# palm oil substitute?



## Lottee (Oct 30, 2012)

Hello all, i'm new to soap making and looking around for recipes that interest me. An awful lot of them have palm oil in which regardless of the sustainability issue, i just don't have easy access to. Is there something  i can swap it for? Or does the whole recipe need to be revamped? Thanks.


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## lsg (Oct 30, 2012)

You can use lard or beef tallow instead of palm oil, but you have to run the revised recipe through a lye calculator.  If you want a vegan soap try babassu Oil, but use much less babassu oil than you would palm. As stated before, run the recipe through a lye calculator such as SoapCalc.


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## FOhoarder (Oct 30, 2012)

If you don't want to use lard or tallow you can up your butters like Shea, mango or cocoa and do what lsg said about running it through a lye calc.


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## booboo (Oct 30, 2012)

I believe coconut oil is a good substitute too


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## green soap (Oct 30, 2012)

Coconut oil will give you the bubbles and cleansing, but not the creaminess.  I use cocoa butter at a low percentage when I am trying for a 'perfect' soap (mid range in all qualities in soapcalc).  Cocoa butter is spendy, I use organic, but you can get away with a small % and still get the creaminess.


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## DragonQueenHHP (Oct 30, 2012)

lsg said:
			
		

> You can use lard or beef tallow instead of palm oil, but you have to run the revised recipe through a lye calculator.  If you want a vegan soap try babassu Oil, but use much less babassu oil than you would palm. As stated before, run the recipe through a lye calculator such as SoapCalc.



I have to agree


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## Lottee (Oct 30, 2012)

Thanks everyone for your responses. I should have said - i just don't fancy lard or tallow, makes me feel a bit odd! I have been using coconut oil so will carry on with that plus a butter of some sort. Thanks again!


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## Relle (Oct 30, 2012)

Not sure if you have it in the UK, but palm oil here is Frymaster in the supermarket with the solid cooking oils in the dairy section.


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## lanchingmaa (Oct 30, 2012)

Spectrum makes a 100% palm oil shortening that is organic and sourced from sustainable farmers that do not have any impact on deforestation. It's in most hippy stores and food sections. Cost is $8 for 1 lb


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## ClaraSuds (Oct 30, 2012)

Almost anything labelled in your supermarket as vegetable shortening will contain palm oil. Check the section with butters it's often there.


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## Relle (Oct 31, 2012)

ClaraSuds said:
			
		

> Almost anything labelled in your supermarket as vegetable shortening will contain palm oil.



Check the labelling as this is not always the case, copha is labelled vegetable shortening and contains no palm whatsoever, its 98% hydrogenated coconut oil and 2% soy bean oil.


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## lanchingmaa (Oct 31, 2012)

Again, Spectrum shortening in the hippy section is now available at most grocery stores. Its completely void of deforestation concerns and is organic. Its also not that expensive. Crisco has palm in it, but is destroying monkeys at the expense of its low cost.


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## Seifenblasen (Oct 31, 2012)

> Again, Spectrum shortening in the hippy section is now available at most grocery stores. Its completely void of deforestation concerns and is organic. Its also not that expensive. Crisco has palm in it, but is destroying monkeys at the expense of its low cost.



We got soapers from all over the world on these forums; not everyone is from the US therefore the brands you mentioned may not be available to them.

Also, one of the things I mentioned in the "palm/tallow" discussion is verification.  As much as I want to believe all manufacturers and suppliers are honest and vigilant, it is sometimes difficult to be 100% sure of the environmental claims, especially when the raw materials are produced in another developing country.



> Spectrum makes a 100% palm oil shortening that is organic and sourced from sustainable farmers that do not have any impact on deforestation. It's in most hippy stores and food sections. Cost is $8 for 1 lb



$8 per pound is not exactly inexpensive.  For that price, I have a variety choices, such as mango butter, cocoa butter, shea butter, etc.  In fact, I have several palm-free formula using coconut oil and butters that result in hard, bubbly and creamy bars.  (Sometimes I also like to use tallow, but not in the same formula).


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## new12soap (Nov 1, 2012)

booboo said:
			
		

> I believe coconut oil is a good substitute too



I believe that coconut oil and palm _kernal_ oil have similar properties. Palm oil is most characteristically similar to lard or tallow.



			
				Lottee said:
			
		

> Thanks everyone for your responses. I should have said - i just don't fancy lard or tallow, makes me feel a bit odd! I have been using coconut oil so will carry on with that plus a butter of some sort. Thanks again!



I completely understand that some people feel this way and I am in no way disputing it, BUT... if you have ever used regular store-bought commercial bar soap, check the label. Chances are that you may have been using tallow for a long time and never realized it. It does make an amazing soap!

I have no idea what is available in the UK, but I second the advice to find shortening and check the label for the ingredients. Here in the US, some shortenings are all veg, but some also contain tallow.

You can also find/formulate a lot of good recipes that use neither palm or animal products.


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## detroitgirl77 (Nov 1, 2012)

If you had access to a middle eastern market/shop, they sell 100% palm oil in metal cans as vegetable ghee. I am in the US and live in a city with a large middle eastern population and can get this and extra virgin olive oil much cheaper than anywhere else.


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## Seifenblasen (Nov 1, 2012)

You may want to check out a few animal-free, palm-free recipes here:  (This blog also has loads of good ideas regarding colorants, swriling, etc.)

http://www.lovinsoap.com/2012/06/palm-f ... pes-day-1/


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