Sorry, olive oil

[rainycityjen]

I am tired of working with my giant jug of pomace olive oil. It's cheap and I love that about it. But it is deep olive green and syrupy-thick and doesn't help me slow down my trace times.

I haven't experimented much with the other olive-like oils. A friend uses a lot of soybean oil from Costco and swears it makes her bars harder and lighter. I've experimented with rice bran oil but never as an olive sub. I know some people use canola/rapeseed, but the ingredient appeal is terrible and I'm afraid of DOS.

What "cheap" soft oil do you use a lot of, and why?

 

[MorpheusPA]

Your jug of olive oil just heard you say that and is going bad as we speak, just to spite you.

I use the cheapest stuff labeled "Olive Oil" from my discount warehouse. It's a rather nice gold that fades to near-white when soaped, so I suspect it's Grade A. Trace is quite slow and it's an easy to pour liquid. So that's my primary.

I've heard excessive soybean can also cause DOS, so I've avoided that. But it could just be something "everybody knows" and not actually true. If at reasonable amounts and you use them fast enough, that may not matter to you.

 

[rainycityjen]

Your jug of olive oil just heard you say that and is going bad as we speak, just to spite you.

I use the cheapest stuff labeled "Olive Oil" from my discount warehouse. It's a rather nice gold that fades to near-white when soaped, so I suspect it's Grade A. Trace is quite slow and it's an easy to pour liquid. So that's my primary.

I've heard excessive soybean can also cause DOS, so I've avoided that. But it could just be something "everybody knows" and not actually true. If at reasonable amounts and you use them fast enough, that may not matter to you.

Hah, sounds like a PSA. "Excessive soybean use can lead to DOS," says the stern police officer. "Just say no to rancidity."
http://www.soapmakingforum.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[MorpheusPA]

Hah, sounds like a PSA. "Excessive soybean use can lead to DOS," says the stern police officer. "Just say no to rancidity."
http://www.soapmakingforum.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

If that's wrong, I'm sure somebody will chime in.

http://www.zensoaps.com/singleoil.htm

The Zen soaps page lists soybean at #24--this was a pure soy bar, so YMMV. The update down below is under the heading, "Noticeably rancid and disgusting."

Still, that list might give you some more ideas.

 

[Susie]

I also use the cheap yellow olive oil from the warehouse store. Sam's in my case. Works well, behaves, does not dye my soap green, and no DOS yet(soap over a year old).

 

[Ruthie]

My last jug from WM was the pomace- 'cause that's all they had in the big one. Can't say I like it- except for the price. I much prefer Sam's. As for a replacement, I have not been satisfied with any I tried. I did get DOS from canola, so I no longer use it. Rice bran oil is not cheap, and when I heard it would get DOS, I decided it wasn't worth it.

Once again, I have to plug my lard and tallow. They are cheap and make lovely soap! Unless you are adverse to animal fats, you need to try them.

 

[Obsidian]

I use pomace because its cheap and I like what it adds to the soap. Pomace actually traces faster then plain OO but not by much. I personally haven't seen that OO reduces trace, my castile comes to trace in 2-3 minutes regardless of what grade I use. Lard is my go to fat when I want a slow tracing formula.

 

[navigator9]

I use the olive oil (not pomace) from Costco. It's a light gold, and also always on the list of unadulterated olive oil brands. It's good stuff.

 

[osso]

I use the olive oil (not pomace) from Costco. It's a light gold, and also always on the list of unadulterated olive oil brands. It's good stuff.

This is what I use also. Lighter in color and can be used in a slow tracing recipe just fine. I have used rice bran, but mostly in combo with olive. I don't like it as much.

 

[snappyllama]

I'll hop on the Costco OO bandwagon. It works perfectly, and the price is right. I use lots of it, Snappy CO from Amazon, and grocery store lard. Those three go into just about everything.

 

[Dorymae]

Olive oil does not speed trace. It also comes in many colors, from a light gold to a dark green. Are you opposed to animal fats? Lard traces slowly,adds to conditioning numbers and makes a hard white bar.

If you are opposed, you can try another brand or you could substitute rice bran oil. Rice bran oil has a lot of the same qualities and I believe is the closest you will get to olive oil without the green color.

Why are you looking for a soft oil? By soft do you mean creates a soft bar, is higher in conditioning, or is a liquid? If we can pin down better what you want, we could make better suggestions.

 

[rainycityjen]

I feel like my pomace OO traces slightly faster than the Grade A OO I've tried. Of course, I have a lot of other variables too.

Think I'll spring for some warehouse Grade A when I can.

 

[IrishLass]

I use Costco's Kirkland brand OO (the regular as opposed to virgin) for my soaps. It's all I've used since my beginning days of soaping and it has always served me well.

In my Castile-type (or bastille, if you will), which contains 50% OO, I use it in conjunction with a little bit of rice bran oil (I've found that it helps to cut down on some of the snottiness from OO).

Although rice bran has some of the same conditioning abilities as OO, I wouldn't totally replace all my OO with it since it has a much lower oleic content and a much higher linoleic content than OO, which makes it more delicate than OO and more likely to contribute to DOS if used in very high amounts.

I get a nice slow trace with my OO in my 100% Castile- so slow, that it's the one formula I make that I need to go real deep on my water discount or else it takes my soap an eternity to trace (I go as high as a 40% lye solution with it).

IrishLass

 

[lizflowers42]

Huh, I have no problems with pomace being thick.

 

[cmzaha]

I use pomace in some soaps and always when making castile soap. My castile turns out a very nice white. But I do not like working with the initial green when I am going to color other than greens so I then use Costco Pure Olive oil which is lighter in color without the green. I find pomace always traces faster

 

[TRBeck]

I don't mind olive oil, but a combination of avocado and rice bran oils will reproduce its constituent fatty acid profile, albeit with a tiny bit of linolenic as a tagalong. I do agree that lard seems to help slow trace for me, even with olive oil in the mix. I generally steer clear of pomace due to color and what I perceive to be faster trace. You can use it up in soaps that are going to discolor brown due to vanillin if you think it's affecting your final product or if it clouds your ability to judge other colors you are using.