# V. Cheap Palm/Smart and Final



## not_ally (Jul 1, 2015)

Hey all, 

I was at Smart and Final yesterday, and noticed that they have a 100% palm "shortening" (no other ingredients listed) for $33.99 for 50 lbs.  I don't use palm much, but do buy their lard "shortening" (a little cheaper, $26.99 for the same amt, and the ingreds list does include citric acid and bht ) and it works fine.  

Great price, and despite the fact that I thought I would never go through that much lard as a hobbyist here I am 4 mos later and it is almost all gone!

ETA, I think they have a tallow "shortening" for the same price/amt as the palm as well, but forgot to re-check on that one.


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## IrishLass (Jul 1, 2015)

Thanks, not_ally! I love Smart & Final. Re: their tallow- I was at the one by me a few weeks ago and can confirm that they sell it in a 50 lb. cube for  $30-something. 


IrishLass


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## Lynusann (Jul 1, 2015)

I'm assuming this is a store in CA? Kind of jealous that we don't really have any good outlet type stores around here for stuff like that


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## not_ally (Jul 1, 2015)

I think they are not just CA but mostly West Coast-ish?  I wonder if there is some kind of equivalent near you?  I don't think it would have occurred to me to seek out 50 lb boxes of "shortening" if I hadn't seen it referenced here somewhere! I think I would have assumed that all shortenings - never used them before soapmaking - were mixes of oils and additives.


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## cmzaha (Jul 1, 2015)

I use their palm shortening in vegan soaps but also use regular palm with it. Being hydrogenated it does not give as hard a bar as regular palm. I also do not recommend it over 25% as it can get be prone to dos. It does work well to cut down on the amount of palm


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## Lynusann (Jul 1, 2015)

Wow, 200 stores...all south west. It looks like the Winco I grew up with in Idaho but to my knowledge we don't have anything similar to that in Colorado. At least nothing down my way.


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## KristaY (Jul 1, 2015)

cmzaha said:


> I use their palm shortening in vegan soaps but also use regular palm with it. Being hydrogenated it does not give as hard a bar as regular palm. I also do not recommend it over 25% as it can get be prone to dos. It does work well to cut down on the amount of palm


 
Because it's hydrogenated, does that mean you don't have to melt the entire container? Boy would that be a time saver. Also, do you blend, say, 50/50 with regular palm? I usually use palm at 20-30% so this palm would stay well below 25% in my recipes. I just happen to have a Smart & Final about 40 miles from me so this would be a great excuse to go shopping.  Thanks for the info Carolyn!


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## cmzaha (Jul 2, 2015)

KristaY said:


> Because it's hydrogenated, does that mean you don't have to melt the entire container? Boy would that be a time saver. Also, do you blend, say, 50/50 with regular palm? I usually use palm at 20-30% so this palm would stay well below 25% in my recipes. I just happen to have a Smart & Final about 40 miles from me so this would be a great excuse to go shopping.  Thanks for the info Carolyn!


I tend to use 20% palm shortening with 20-25% palm oil, depending on what soft oils I am using


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## KristaY (Jul 2, 2015)

Thanks Carolyn! Do you melt down the whole 50 lbs and divide or is it ok to use straight from the container?


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## cmzaha (Jul 2, 2015)

KristaY said:


> Thanks Carolyn! Do you melt down the whole 50 lbs and divide or is it ok to use straight from the container?


The no stir is homogenized (palm shortening) and does not need to be melted down like the un-homogenized palm. I actually do not even melt down my Palm Oil which I buy in 5 gallon buckets. During winter when it has re-solidified I scoop from different areas of the bucket. 
I am going to run a couple of test batches today of 100% Palm shortening and 100% Palm Oil to compare the two. Not really sure why I have not done this before. They very well may come out exactly the same. Before I knew better I always related palm shortening to hydrogenated veggie oils which have given me dos problems in soap. Palm shortening is homogenized not hydrogenated


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## KristaY (Jul 2, 2015)

cmzaha said:


> The no stir is homogenized (palm shortening) and does not need to be melted down like the un-homogenized palm. I actually do not even melt down my Palm Oil which I buy in 5 gallon buckets. During winter when it has re-solidified I scoop from different areas of the bucket.
> I am going to run a couple of test batches today of 100% Palm shortening and 100% Palm Oil to compare the two. Not really sure why I have not done this before. They very well may come out exactly the same. Before I knew better I always related palm shortening to hydrogenated veggie oils which have given me dos problems in soap. Palm shortening is homogenized not hydrogenated


 
Good to know and thanks for the explanation! Good luck with your experiments and let us know how they come out. I'll be very interested in your results. :smile:


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## cmzaha (Jul 2, 2015)

KristaY said:


> Good to know and thanks for the explanation! Good luck with your experiments and let us know how they come out. I'll be very interested in your results. :smile:


Hopefully the information is correct. In case anyone wants to know the SAP of First Streets Palm Shortening it is NaOH 0.138  and KOH is 0.193 I had a bit of trouble tracking it down but this came from the company that manufactures it


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