Liquid Palm Oil at Room Temperature

[Clyphelia]

Hi all! First time post here!

I’ve made a few batches of CP soap and it was time to resupply, so I bought some ingredients from Brambleberry including two pounds of Palm Oil. When it arrived it was quite liquid, which didn’t concern me because I expected it to get to the 95 degree melting point during shipping, but it never solidified. I put it in the fridge overnight and it did harden, but when it got to room temperature again it went back to the same liquid state. It is cloudy and viscous, but 100% liquid at 70 degrees.

I asked a few people, since I’m new to this and have only had a few packages of palm oil before. I thought maybe this was in the realm of normal, even though it’s melting point is 95 and I’ve only ever seen hard palm oil. Plus Brambleberry is a trustworthy company. No one I spoke to seemed to have experienced this before and thought it was worth reaching out to customer service. So that’s what I did, and they were great and sent out a replacement right away.

That batch arrived and was the exact same. I contacted customer service again asking if maybe it was a batch issue. They emailed back and said they looked into it and that’s just how this batch is and it’s perfectly safe and performs the same.

Does this seem right? Has anyone seen this? I’m so scared to use it and have it result in unsafe soap, or not perform the same. I mean, palm oil being a hard oil is most of the point! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[cmzaha]

It is fine. Once palm oil completely melts down it will take quite a long time to completely re-soldify. Do not worry about it. Frankly, I am a tad surprised B&B sent out another batch knowing palm will do this. Before purchasing 50lb blocks I in the beginning I purchased 35lb buckets and mine always liquified in the summer, not going fully hard until we were well into winter. Even then often times it stayed softer which I did not mind. My CO would do the same thing, it always liquified in the summer which I hated. 5 gallons of liquid oil is a pain to deal with...

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I purchased 35lb buckets and mine always liquified in the summer,

Me too. My order from MMS (Utah to Colorado) arrived semi-liquid and grainy. When I called them, I did not ask for, nor did I get, a replacement. Lucky you!!!

I later learned it's best not to order palm during the heat of the summer.

It soaped fine. No problem at all.

 

[cmzaha]

If it is grainy you just have to heat it and yep it will soap fine. I find it can become grainy as it resolidifies. I also find the no-stir (homogenized) does not do that, although it will melt I have not even had it fully become liquified in the summer months or grainy.

 

[TheGecko]

Does this seem right? Has anyone seen this? I’m so scared to use it and have it result in unsafe soap, or not perform the same. I mean, palm oil being a hard oil is most of the point! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I've had the same experience as @cmzaha when it comes to PO. I had purchased a 35lb bucket from BB, melted and repackaged in one gallon freezer zip-lock bags and then put the bags back in the bucket in the garage. This was in April; they never got fully solid again until the temp dropped down to the forties. Once it warmed back up, the PO softened back up.

Frankly, I am a tad surprised B&B sent out another batch knowing palm will do this.

They have excellent customer service. I once received an order and the lid to the Castor Oil had come a bit loose and leaked. It wasn't a huge amount...maybe an inch of oil. I called to let them know that they should probably double-check their bottles or put tape on them. Three days later I received an express package from them...a new bottle of Castor Oil.

 

[Clyphelia]

Thank you all for the insight! I feel much better about using it. It’s so crazy that it can get hard in the fridge then go back to 100% liquid at 70 degrees even two weeks later! I wouldn’t have guessed that.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

FYI: An option to solid palm is red palm, unprocessed and liquid. I buy it at a African Market. It's used for cooking. It soaps the same as RBD palm oil. Results in a pretty light yellow to orange color, depending on how much is used.