Which kind of olive oil?

[pinkduchon]

Which kind of olive oil is better? Regular OO or Extra virgin OO?

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Jen, the lighter the OO, the better for soaping. I like using the Bertolli Classico I buy in 3 litre jugs at Sams. It is a grade above olive pomace and is great for soaping.

Paul :wink:

 

[pinkduchon]

Thanks Paul. I usually buy that or their EVOO at BJs Club but I bough a 5 gallon pail of Sicilia Pure Olive Oil and it is dark yellow and has a strong smell to it so I wasn't sure about it.

 

[topcat]

Hi Jen,

I think the extra virgin will give a more yellow base colour to your soap. I just make my first CP batch last Tuesday and used 300gm ev coconut oil, 300gm ev olive, 200gm rbo & 100gm mango butter with calendula petals and may chang eo - so far it is a creamy yellow and smells amazing! I don't feel the olive affected the scent. I have read on this forum to go the extra light and I think it is a colouring issue - just depends on what you want your end result to be

Tanya

 

[Healinya]

Jen, the lighter the OO, the better for soaping. I like using the Bertolli Classico I buy in 3 litre jugs at Sams. It is a grade above olive pomace and is great for soaping.

Paul :wink:

Ooh, good to know - that's exactly what I use.

 

[carebear]

I'm sure I've posted this before but here goes:

I soaped in a 90% OO/10% castile the following types of Olive Oil. I did not include EVOO cause it isn't worth the cost.

Pomace: soap had a "taupe" color that faded with the cure but def was not stark white.
Regular Bertolli: started off a little beige, darker than the extra light, but during the cure it went to stark white
Extra Light Bertolli: started off quite white and stayed very white.

In the end, the Pomace was still off-colored to me, and the regular and extra light Bertolli looked exactly the same.

If you can find Extra Virgin Olive Oil that's cheaper than regular then I seriously question that it's pure olive oil.

 

[digit]

Thanks Carebear!!

Digit

 

[bassgirl]

I thought I had read something negative about pomace a while back but I don't remember what it was. I used it on my last couple of batches and it seemed fine. Other than the color, which I don't really care about, are there any other negative aspects of it?

 

[Soapmaker Man]

I thought I had read something negative about pomace a while back but I don't remember what it was. I used it on my last couple of batches and it seemed fine. Other than the color, which I don't really care about, are there any other negative aspects of it?

It is chemically expressed from the seeds and pulp, the end remnants after pressing. It cannot be called OO without adding EVOO to it. A lot of soapers use it. I don't as I like the Bertolli Classico OO and equal amounts of RBO in my recipe.

More info;
http://www.eat-online.net/english/educa ... ce_oil.htm

Paul

 

[carebear]

I don't like pomace either and don't use it. But be aware that many of our oils are chemically extracted including most coconut oil.

As always - the devil is in the details...

 

[bassgirl]

OK, thanks, that's good to know. I think I'll switch back to regular OO now.

Paul, sorry, what's RBO?

 

[Deda]

I like the pomace OO from Columbus. It's very light, has no smell at all and soaps beautifully. Plus it's cheap.

 

[Soapmaker Man]

OK, thanks, that's good to know. I think I'll switch back to regular OO now.

Paul, sorry, what's RBO?

(R)ice (B)ran (O)il

It is close to the fatty acid profile of olive oil. I use it in conjunction with OO to extend the higher priced OO. It makes great soap too!

I bought 6 gallons of it a while back from Riceland Rice in Arkansas. They do not sell directly anymore.

 

[bassgirl]

OK, gotcha!

I think my pomace soap turned out really well, but my concern is that I'm trying to keep it all natural (not even using any FO's), so if there's a chance there are chemicals in the pomace, I want to avoid it.

 

[pinkduchon]

I'll have to try some RBO. I tend to use a lot of OO in general so some RBO sounds right up my alley!

 

[Soapmaker Man]

There are several online suppliers who sell RBO. I think CF is the best priced on a 35 pound container. Check locally at Asian supermarkets too.

Paul