Using Canola Oil

[Krystalbee]

So I have been making soap just over a year now and I am totally addicted. I went to Costco today to buy some olive oil because I thought it would be more economical.
While I was there I noticed they also had canola oil. And jolly jee whiz!!! I could not get over the price. For 5L it was $5.00. My 6L of Olive oil ran me back $32.00:shock:. Least to say I picked up a jug of canola:wink:. Also wanted mention that I did refrain from grabbing the 60L barrel:angel:
Getting to the point of this thread, what does canola oil bring to the table for the soapers that have used it? I'm looking it up online while I post this but I also want personal views on it as well....

Thanks in advance:mrgreen:

Krystal

 

[Obsidian]

Its very prone to DOS, only use it as a small percentage of your soap.

 

[DeeAnna]

Canola has an unfortunate tendency to turn rancid (DOS) although some soapers use it with good results. If canola is mixed with other fats, I'd keep the % of canola reasonably low and not go overboard with a high superfat. Some people use the rule of thumb that the % of linoleic + linolenic acids in a soap recipe should be 15% or lower.

You may want to consider adding rosemary oleoresin (ROE) to the plain oil for storage -- ROE is a very effective antioxidant (unlike vitamin E). EDTA or sodium citrate is a chelator that may also be helpful to minimize DOS. EDTA is added to the soap as you make it.

Here are some links to tests done with various single oils. They might be help you form an opinion about canola as a soaping fat.

Curious Soapmaker:
http://curious-soapmaker.com/big-test-100-one-oil-soaps-part-i.html
http://curious-soapmaker.com/a-big-test-of-100-one-oil-soaps-after-2-weeks.html
http://curious-soapmaker.com/a-big-test-of-100-one-oil-soaps-after-15-months.html

Alchemy and Ashes:
http://alchemyandashes.blogspot.com/2013/01/im-up-to-somethingagain.html
http://alchemyandashes.blogspot.com/2014/03/single-oil-soap-experiment-phase-3-one.html

Lather Lovers Soap Swap 2012:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amathiasoapworks/6878711296/in/set-72157629324839760/
There is an update about these soaps 1 year later -- this discussion is on The Dish Forum, http://www.thedishforum.com/forum

Zen Soaps Soap Swap 2003:
http://www.zensoaps.com/singleoil.htm

 

[Krystalbee]

Oh wow. Thanks guys. I've discovered that is can soften soap but i didn't hear of DOS happening
Thanks for the links DeeAnna, they are great!
I find it very difficult to keep focused when I'm researching anything to do with soap; I have lost hours and hours on this forum and youtube often finding myself looking at something far different than my original focus:shifty:

 

[afbrat]

I find it very difficult to keep focused when I'm researching anything to do with soap; I have lost hours and hours on this forum and youtube often finding myself looking at something far different than my original focus:shifty:

I often do that too. Then I'm like hang on! I wanted to find such and such. Lol. I get hung up on pictures a lot! I love seeing everyone's creations!

 

[MrsSpaceship]

I made a couple of batches with grocer canola and was sad to discover DOS before I even got to the 4 week cure mark so I'm really hesitant to try again.

There is the a high oleic canola that I've seen being sold by soaping companies, I'm not certain how one would go about determining if this were the case with the canola you get at the grocer or even how it performs in actuality, but the claim is that it's less prone to DOS, (which instantly means you pay 5x's as much for it).
Sigh... soaping is not an inexpensive hobby.

 

[ngian]

If canola is mixed with other fats, I'd keep the % of canola reasonably low and not go overboard with a high superfat. Some people use the rule of thumb that the % of linoleic + linolenic acids in a soap recipe should be 15% or lower.

Hello DeeAnna
Is this 15% number the sum of the numbers in linoleic + linolenic acids that soapcalc gives? Because when I sum all the numbers from all the acids in a recipe, it gives 95 instead of 100%.

Lately I'm doing some experiments in small batches, and I wanted to get to know/test the canola oil in 40% in a recipe (3% lye discount) which gives me the 15% you are mentioning above.

 

[cmzaha]

I find it very interesting how we can all have different results. I use canola in high amounts with olive and have never had dos. It is actually a recipe on Millersoaps.com called Canolive. I have tweaked the recipe a tad but still use the high Canola. My Canola comes form either Costco or Smart & Final. Speaking of different results I run into trouble with lard and dos. Go figure...

 

[rparrny]

You may want to consider adding rosemary oleoresin (ROE) to the plain oil for storage -- ROE is a very effective antioxidant (unlike vitamin E). EDTA or sodium citrate is a chelator that may also be helpful to minimize DOS. EDTA is added to the soap as you make it.

I've seen ROE mentioned on several threads but I have no idea what it is or why one would use it. Can you elaborate?

 

[Susie]

Rosemary Oleoresin Extract. It is added as an antioxidant to jugs of oil you are afraid will go rancid.

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapglossary/f/What-Is-Rosemary-Oleoresin-Extract.htm

 

[DeeAnna]

"Is this 15% number the sum of the numbers in linoleic + linolenic acids that soapcalc gives?...."

Yes, that's right.

"Because when I sum all the numbers from all the acids in a recipe, it gives 95 instead of 100%...."

That doesn't surprise me at all. Soapcalc doesn't include all of the fatty acids and unsaponifiable chemicals that might be in a fat, so the sum of the percentages of fatty acids will often be less than 100%. For example, the fatty acids for coconut oil adds up to about 89% in Soapcalc, because capric and caprylic acids are not shown in Soapcalc. The listing for jojoba, to take an extreme example, shows a total of only 12% oleic acid -- the rest is unsaponifiable.

 

[amd]

This thread is so timely! I did an Google search the other day looking for a basic recipe that would stay nice and fluid for practicing swirls (At this point, I don't really care if it's fabulous soap, I just want practice and not spend a fortune doing it, and my fabulous soap recipes aren't swirling friendly) and came across a recipe that was (working from memory):
25% CO
25% Canola
25% Olive
25% other liquid oil (I can't remember if it was RBO, but I think so)

I was very happy to see the info about 15% linoleic+linolenic acids information, this gives me more information to work with for calculating my practice recipes, and also for formulating good swirl recipes (which will likely not involve canola, but not ruling it out completely at this point).

 

[swaraj]

Oh wow. Thanks guys. I've discovered that is can soften soap but i didn't hear of DOS happening
Thanks for the links DeeAnna, they are great!
I find it very difficult to keep focused when I'm researching anything to do with soap; I have lost hours and hours on this forum and youtube often finding myself looking at something far different than my original focus:shifty:

hey! how are you doing with canola? is it giving you any DOS?

 

[Ekuzo]

hey! how are you doing with canola? is it giving you any DOS?

Hi! It's an old thread and Krystalbee hasn't been active on the forum for quite some time now, but I understand why you would ask the OP about their experience. So I hope the mods don't mind the resurrection of the thread.

I will answer your question instead, from my experience. I experimented before with sunflower oil (another oil high in linoleic/linolenic fatty acids) and I always got DOS, so I gave up on using it, or using any similar oil for that matter. But then again, even in this thread it's apparent that some people successfully use similar oils with no issue, so it depends, and it seems it's not "one size fits all". There is high oleic canola oil which is not prone to DOS and has qualities similar to OO and high oleic sunflower oil, but it's more expensive and more difficult to find.

My advice here would be: if you want to include low oleic canola in your recipes and wonder how it behaves - try for yourself, it's usually cheap and easy to find. Just keep in mind you may or may not like the result (which depends on the amount used as well). Who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised and it may work for you and your recipes just fine.