Palm Oil Question

[Cellador]

I just bought a small amount of palm oil to try for my next recipe. Although I purchased from another supplier, I noticed that Brambleberry/Soap Queen recommended you melt the entire container of palm before measuring. Is this a best practice for all palm? Or only BB's?

Thanks!

 

[joy]

I just read that last night when I was making up my shopping list. It was news to me! I've been buying BB Palm since 2004 and I have never heard of that before. I've always just sliced open the top and spoon it out and melt it with the other hard oils (I tried it once and I didn't like the way the (7lb) bag dragged around on my microwave turntable). So, in my experience, pre-melting in the microwave doesn't change anything as far as the quality of the palm. I think they are just pointing out the "convenience" of the pour spout bag. And the smaller bag won't, of course, have the same issue as the larger one. Someone else might have a different view though.

 

[kchaystack]

I just bought a small amount of palm oil to try for my next recipe. Although I purchased from another supplier, I noticed that Brambleberry/Soap Queen recommended you melt the entire container of palm before measuring. Is this a best practice for all palm? Or only BB's?

Thanks!

I don't.

This practice comes from the fact that the fatty acids in palm have very different melting points. So if you melt it and let it cool slowly, the FA with the higher melt point solidify first making some areas of the oil more of one FA than the other. Some find this uneven distribution on FA causes stearic spots. I have never had an issue with them tho.

If you melt it all and cool it quickly, this does not happen - and you get a homogenized mix.

It is warm enough were I am that my palm stays semi liquid. so I can just give it a good stir before I use it. But even when I lived in MI and soaped in my basement in the winter (it was REALLY cold down there) I did not worry about mixing it too much.

I would try a small batch and see if you have trouble