Substitute for tallow?

[goldieloxj95]

Hello,

We are knew to soap making.. actually we are about to embark on our first soap making adventure. My husband and I think we have everything to get started, but we cannot find tallow. Do you know where we can buy it locally? Do you know a substitute that we may use instead of Tallow? How do we figure the substitution measurements?

We are going to make our basic soap, then branch out from there..

I would appreciate any help I can get :O)

Thanks!

 

[krissy]

you can use use lard instead, you just have to run your new numbers through a soap calculator with the new oils. www.soapcalc.net is very useful.

 

[Lindy]

I buy mine from the Butchers and Lard is a good substitute, or if you're wanting a vegetable replacement then Palm Oil is also a good substitute too.

Have fun.

 

[jennikate]

Well i use fat from cooking beef render it to get tallow. Generally tallow is something you often go to meat dept of store ask about suet take it home and either boil it or fry it to end up with tallow. Lard is aval in baking section green and white box most stores ready to use. Either work well if you use lard instead of tallow make sure rerun recipe to check lye amount.

 

[honor435]

I dont use animal fats( but some do and it makes a nice hard bar), you can get palm oil from a online place called soapers choice.
palm, olive oil, coconut and castor(more bubbly)would make a nice bar.

 

[morrainewoods]

I use lard, and really love the texture of the bar. You can easily buy it in the grocery store too.

 

[goldieloxj95]

To Tallow or not to Tallow?... that is the question..

We bought Canola oil AND Olive oil yesterday.. we were going to use both of them to make soap.. Will the olive oil substitute the Tallow and how much should I use?

 

[NancyRogers]

You didn't say where you are, but if you have a Wal-Mart near you, their GV Shortening (not the veg. kind) has tallow and palm. It makes fantastic soap and it's very affordable. SoapCalc even has it on their list of oils/fats so no guess work about sap rates.

 

[MsSharLee]

Wal-Mart carries Armor lard in tubs and blocks (ours does anyway) from my understanding lard actually is pig tallow ... its the pig fat rendered and all the impurites removed ... Fields Lard is excellent and very cheap if you have a Save A Lot they carry it. It's somewhere in the area of $5 for a tub.

 

[carebear]

In it's broadest sense, tallow means animal fat. But in most of the US - tallow means beef fat and lard means pig fat.

Soapcalc is quite specific about the type of fat.

 

[Lindy]

Olive Oil is not going to be a sub for tallow. Truly if you're willing to use animal fat then you really should get lard for your replacement - very easy to get. Keep in mind that it is not a straight across switch so run your numbers through a lye calculator.

 

[IrishLass]

I don't know where on the planet you are located, but if you are in the western half of the USA, there is a place called Smart & Final (a chain of restaurant supply stores that's open to the general public & with no membership fees). They sell ready-to-use beef tallow there in 50 lb cubes (at least the one by me does).

If you can't find beef tallow, the Walmart GV tallow/palm blend that NancyRogers mentioned looks like the next best thing since their properties are pretty close to each other (that's awesome that SoapCalc has a listing for it. I wasn't aware of that).

Lard is great, too (I love lard), but like Lindy said, just be aware that lard is not exactly a straight across 1:1 sub for beef tallow. It's properties differ somewhat from beef tallow in that it produces a slightly softer, less bubbly and more conditioning soap. It still makes awesome soap, though. I actually like to use lard and tallow together. What one lacks, the other one makes up for.

Palm oil is a good veggie sub for beef tallow. It has a few slight differences, but makes a good, hard bar.

No matter which one you choose to sub out the tallow with (if you can't find tallow), just remember to run everything through a good online soap calculator like SoapCalc, among others, because each sub calls for differeing amounts of lye.

Oh, and like Lindy said- olive oil is not a sub for tallow. Their properties differ way too much from each other.

IrishLass

 

[goldieloxj95]

Thank you all for your help! I will look and see what we have available around us. I might have more questions.. so stay tuned ;O)

 

[Lindy]

Irish Lass it never occurred to me to put Lard and Tallow together - what a great idea! Thank you.

 

[adoptapitbull]

You may also be able to find lard in Hispanic food stores. I believe it's calld "Manteca".

I buy the Walmart GV Shortening, the one with the fried chicken on the label. It's $3.38 here for a nice sized tub. The veggie shortening is right next to it, as is lard in a green and white package.

Be careful with canola...it is prone to DOS. Keep the % small and you should be OK.

 

[lsg]

Palm oil is a good substitute for tallow. If you don't want to order palm oil, the new formula Crisco contains palm oil.

 

[Bama]

Thank you for sharing about the GV shortening. I want to try that. I love this forum. Learn something new and helpful all the time.

 

[adoptapitbull]

The GV stuff has both tallow and palm, which I like because it saves money on buying palm! That stuff is not cheap!

 

[goldieloxj95]

AdoptaPitBull... What do you mean DOS?

I am getting a little confused.. Sorry guys But what you are saying is... Instead of tallow I can buy shortening, whether it is Beef or PIg doesn't matter, and use that in place of the tallow.. Do I melt it down and use the exact weight as I would use for the tallow?

I think I am going to give it a try today.. Another question.. I know that the basic soap has to try for like 4-6 weeks before you can package it.. BUT does the basic soap have to try the whole 4-6 weeks BEFORE you can use it for handmilled soap?

I thank all of you for your feedback.. this has been most helpful

 

[krissy]

you can use either one in place of the tallow however you will have a different lye amount so you will need to run your recipe through a soap calculator. if you post the recipe you intended to use (with tallow) we can help you with a replacement recipe.