My Fellow Larders

[Peachy Clean Soap]

As much as I love lard, I don't like it at 100%. The lather is dismal and the bars develop a old stale scent fairly quickly.
A 80% lard, 20% coconut is nice though. Long lasting, gentle, more lather and it doesn't get the stale scent.
These bars last so long I get tired of looking at them in the shower lol.

oh good to know' nothing is worse then a bar that smell's icky.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

I have always used lard OR tallow OR palm, never a combination. urrent recipes use 40% of lard, tallow, or palm. I only use palm for my vegetarian friends, especially my Hindu friends. We have a vibrant Indian community in my town. There seems to be a slight texture difference in the palm oil soap. I think tallow and lard make better soaps, plus the fats are a byproduct of the meat industry.

This evening I am going to render my own tallow from suet, which is now available in some New England supermarkets. Does anyone know off the top of their head if high-quality suet has a different FA profile from other animal fats? Suet is a much whiter fat, harder at room temperature, too.

I may have to try upping the animal fats to 50% to see how that formula compares.

Why not combine Lard & Palm in the same soap recipe? Maybe a big mistake i've been making?

 

[lenarenee]

Why not combine Lard & Palm in the same soap recipe? Maybe a big mistake i've been making?

Not at all, many people do that. I've done that. (I personally think the qualities of the lard are "hidden" by the palm, but others would disagree)

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Nothing wrong with this, except that you earn the antipathy of those who are outraged by killing pigs and those by killing orangutans.

 

[Quilter99755]

I love my lard soaps. Tried some no-stir palm last year and was not impressed. I probably won't buy any more. Lard from 20% to 80% and anywhere in between. The only time I ever got a thumb's up from my grandson was a 80% lard and 20% CO for testing scents. He wasn't impressed with the scent but said he loved the soap. I need to make a small batch just for him one of these days as the 20% CO is too high for my old skin. I'm pretty much into lard, RBO and maybe a butter or another soft oil. I play with the percentages of the oils all the time and pretty much can't tell the difference. I usually leave my soaps all cure 3 months and after supplying family with them, I rarely have any left after 6 months. Currently I have a lot on hand all within the 4-6 months stages as I had to move my oils to the garage this summer in order to house my daughter and grandson after a fire. I didn't want any of the oils to go rancid in the heat. So I had a huge soaping binge before the heat of the summer hit us. I do have one bar from Sept 2020 and another from Dec 2020 that are both 40% lard and neither of them have any issues. Love the creamy lather.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Not at all, many people do that. I've done that. (I personally think the qualities of the lard are "hidden" by the palm, but others would disagree)

Oh ok' I was thinking that both fats have similar fatty acid profiles. Thank you Dear.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Nothing wrong with this, except that you earn the antipathy of those who are outraged by killing pigs and those by killing orangutans.

Oh yes understandable. Thank you & appreciate your input.

 

[Kaolin washer]

I dont like anything that comes from a pig, but i have liked the Tallow, the only reason i would eliminate it is if i was making a soap bar that may ward off mosquitoes, as i would not want any animal smell to atract the bugs, I have never used palm, yet but use coconut oil , olive, and tallow,

 

[dibbles]

Why not combine Lard & Palm in the same soap recipe? Maybe a big mistake i've been making?

No mistake. I just personally only use palm occasionally, when I want an animal fat free bar.

 

[lenarenee]

Oh yes understandable. Thank you & appreciate your input.

You would split the total amount between the 2 fats, rather than doubling them. Example: if your Recipe is 40% palm, then don’t also use 40% lard and end up with 80% . Use a combo of half palm, half lard, or however you want to split it.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

You would split the total amount between the 2 fats, rather than doubling them. Example: if your Recipe is 40% palm, then don’t also use 40% lard and end up with 80% . Use a combo of half palm, half lard, or however you want to split it.

Oh ok' got it, Thank you Dear.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

No mistake. I just personally only use palm occasionally, when I want an animal fat free bar.

Thank you Dear' i've not used lard in my vegan bars too, though I do love lard in soap & w/ all our country enjoying pork products we generate a lot of pork fat. Were doing our country a favor imho lol .

 

[MsBeeHaven]

"I've never used palm oil." A heretic in our midst!!

I'm another. I use lard instead of palm.

 

[Bubble Agent]

"I've never used palm oil." A heretic in our midst!!

Count me in - never used the stuff, not.even.once.
Lard all the way for me, but I don`t judge those who wish to use it!
As I told you in the other thread of yours I use it in 50-60%. So you know where I stand, lol

As much as I love lard, I don't like it at 100%. The lather is dismal and the bars develop a old stale scent fairly quickly.
A 80% lard, 20% coconut is nice though. Long lasting, gentle, more lather and it doesn't get the stale scent.
These bars last so long I get tired of looking at them in the shower lol.

I agree, a 100% lard soap is not much to write how about! At least not the first coupple of years... I have one that is 7 years old (no stale scent though) Wowzah, it is great! The fragrance has long faded (lemon essential oil, yeah...) I have it next to my kitchen sink that I use before washing up when I am making dinner, It sure took its time to get there, so I agree, it really needs a bit of help from cocnut without waiting it out for half a decade for it to get decent...

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Why not combine Lard & Palm in the same soap recipe? Maybe a big mistake i've been making?

There’s nothing wrong with combining them. Lard, palm, and tallow have similar fatty acid profiles, so using combinations seems redundant to me. I would choose just one to weigh out when it’s time to make soap. Less work. I’m not sure what the advantage would be in combining lard and palm instead of using one or the other.

 

[Ugeauxgirl]

I wanted to see what all the fuss was about regarding palm, so I bought some and used it. It was fine, but I won't buy it again. Lard is whiter and cheaper, and I Iike lard in my soaps better than palm. But that's 2 cents from a fellow lardinator...

 

[FragranceGuy]

I may have to try upping the animal fats to 50% to see how that formula compares.

My two favorite recipes that I’ve made over the last year have 48% and 60% lard. They’re great on my skin and in the calculator. I’m using mostly lard, coconut and moderate linoleic soft oils (no butters) so I have a difficult time finding values that I like with anything less than 40% lard. In response to the original post, I wouldn’t hesitate to try completely replacing your palm! You might love it. And as previously noted, anything up to 100% lard can make an excellent bar. Lard seems to be one of those oils that has a 1-100% range (or 5-100% )

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Hi @FragranceGuy ! Glad to see you around here again!

(or 5-100% )

(or 5-95% – you wanna leave some space to not be guilty of the “Ultimate Soap Sin”)

 

[Marley]

Love my lard in soap. We only had lard growing up on a farm so that’s what we used. Then, with the introduction of the internet, Palm became more popular and accessible. I bought some, used it, and went right back to Lard. Haven’t used Palm in at least 20 years.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

My late lard adventures were an opportunity to develop a theory towards the proverbial reputation of lard as The Soaper's Delightful Blessing™, when it comes to workability, swirl times, and general well-behavedness.

In my experience, lard is not particularly slow-moving and not even exceptionally well-behaved (amongst the hard oils) when it comes to false trace.

BUT what really makes a difference is its manners when it comes to the texture of trace (true just as false trace): It does not “freeze” into hard lumps of fat, but the solids (be it the soap droplets about to form with lye, and/or the lard crystals, in the cold) can move past each other rather freely, even when there is a lot of them. Lard is an excellent “lubricant” for its own solids, noticeably better than any other hard oil I know. This is where lard really shines at! Even if it is tracing, the trace is very well-behaved, easy to control, and well to beat up back to a liquid-ish state.

And it doesn't even stop with saponification: lard-based soap dough is also really well-behaved, easy to knead up, pliable, yet non-sticky.

Too bad lard (just as any other ingredient) has its downsides, that keeps it from being the ultimate soapy no-brainer.