# Can I deodorize cocoa butter myself?



## Be Love (Apr 6, 2015)

Hi everyone! I bought some cocoa butter from soapers choice and I (must have) purchased the natural variety. The smell is overwhelming and so strong! I have had the 'natural' variety before from other suppliers and they only had a hint of chocolate scent. This smells like burnt chocolate! It turns my stomach! Also, anything I make with it has a chocolate scent thrown in, due to its strong aroma! I have lots left and really don't want to waste it, but chocolate mixed with certain fragrances is not appealing! Does anyone happen to know if there's a way to deodorize it myself? Thanks!


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## lillybella (Apr 6, 2015)

This is a great question! I would like to know too!
I do NOT like the smell of cocoa butter either!


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## not_ally (Apr 6, 2015)

I can't imagine how you would de-scent natural cocoa butter.  I think it might be quite difficult and time consuming, if possible.  Happy to be proven mistaken, though. 

I don't like the scent either, and bought a strongly scented batch when I started out, just ended up throwing it away.  I don't like to waste, but for me it was justified, I knew I would never use it and it was taking up space (and transferring scent, maybe) in the butter section of my limited storage.


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## LBussy (Apr 6, 2015)

I guess I've never smelled it.  Does it smell like cocoa?


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## cmzaha (Apr 6, 2015)

Be Love said:


> Hi everyone! I bought some cocoa butter from soapers choice and I (must have) purchased the natural variety. The smell is overwhelming and so strong! I have had the 'natural' variety before from other suppliers and they only had a hint of chocolate scent. This smells like burnt chocolate! It turns my stomach! Also, anything I make with it has a chocolate scent thrown in, due to its strong aroma! I have lots left and really don't want to waste it, but chocolate mixed with certain fragrances is not appealing! Does anyone happen to know if there's a way to deodorize it myself? Thanks!


Using it up in soap will usually dissipate the scent of the natural coco butter. I happen to only use natural coco butter from either Cibaria or Essentials by Catalina, but have used from Soapers Choice in the past and it was fine. It would be great in a Dragon's Blood Soap or any strong fragranced spicy


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## kchaystack (Apr 6, 2015)

The first time I bought cocoa butter it smelled very strongly of chocolate.  But once I put it in a batch it was fine, no cocoa smell at all.  It was my second batch of soap, and had no FO/EO added


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## hmlove1218 (Apr 7, 2015)

If you use it in soap keep the percentage low. I could snell it when I used 10%


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## LBussy (Apr 7, 2015)

For the life of me I'm not sure why anyone would want to get rid of the smell of chocolate. :think:


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## shunt2011 (Apr 7, 2015)

I only use un-refined and don't notice any leftover scent from it in my soap.  I do use it at 10%.


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## Obsidian (Apr 7, 2015)

My coco butter is very strong scented. Recently made a unscented soap with 19% coco butter, I could smell it in the finished soap but now at 8 weeks, I can't smell it anymore.


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## dixiedragon (Apr 7, 2015)

Where did you get it? Just curious. What have you used it in that the chocolate scent carried over?

I wonder if you could "render" it like tallow? Add an equal amount of water, some baking soda and melt it down? Might be worth a shot.

If that doesn't work, I'd save that cocoa butter for things where you do want a chocolate scent, and buy some ultra-refined deodorized for other applications. Cocoa butter is awesome and has a very long shelf life.


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## kchaystack (Apr 7, 2015)

LBussy said:


> For the life of me I'm not sure why anyone would want to get rid of the smell of chocolate. :think:



Lee, I do not want my soap to smell like food for the most part.  I do not want to get out of the shower and head straight for the candy jar to get rid of chocolate cravings!


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## LBussy (Apr 7, 2015)

That's just quitter talk!


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## Seawolfe (Apr 8, 2015)

My very first soap was a goofy combo of cocoa butter, coconut oil and almond oil. I was SO disappointed when the smell dissipated. I'd had hopes for a mounds bar scented soap  turned out to be a decent soap despite my newbliness.


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## Be Love (Apr 8, 2015)

dixiedragon said:


> Where did you get it? Just curious. What have you used it in that the chocolate scent carried over?
> 
> I wonder if you could "render" it like tallow? Add an equal amount of water, some baking soda and melt it down? Might be worth a shot.
> 
> If that doesn't work, I'd save that cocoa butter for things where you do want a chocolate scent, and buy some ultra-refined deodorized for other applications. Cocoa butter is awesome and has a very long shelf life.




I might try that! 

I have used it in CP soap and in body butter. The body butter I can't even use because the smell is so disgusting and some of the soaps carried just a hint of chocolate long after cure. It's not even just a chocolate scent, it's the burnt quality of it that I can smell. Not good when you're going for a lilac scent! I can't remember off the top of my head what percentage I used (will check my notes) but I will try dropping it down quite a bit and see if I can use it up. I didn't want to mess with my soap calc numbers too much on that recipe because I really like everything else about the soap. Oh well, c'est la vie! 
Thanks for your input everyone!


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## dixiedragon (Apr 8, 2015)

When you describe it as "burnt" I'm wondering if you got an off batch or something? Have you smelled other cocoa butter?


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## Be Love (Apr 11, 2015)

dixiedragon said:


> When you describe it as "burnt" I'm wondering if you got an off batch or something? Have you smelled other cocoa butter?




I was wondering the same thing! I have used other cocoa butter and found the smell quite pleasant. This is the only time I've tried it from soaper's choice.


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## pamielynn (Apr 12, 2015)

Oh gosh - I LOVE the organic CB from Columbus Foods. I bury my face in it, every time a new box comes . Isn't it funny how we all interpret smells differently? I routinely use 10% in my batches and it doesn't override any scents I may add to it, though, if I've got a scent that is super "light" I will go with mango butter.
But, yeah, yummmmmm - I just love that raw chocolatey smell...


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