Has anybody used peanut oil for CP soap?

[Zoo]

I make vegan CP soap that I sell at farmers markets and festivals (30-80 bars/week) and a few small stores (10-30 bars/week). I recently got a request from an old friend from HS (40 years ago!) who has a roasted peanut business. He wants a peanut oil soap that would be private labeled for his business. He is not concerned about the soap being "all natural" or "vegan". My current recipe uses 30% olive oil (pomace) that, according to SoapCalc, could be replaced with the peanut oil with almost no change in the end product. However, I have seen several warnings about the short shelf life of peanut oil which causes the dreaded orange spots. My question (finally): Is there a preservative I can add to a peanut oil based soap to prevent the orange spots?

Thanks

 

[AliOop]

What a nice opportunity! I've heard it makes nice soap, but haven't tried it yet. My advice would be:

1. keep your linoleic + linolenic total at 18 or less,
2. use ROE + a chelator such as sodium citratre or sodium gluconate to extend the shelf life.
3. Put a 3- to 6-month expiration date on the wrapper until you've had time to see how well the bars hold up in normal storage conditions.
4. Put a warning on the label to keep the bars out of direct sunlight.

 

[The_Phoenix]

While I have not used peanut oil, I have used sesame oil at 20%. One batch is coming up on two years of age and not a single bar has showed DOS or smells the slightest bit off. And I didn’t use anything in the soap to try to prevent it going bad. And sesame oil is higher in linoleic than peanut oil. That is the fatty acid thought to contribute to DOS (in addition to linolenic, which is in neither fat).

One note: the sesame oil I use retains some of its sesame smell in the soap. It’s actually quite pleasant and I choose fragrance oils that compliment it. You may find the same with the peanut oil. Or not.

I may need to experiment with peanut oil in soap.

 

[Blufuz]

I just tried a 100% peanut oil soap as a test, it’s super hard and has a nice sheen. Won’t be able to try it as soap for a few more weeks, but I’ve got a head start on you, so I’ll let you know if it develops DOS!

Anyway, from my DOS inducing test, the best way to avoid it is to absolutely avoid direct sunlight, any contaminants like tap water or contact with dirt, metal or even other DOS, and then add table salt to the soap. Maybe use ZNSC faux seawater.

 

[The_Phoenix]

Also, I’d keep the sf% at 2%. Just to be on the safe side.

 

[Zoo]

What a nice opportunity! I've heard it makes nice soap, but haven't tried it yet. My advice would be:

1. keep your linoleic + linolenic total at 18 or less,
2. use ROE + a chelator such as sodium citratre or sodium gluconate to extend the shelf life.
3. Put a 3- to 6-month expiration date on the wrapper until you've had time to see how well the bars hold up in normal storage conditions.
4. Put a warning on the label to keep the bars out of direct sunlight.

1. I'll have to look at my linoleic + linolenic total.
2. Unfortunately, I can't use ROE due to my epilepsy but sodium citrate or sodium gluconate is something I'll try.
3. The short shelf life is what I'm trying to avoid.
4. I use glassine bags to package the soap so direct sunlight is a non-issue.

Thank You

Also, I’d keep the sf% at 2%. Just to be on the safe side.

I use 5% shea butter and a sf% of 5%. Due to how much slower the shea butter reacts with the lye compared to the other oils, the primary amount of the total sf% is shea butter. I can actually see the shea butter in my finished charcoal soap. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I think I'm probably ok with the higher sf%.

 

[Obsidian]

I played arpund with peanut oil for awhile. Made one batch with 19% and at a year, it hadn't developed dos.

Also made a 100% peanut soap as a tooth soap. Took forever to trace and set up but made a nice hard gentle bar when it did. I don't rember if it went bad or not

 

[Blufuz]

I played arpund with peanut oil for awhile. Made one batch with 19% and at a year, it hadn't developed dos.

Also made a 100% peanut soap as a tooth soap. Took forever to trace and set up but made a nice hard gentle bar when it did. I don't rember if it went bad or not

Does a tooth soap taste like soap?

 

[Vicki C]

One consideration is allergies - as a grandparent of a boy with life threatening peanut and tree nut allergies I don’t use almond oil or peanut oil. I think nut allergies are to the proteins and how they are digested but… I wouldn’t risk it. But happy to hear the counterpoint on this issue.

 

[Blufuz]

One consideration is allergies - as a grandparent of a boy with life threatening peanut and tree nut allergies I don’t use almond oil or peanut oil. I think nut allergies are to the proteins and how they are digested but… I wouldn’t risk it. But happy to hear the counterpoint on this issue.

I grew up with a lot of friends with peanut allergies, and I know how import it is to label not only if it contains peanuts, but “may contain”, if there’s a chance of contamination with other batches.
However, once you’re a peanut seller, that ship has sailed, so it’s a good opportunity to also have peanut oil soap, I think. Just important to stress the labels and let the buyers know not to forget if they have people in their lives with such allergies and might carelessly use the soap.

I read somewhere (but please don’t take this too seriously, I have no sources at the moment) that the presence of peanut allergies caused schools to completely avoid anything with peanuts, which actually made the problem worse because now many more kids were not exposed to peanuts early on in life, and thus developed the allergy. It’s possible that peanut soap would avoid this problem. Maybe.

 

[Zoo]

Allergies are the primary reason I would not sell this soap as a "Zufall Soap Company" product. This soap would only be sold wholesale to the peanut roasting company owned by my old classmate.

 

[Obsidian]

Does a tooth soap taste like soap?

A very mild somewhat sweet soap, not unpleasant. I added a little ground cinnamon for flavor but I think peppermint EO would have been better

Allergies are the primary reason I would not sell this soap as a "Zufall Soap Company" product. This soap would only be sold wholesale to the peanut roasting company owned by my old classmate.

You need to consider cross contamination from your soaping tools and molds. I've heard that refined peanut oil has the allergens removed but I don't know if its true

 

[Zoo]

You need to consider cross contamination from your soaping tools and molds. I've heard that refined peanut oil has the allergens removed but I don't know if its true

I definitely understand. I use poly-tubing for my molds and all other equipment is stainless and is thoroughly cleaned.