# Soapers Choice Shortening



## Cellador (Aug 15, 2018)

So, I have tried just about every ingredient in my CP soaps, and I have found that I really like shortening as an ingredient. But, I've only been using it for a couple of months and worry about its longevity in soap and DOS. Does anyone have any experience in aged shortening soaps?
I was also wondering if anyone bought in bulk from Soapers Choice and whether or not it held up any better or worse than grocery store shortening.


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## amd (Aug 15, 2018)

Do you mean this? I've been wondering the same thing. My ranching friends who have generously given me tallow and lard for free, are no longer able to do so, and I have to find a replacement before my 50-ish lbs in the freezer run out. I've been debating between this and Soapers Choice lard. I'm a bit hesitant on the shortening because of the additional soybean oil, and not knowing how much is in there. I could be over thinking it. It's unfortunate that it only comes in 50lbs so I can't buy a small amount to do a life test with the soap.


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## earlene (Aug 15, 2018)

*AMD*, perhaps if you call Soaper's Choice or send an email, you can ask what percentage is soy they will tell you.  If you explain your concerns as a soapmaker and any negative experience you've had with soy in soap and that it eats into your profits, they would be willing to discuss it with you.  If the first person you speak to isn't forthcoming, I'd ask to speak to a  supervisor.   Maybe, they'd even be willing to send out a small sample size for testing.  I wouldn't necessarily count on the latter, but there is no reasonable reason not to be willing to answer your questions about how much soy is in the product since we all know it has a short shelf life and is prone to DOS.  Oh, and I'd also ask what the shelf life of this shortening is, since I don't see it listed in the description.

But if you compare the SAP value of the Soaper's Choice Tallow shortening to the Crisco Tallow Shortening (Crisco old), it is almost the same.  KOH 0.192 & NaOH 0.136 Soaper's Choice vs KOH 0.192 & NaOH 0.137 Crisco old.  So I would guess that if you soaped with Crisco's old (tallow & soy) formula and didn't like the results, you'd probably not like the results with the Soaper's Choice formula.  I could be wrong, of course.

So, *Cellador*, based on the second paragraph here, I'd say it would probably give you the same results _IF_ you are using a tallow and soy Crisco shortening from the grocery store.  But if you are using the Walmart Great Value brand with tallow and palm, you might not like the result because you would lose the palm.  And the SAP values are also different.


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## amd (Aug 15, 2018)

Thanks @earlene for the input! I'm just starting the search today and this post coincidentally popped up, so I haven't had time to dig in properly, just musings in my head. I haven't used crisco old, only the GV brand, which did ok in my soap life test - I usually try to keep new recipes for a year or more before I make changes in my store recipes. GV made it a year without DOS, but month 14 suddenly developed a bad case of it. 

@Cellador maybe the homogenized palm is a better option? Oh crud, I just noticed that too only comes in 50lb. A soaper friend of mine uses it and loves it in her vegan soaps.


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## Lin19687 (Aug 15, 2018)

I use Palm, a Lot .  I am not a fan of Shortening due to not knowing amounts etc in it.  I am sometimes weird about that and it is just me.  I don't like Soy so that makes it out for me


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## shunt2011 (Aug 15, 2018)

I think it would be comparable to the Walmart Animal shortening.   You could try that to start and see what you think, then purchase from Soaper's Choice if you like it.  I use the lard from Soaper's Choice....been using it for several years now.


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## cmzaha (Aug 15, 2018)

I use a 100% tallow shortening from Smart and Final. You might find similar at a restaurant supplier. I love it


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## Cellador (Aug 15, 2018)

There is a 7lb option for the shortening....https://www.soaperschoice.com/search?as=true&cid=0&q=Shortening&Sid=True&Isc=true I might as well just purchase some and test it...still, it takes me awhile to get through 7lbs of anything.
I have been using the new Crisco with palm & soybean. I was wondering if you used the shortening along with palm if you'd get a similar skin feel. But  more than anything, I'm curious about how prone it will be to DOS.


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## Cellador (Aug 15, 2018)

amd said:


> @Cellador maybe the homogenized palm is a better option? Oh crud, I just noticed that too only comes in 50lb. A soaper friend of mine uses it and loves it in her vegan soaps.


This actually sounds like a good option...wonder if any other suppliers carry it in a smaller amount.....


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## shunt2011 (Aug 15, 2018)

amd said:


> Thanks @earlene for the input! I'm just starting the search today and this post coincidentally popped up, so I haven't had time to dig in properly, just musings in my head. I haven't used crisco old, only the GV brand, which did ok in my soap life test - I usually try to keep new recipes for a year or more before I make changes in my store recipes. GV made it a year without DOS, but month 14 suddenly developed a bad case of it.
> 
> @Cellador maybe the homogenized palm is a better option? Oh crud, I just noticed that too only comes in 50lb. A soaper friend of mine uses it and loves it in her vegan soaps.



The homogenized palm is nice.  I've used that as well for vegan soaps.   It stores well too.  I just keep it in a dark room.  It's in a bag and then double boxed.   I do the same with my lard.  I don't have room in my fridge or freezer to store it. Just so much more economical that buying in smaller amounts.   Check Gordon foods.  Some of them carry the lard in 50lbs for cheaper than Soaper's Choice and it's the Soaper's Choice brand.. I think the last one I got was 32.00 and no shipping.


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## SoaperForLife (Aug 15, 2018)

I've used soybean shortening for most of my soaping career... starting with Crisco and then on to Soaper's Choice.  I also use Crisco for greasing up my molds before lining them.  One time I bought the cheap store brand and that eventually created its own DOS in the tub so I would steer clear of any off-brand ones.  Soybean shortening creates a nice creamy lather and I've never noticed a problem with rancidity or DOS from using it.  I was worried about the new shortening that SC has - "interestified" is something new - they used to offer straight-up soybean shortening or some sort of blend.  I see that they now have an animal fat/veggie oil blend - if you're not worried about label appeal that might be the way to go.  The interestified does work the same for me as the old type if you're curious.


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## amd (Aug 15, 2018)

Cellador said:


> There is a 7lb option for the shortening....https://www.soaperschoice.com/search?as=true&cid=0&q=Shortening&Sid=True&Isc=true I might as well just purchase some and test it...still, it takes me awhile to get through 7lbs of anything.
> I have been using the new Crisco with palm & soybean. I was wondering if you used the shortening along with palm if you'd get a similar skin feel. But  more than anything, I'm curious about how prone it will be to DOS.



Ah, that's a different shortening than the one in my first post... the 7lb option is out of stock though. When I used soybean OIL I had extremely good results, but I only used it at 20% of my recipe. I don't know how much of a difference there is in soybean shortening vs oil, other than the obvious "one is hard and one is liquid", so that would be something worth looking into (for me) as a hard oil replacement. @Cellador In your place, I would be evaluating my recipe very closely to see what a combination of palm and soybean shortening would give you. I would be comparing the fatty acid profiles of both recipes, and adjusting to get as close to same as possible to best mimic the qualities in the recipe you already like. Although I would rather buy one product than two to get the same result.


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## Kamahido (Aug 15, 2018)

Soaper's Choice also has 100% Beef Tallow for the same price. I buy 50 lb blocks from them.

https://www.soaperschoice.com/rendered-beef-fatrendered-beef-fat


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