# Substitution for Tallow



## Mrs-Tim (Nov 1, 2017)

Being new to soap making, I am not good a making substitutions.  I have enough oils but  some of the recipes call for Tallow and I don't have any.  What can I use instead.


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## BrewerGeorge (Nov 1, 2017)

Lard


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## Saponificarian (Nov 1, 2017)

Palm


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## artemis (Nov 1, 2017)

Whichever you choose, remember to put the recipe through a lye calculator first


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## IrishLass (Nov 1, 2017)

Palm is a better substitute for tallow than lard if you are looking to more closely mimic the qualities that tallow brings to a soap, but if you have access to the following 3 fats, a combination of palm oil, hydrogenated PKO flakes and either cocoa butter or kokum butter (one or the other) will get you the closest to the fatty acid profile of tallow in these proportions: 56% palm oil, 11/4% hydrogenated PKO flakes, 32.6% of either cocoa butter or kokum butter.

If you desire to include the above combo in your formula to replace the tallow, take the gram weight amount of tallow called for in your recipe and multiply it by each of the 3 percentages given above, and you will have the proper amounts of each to add.

For example, let's say that your formula calls for 50 grams tallow:

50 grams x 56% = 28 grams palm oil to calculate into your formula 
50 grams x 11.4% = 5.7 grams hydrogenated PKO flakes to calculate into your formula 
50 grams x 32.6% = 16.3 grams or either cocoa butter or kokum butter to calculate into your formula. 

(28 grams + 5.7 grams +16.3 grams = 50 grams total of the replacement fats to sub for the tallow )

The above is the kind of nerdy stuff I try to figure out when I'm bored. 


IrishLass


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