Vegetable Ghee, is it Palm Oil?

[Kelly Frizzell]

I was trying to find Palm Oil as a lot of the beginner recipes I have found ask for it - after checking a few places, I read that Vegetable Ghee was Palm oil so I sent hubby to get some, but the ingredients say Soybean Oil and then Palm Oil), I cannot find it on a Soap Calculator (I have found “Ghee any Bovine” - but I assume that is the clarified butter that I had bought first, thinking it was Palm oil)
Anyway, just not sure what to use on a soap/lye calculator, I did make one recipe and just put it in as Palm oil and it seems OK but I only did this two days ago, so not sure how it will turn out in the end. What oil should I use on a soap calculator for this product ? Soybean? Or Palm? Or some other value, or is there a soap calculator that would have this brand/combination of oil? (I have looked at a few, but could not find this in any).

 

[shunt2011]

You would need to contact the manufacturer and try to find out what percentage of each is in the product. Also, if it's high soybean I would be cautious as it's a short shelf life oil and can easily spoil.

Do you have access to Lard, it makes an awesome soap.

 

[Kelly Frizzell]

Well, it looks like it is manufactured in Dubai, so I likely won’t go that route.
How short of a shelf life would it have and what happens when it is used in soap- eg: does the soap go rancid? Or, ? And how soon?
I do want to sell my soap, so I don’t want customers getting bad soap.
I do have access to lard (even made my own); can it be used in place of Palm oil in recipes?

 

[shunt2011]

Well, it looks like it is manufactured in Dubai, so I likely won’t go that route.
How short of a shelf life would it have and what happens when it is used in soap- eg: does the soap go rancid? Or, ? And how soon?
I do want to sell my soap, so I don’t want customers getting bad soap.
I do have access to lard (even made my own); can it be used in place of Palm oil in recipes?

I wouldn't worry about selling at this point. Give yourself at least a year to create and test your soaps. Yes, soybean can go rancid in soap. I wouldn't use it at more than 10%. Then watch your soap to see what happens after 6 mos & 1 year if it lasts that long. Lard is great in soap. I prefer it to Palm personally though I make both. You can use lard in place of Palm just be sure to run it through a soap calc first. Plus, lard gives more time to play with the soap and trace.

 

[Kelly Frizzell]

I wouldn't worry about selling at this point. Give yourself at least a year to create and test your soaps. Yes, soybean can go rancid in soap. I wouldn't use it at more than 10%. Then watch your soap to see what happens after 6 mos & 1 year if it lasts that long. Lard is great in soap. I prefer it to Palm personally though I make both. You can use lard in place of Palm just be sure to run it through a soap calc first. Plus, lard gives more time to play with the soap and trace.

Oh, only 10%? I used that Ghee at 62% in the last recipe I made, it was a milk recipe. I am not sure how much the Soybean portion of that would have been? At least 34% of the soap recipe, or more as it is listed first on Ghee ingredient list. It was only 500g total oils so only made 7 bars, not many, I will keep an eye (or nose) on them.
Thank-you for the suggestion. I like that lard gives more time to play as I want to try some of the cool colour swirls, layering, etc. Trying to find Titanium Dioxide locally as I like the look of white soap with colour swirls, but not having much luck. I made one recipe with mostly tallow/lard because it said it would be a white soap- not white enough for my liking though.
I appreciate that I should wait and try out some soaps first, however, this is my first year owning bees and they produced honey and beeswax. So I am making products to sell: honey, as well as: candles, lotions, balms, etc. from the wax. I want to also add soap to my product list and catch a couple of the Christmas craft sales. (all of the soap recipes I have made so far, I have added either honey or beeswax or both).

 

[Relle]

From the questions you are asking Kelly you are no where even near to selling soap, just because you are selling honey and beeswax doesn't mean you are experienced enough to sell soap, balms, lotions etc. getting on the bandwagon before Christmas to make a dollar is not the way to go, this time of the year we get a lot of people coming in here to do just that. I'd also suggest you read anything and everything in the beginners section you can get your hands on, before going any further.

Here is a thread you might like to read before going any further.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/are-you-ready-to-sell-your-soap.16002/
and another
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/starting-a-soap-business-in-canada.26255/

 

[IrishLass]

Kelly- I definitely understand your excitement about being able to use your beeswax and honey in different products (I'm excited for you!), and I hope you don't take this the wrong way or become discouraged, but to echo what Relle said, the questions you are asking show that there are a lot more things to learn/more soap-making experience to gain before even considering to sell.

That's because handmade lye soap is such a quirky thing. Besides the things that can go wrong when making it (such as the volcanoing and leaking you experienced) - there are so many things that can go wrong with it even once it's been made and is sitting on the shelf during the weeks it takes to cure before using. It can develop DOS/rancidity out of the blue, seemingly overnight; colors can morph into different shades you did not intend, and/or scents can morph into different scents you did not intend, or else fade away altogether.

As many of us here have learned from the school of hard knocks, handmade lye soap is just one of those things that you just really can't avoid giving a year of testing and fine tuning your recipes to before selling them so that you know you are selling a product that has proven itself to stand the test of time.

Handmade lotions and balms are much the same way, too, especially if you are adding honey to them. Honey is one of those problem child ingredients in handmade lotions and balms unless using the proper preservative and emulsifier for your formulation. Separation issues and mold issues often can and do occur. Although honey has wonderful, natural antibiotic properties in itself that make it self-preserving, they are not powerful enough to preserve a whole lotion or balm formulation, unfortunately. I have a recipe for putting it in a lip balm, but it's something I would make only for myself to be stored in the fridge and to be used up in a short window of time. I would never consider selling it, or even giving it as a gift because I'd be afraid of it going bad on the giftee.

My advice to all those just starting out with soap-making is to not rush things. Soap is a lot like parmesan cheese- it truly can't be rushed. Just sit this year out to learn everything you can about soap-making and to make lots of 1 to 2 pound batches using a handful of different recipes to compare against and to test and tweak, and if all goes well/stands up to time and testing, you'll be much better prepared to sell next year.


IrishLass

 

[Kelly Frizzell]

From the questions you are asking Kelly you are no where even near to selling soap, just because you are selling honey and beeswax doesn't mean you are experienced enough to sell soap, balms, lotions etc. getting on the bandwagon before Christmas to make a dollar is not the way to go, this time of the year we get a lot of people coming in here to do just that. I'd also suggest you read anything and everything in the beginners section you can get your hands on, before going any further.

Here is a thread you might like to read before going any further.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/are-you-ready-to-sell-your-soap.16002/
and another
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/starting-a-soap-business-in-canada.26255/

Whew, well... some very convincing points, I read (skimmed) both links above, but there were more links within the “starting a business in Canada” one that I need to go into again when I have more time... I also run a part-time photography business and have a tournament to shoot this weekend, so, thank-you again. Will check back next week.

Kelly- I definitely understand your excitement about being able to use your beeswax and honey in different products (I'm excited for you!), and I hope you don't take this the wrong way or become discouraged, but to echo what Relle said, the questions you are asking show that there are a lot more things to learn/more soap-making experience to gain before even considering to sell.

That's because handmade lye soap is such a quirky thing. Besides the things that can go wrong when making it (such as the volcanoing and leaking you experienced) - there are so many things that can go wrong with it even once it's been made and is sitting on the shelf during the weeks it takes to cure before using. It can develop DOS/rancidity out of the blue, seemingly overnight; colors can morph into different shades you did not intend, and/or scents can morph into different scents you did not intend, or else fade away altogether.

As many of us here have learned from the school of hard knocks, handmade lye soap is just one of those things that you just really can't avoid giving a year of testing and fine tuning your recipes to before selling them so that you know you are selling a product that has proven itself to stand the test of time.

Handmade lotions and balms are much the same way, too, especially if you are adding honey to them. Honey is one of those problem child ingredients in handmade lotions and balms unless using the proper preservative and emulsifier for your formulation. Separation issues and mold issues often can and do occur. Although honey has wonderful, natural antibiotic properties in itself that make it self-preserving, they are not powerful enough to preserve a whole lotion or balm formulation, unfortunately. I have a recipe for putting it in a lip balm, but it's something I would make only for myself to be stored in the fridge and to be used up in a short window of time. I would never consider selling it, or even giving it as a gift because I'd be afraid of it going bad on the giftee.

My advice to all those just starting out with soap-making is to not rush things. Soap is a lot like parmesan cheese- it truly can't be rushed. Just sit this year out to learn everything you can about soap-making and to make lots of 1 to 2 pound batches using a handful of different recipes to compare against and to test and tweak, and if all goes well/stands up to time and testing, you'll be much better prepared to sell next year.


IrishLass

OK, I am re-thinking this.