Dextrose Powder

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RDak

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Has anyone ever tried dextrose powder to increase lather?

Thanks for any info.
 
We never tried, but I don't think you will see any difference from regular sugar (sucrose).
It's debatable whether regular sugar survives saponification, without breaking down.

Normally sucrose hydrolysis is performed enzymatically or in acid and yields 1 fructose and 1 glucose (dextrose) per each sucrose.
In the basic conditions of soaps, sucrose hydrolysis is slower and more complex, but you can expect a certain degree of decomposition anyway, if only due to the temperatures.

I would say go ahead and use the same amount as you will use regular sugar, the effect will be probably the same, including acceleration/heating of the soap during the first hours after tracing.
Same thing about the lather boosting effect!

Though I wouldn't spend my money on it... since glucose is derived from sugar. Unless I had it free. Or I will do some fancy glazes, and syrups, and confectionery with it :-D.
Dextrose does not crystallize from a syrup over time, unlike sugar does!

Cheers,
Lorenzo
 
Dextrose is a reducing sugar, so it will be more likely to darken soap, just like the fructose and glucose in honey will cause darkening. If that's okay with you, dextrose should be fine.

Like Lorenzo, I wouldn't go out of my way to get dextrose just for use in soap, but if you've got some just lying around, I'd try it.

If you don't want an increased chance of darkening, then use non-reducing sugars instead, such as sucrose (the main sugar in table sugar).
 
Ok, thanks Lorenzo and DeeAnna..........just thought it might be better than table sugar. More like sorbitol which is touted as giving very good lather with big bubbles.

The difference is dextrose is far cheaper.....sorbitol is a bit pricey from what I have found.

I guess I'll just stick to granulated regular sugar. (I do use other stuff to increase lather but I was hoping dextrose might be a cheap way to help more than table sugar.)

Oh well, thanks again.
 
I'm guessing that dextrose will act more like sucrose (table sugar) in soap than it will act like sorbitol. Sorbitol is dextrose that has been chemically altered into a "sugar alcohol." But I have not actually used sorbitol and dextrose in soap to know how they affect lather, so take my words with a grain of salt.
 

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