SunRiseArts
Well-Known Member
I am with cmzaha. From what I have experience lard soap is ok, but does not lather much .... I would add at the very least some coconut. I would prefer adding coconut than castor.
Lard V no Lard
- Thread starter Lee242
- Start date
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
I am with cmzaha. From what I have experience lard soap is ok, but does not lather much .... I would add at the very least some coconut. I would prefer adding coconut than castor.
mortenoen
New Member
Haha, I definately understand your problem extremely well. I'm a Norwegian too, and yes, here is absolutely nothing to be found, apart from very cheap olive oil and rapeseed oil. It is better in Sweden, but not very much. I was looking for swedish coconut oil, thought it maybe would be cheaper than Delfiafett (expensive Norwegian coconut oil), but could not find any hard oils, only butter, like cow's butter, or what it is called. And the liquid oils are way cheaper here than in Sweden. I forgot to check if swedish lye could be cheaper.
But yes, here is nothing to be found nowhere. Only at online stores abroad. Which is almost impossible to buy from since we can not legally shop for more than eqivalent to $44 (350 NOK) INCLUDED shipping. Otherwise it will be expensive in customs and VAT. And what is $44 dollars when you need like everything? But luckily, some shops do like to cheat and send it in a private name and write "Happy birthday" or something on the parcel, and send the invoice by e-mail.
I have seen somthing like lard or lard-ish. But I can't find it anymore. It was called Smult. Now they have only Flott Matfett. But if I don't remember wrong, Smult was lard or tallow (I don't know the difference).
By the way, I think Flott Matfett is quite good. It contains shea fat, coconut fat and rapeseed oil. I think shea fat is the same as or almost the same as shea butter, just in a cheaper and industrial quality, maybe? Not that Flott Matfett is cheap, but anyway, since we have nothing else, and it is cheaper than Delfiafett. I think I will write to them and ask about the percentages of each fat (it's not said on the package), so that lye can be calculated. And I will let you know if I find out.
I tried to find stearic acid. Of course impossible. So I bought a candle insteadIt said 100% stearin on the package. So I just melted it and used it. I had to throw the soap away anyway, it was a disaster like no other! Not the candle, but everything else in the soap.
I'm late to the party here, but I got in touch with Mills, the manufacturerer of "Flott" in Norway, because I could not get my hands on "Smult" (aka Lard/ pigs tallow) or the cheap coconut oil "Delfiafett". These fats and oils are only available around x-mas here. "Flott" on the other hand is always there in my shop. Mills said the composition of the "Flott" is a secret, but it is mostly shea fat, coconut oil and canola oil, with some cured canola oil mixed in. I got some help from my son, who is a chemist, to break this down in order to calulate the proper amount of lye. There are two choises you can make in the calculator to get the saturated/unsaturated ballance right. Say you use 50% "Flott". Then split this ammount into 50% coconut oil, 35% shea butter and 15% canola oil. You can also enter Saw Palmetto Oil as a stand-in for "Flott", just remember to deduct some points from "clensing", and add some points for "conditioning". That said, next x-mas I'm going to stock up on lard/ pigs tallow. It makes the best soap ever in combo with coconut oil, ghee, almond oil and castor oil.
I have rendered down my own from fat from the butcher - both tallow and lard. At $4 per 250g the lard is definitely expensive at Woolies. Cost me around $24 for 4kg of pork leaf fat so still not super cheap.
Kafayat Adebowale oyeniyi
Well-Known Member
My little butcher around the corner store gives me the beef tallow for free.....Since I buy beef from him....I am soo happy
Is it ok.if I.just replace lard for tallow...
Last edited by a moderator:
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2007
- Messages
- 18,008
- Reaction score
- 8,515
Yes it is OK to replace lard for tallow, just make sure to run the recipe through a lye calculator.
Nancy Jensen
Member
Does lard go rancid in the soap?
It does for me or it gets an old lard smell when the soap pushes a year. A couple of years ago I did some 100% lard test using different available here, and every one went rancid including fresh rendered lard. Most had antioxidants added to prolong the life of the lard, one of the antioxidants is BHT, do not remember the other, but they still went rancid. Some folks here can attest to it since I sent out the samples. I finally worked out a combination that will go for almost 2 yrs which is a 40/20 (not exact but approx), with additional bht and edta.
I'm surprised this thread is getting answers, it is over a year old. But since an admin commented I guess I just wanted to say I used the combination Susie recommended. It didn't go rancid but definitely has an old lard smell as it nears 1 year old instead of the refreshing lemongrass and spearmint I used to scent it.
For Carolyn it has ^^^, but for what it's worth, it has never gone rancid in mine. I'm not sure why that is, but my soaps with lard stay good for over 3 years (and counting). I use the Snow Cap-brand lard.
Edited to add: I didn't think of this until just now, but I use tetrasodium EDTA in all my batches because of my hard water issues. Tetrasodium EDTA has antioxidant properties as well as chelating properties. Maybe having that extra bit of antioxidant property from the EDTA in my soap helps out.
IrishLass
Last edited:
Kafayat Adebowale oyeniyi
Well-Known Member
can you.please recommend where I.buy good tallowFor Carolyn it has ^^^, but for what it's worth, it has never gone rancid in mine. I'm not sure why that is, but my soaps with lard stay good for over 3 years (and counting). I use the Snow Cap-brand lard.
Edited to add: I didn't think of this until just now, but I use tetrasodium EDTA in all my batches because of my hard water issues. Tetrasodium EDTA has antioxidant properties as well as chelating properties. Maybe having that extra bit of antioxidant property from the EDTA in my soap helps out.
IrishLass
Nancy Jensen
Member
What is Susie’s combination? Txs
I have a bar that was made on 2/17/2014 using Snow Cap Lard, which I can no longer find, that just came down with one spot of dos and the fragrance is still fine. I test with the brands readily available in my area. Snow Cap lard was the very first lard I used when I started making soap. A few years ago when I did still find it had gone up enough in price I did not find it cost worthy since I sell. But if you can fine Snow Cap I agree with IrishLass you should have no problems. This is why I did the testing because I never had a problem with Snow Cap. I apologize I did not explain it better in my last post. Thankyou to IL for pointing it out. I will also mention the spot of dos only appeared when I opened the shrink wrap on one a few month ago, to see what would happen.For Carolyn it has ^^^, but for what it's worth, it has never gone rancid in mine. I'm not sure why that is, but my soaps with lard stay good for over 3 years (and counting). I use the Snow Cap-brand lard.
Edited to add: I didn't think of this until just now, but I use tetrasodium EDTA in all my batches because of my hard water issues. Tetrasodium EDTA has antioxidant properties as well as chelating properties. Maybe having that extra bit of antioxidant property from the EDTA in my soap helps out.
IrishLass
Nancy Jensen
Member
Thank-you
Kafayat Adebowale oyeniyi
Well-Known Member
I buy carrier oils from them let me check it out..thank you
Carolyn, maybe you can order it online from WalMart to have them deliver it to your local store and pick it up. WalMart carries it in some parts of the US, but not all stores stock it. I don't know why, but they have no uniformity of product in WalMart. It's just simply hit and miss when it comes to brands in any given store. However, I think you can order it to be delivered to your local store for you to pick up and you might be able to purchase at a reasonable price. IF you want to go that route. I sometimes have to order things in that way because not all things are carried in our local store or the ones nearby. The only problem is frozen foods. They won't do that with frozen foods.
This is what I had in mind. It's in the above post.
Susie said: ↑
I would use Lard 75%, Olive Oil 20%, Castor Oil 5% for bubbles.
It's 'ok' to use tallow in place of lard (after running through a lye calculator) but the two fats bring very different qualities to a soap. Pig fat is very close to our own, which is why it's so lovely on the skin. Tallow is nice also, but it makes for a harder, more cleansing bar than lard does.
ETA I use lard in most of my soaps, I've yet to have one smell 'lardy' and some of the bars I have are five or six years old. I think it depends on the quality of the lard you use. I'm just now having to use commercial lard, for years I was able to get leaf lard and render it myself, so I had total control over how it was rendered. Sadly that source dried up. We'll see what happens going forward.
ETA I use lard in most of my soaps, I've yet to have one smell 'lardy' and some of the bars I have are five or six years old. I think it depends on the quality of the lard you use. I'm just now having to use commercial lard, for years I was able to get leaf lard and render it myself, so I had total control over how it was rendered. Sadly that source dried up. We'll see what happens going forward.
My first batch of soap (now 6.5 years old) still smells like lemongrass with nary a hint of rancidity. I made it without tetrasodium EDTA (because I had soft water), and now I use tetrasodium EDTA because I have hard water and my batch made July 2017 still has no hint of rancidity. I use Armour lard, since it is so much cheaper than any other brand. I don't know why Carolyn is having soaps go rancid, but mine does not.
