakes).
- Add wet ingredients and stir until fully incorporated. Your mixture should be damp but not so soggy that the salt starts to dissolve.
- Place a cookie cutter on the top left of your paper-lined tray and fill it with the salt mixture. If adding your tea to the middle of your cake, fill the cookie cutter half way, sprinkle one tea bag of tea out over the mixture, then fill the cookie cutter the rest of the way. If your tea is mixed in your salt mixture then just fill the cookie cutter all the way to the top.
- Pack your salt mixture down level with the rim of the cookie cutter, and then slowly and carefully lift the cookie cutter to reveal a formed foot soak cake.
- Continue filling your cookie cutter until you run out of salt mixture (I ended up with 6 foot soak cakes). Set your cakes aside to dry overnight, then flip them over to dry for another 24 hours.
Directions for Use
- Fill a bucket or foot spa half way with boiling water. Drop two foot soak cakes into the water and allow to steep for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Fill the bucket or foot spa the rest of the way with cold water and begin your relaxing and soothing foot soak.
Notes
Directions for Use
Fill a bucket or foot spa half way with boiling water. Drop two foot soak cakes into the water and allow to steep for 5 minutes. Fill the bucket or foot spa the rest of the way with cold water and begin your relaxing and soothing foot soak.
To give as a gift, place two foot soak cakes in a cellophane bag and tie off with a pretty green ribbon. Hand them out to family and friends on St Patrick’s Day.
Troubleshooting Tips
If your salt cake does not remove easily from your cookie cutter, your salt mixture is too dry. Add some more water and try again.
If your foot soak cake starts to sag or lose its shape after being removed from the cookie cutter, your salt mixture is too wet. Add some more salt and try again.
Try this variation!
Don’t want to turn your foot soak into cakes? No problem, simply leave out the water and stir all the other ingredients together to make a loose mixture. 1/3 of the mixture will equal 1 foot soak.
Enjoy!
