Crisco in lieu of coconut

[Miz Jenny]

I have a few customers allergic to coconut oil, so I went to soapcalc and came up with this:

40% Crisco
50% Palm
10% Castor

It gives me just a 1 on cleansing and a 10 in bubbly. I'll be adding sugar.

What do y'all think? Thought I'd make a 1lb test recipe.

Jenny

 

[Obsidian]

I'd replace the crisco with OO, it will give a better bar. Alternately, if you can get palm kernel oil, it replaces coconut oil very well.

 

[Candybee]

I use PKO in place of or to lower my coconut oil and love it. Makes lovely suds and combined with castor will also help with lather.

You may also want to think about trying out Walmart's shortening in lieu of Crisco. The one with beef tallow and palm oil. It makes one heck of a lovely bar of soap.

 

[new12soap]

Crisco, palm, lard, and tallow all have very similar properties in soap. I don't think your recipe will be much different than just making a 90% palm bar. It will be very very creamy with not many bubbles.

If you want to replace coconut oil, PKO and babassu have similar properties and give amazing bubbles.

 

[jenneelk]

^^ Yes.. I use Babassu for those who can't tolerate coconut.

 

[cmzaha]

Crisco, palm, lard, and tallow all have very similar properties in soap. I don't think your recipe will be much different than just making a 90% palm bar. It will be very very creamy with not many bubbles.

If you want to replace coconut oil, PKO and babassu have similar properties and give amazing bubbles.

I agree that PKO and Babassu are great replacements for CO. Both come from seed kernels. Crisco is really not a good replacement for coconut. I do happen to like 100% palm shortening to help stretch my palm oilm but not as a replacement. I do make 100% shortening bar for testing fo's and do not like the feel of it.

 

[PinkCupcake]

I have a friend who is allergic to coconut, so I use PKO when I make soap for her. I love the way it turns out, and so does she!

 

[Miz Jenny]

Babassu is way too expensive IMO. Just made my monthly order so will wait until next month to order some PKO. Thanks y'all.

 

[Lbrown123]

My standard recipe lately:

10 oz crisco
10 oz coconut
10 oz olive
3 oz cocoa butter
3 oz castor

It has worked pretty well for me so far. I have replaced the coconut with peanut/sunflower/ canola on occasion. I usually go up on the cocoa butter when I have to replace those because the bar gets too soft. The soap does get harder after a longer cure. This fills my 2 lb mold perfectly.

 

[peepla]

By Crisco...are you refering to shortening or oil. Either way....your calc should be for soybean oil........cuz that's what it is. Be advised that soybean can vocano when hot processed...so be careful. If shortenting is scraped to get it out of container...there may be a bright orange reaction that will go away my the end of trace....that's from the aluminum trace amounts reacting to the lye. It makes a very good, bright white soap. Which should not be a surprise as Crisco shortening was originally intended as a lard substitute.

 

[peepla]

Be carful with peanut oil.........lots of folks are sensitive to that.

 

[VanessaP]

By Crisco...are you refering to shortening or oil. Either way....your calc should be for soybean oil........cuz that's what it is. Be advised that soybean can vocano when hot processed...so be careful. If shortenting is scraped to get it out of container...there may be a bright orange reaction that will go away my the end of trace....that's from the aluminum trace amounts reacting to the lye. It makes a very good, bright white soap. Which should not be a surprise as Crisco shortening was originally intended as a lard substitute.

Before you suggest someone choose a single oil in the lye calculators to substitute for the Crisco listing, perhaps you should check the ingredients list of Crisco. It is not only soybean oil.

Crisco ingredients: soybean oil, fully hydrogenated palm oil, and partially hydrogenated palm and soybean oils.

This is why SoapCalc has a Crisco entry, to make sure it has the SAP numbers correct. Yes, the numbers are virtually the same, but better to be safe than sorry. Also keep in mind that many people call all kinds of shortening as Crisco. Our Walmart still sells the tallow & palm store version, yet I call it Crisco, and it has a higher SAP value than the all veggie versions.

 

[peepla]

I never suggested using it as a single oil...I suggested that yes...it is a suitable replacement for coconut oil.....which is what she was asking about. As for soapcalc...I use brambleberry which also list it under its proper title but there is no way to know which calc someone is using and they are not all created the same. I'm here to help, not to hinder or argue one spot of an entire conversation. I actually read the entire comment....and it is a subject I know about. However if they were to use a single oil...its suitable. In combination of other oils....there's still attributes the the soaper needs to be aware of.
Also............I only refer to Crisco as crisco. I not make generalizations. All shortening isn't Crisco. All shortenting isn't all vegetable. Walmart's shortening is a tallow blend....that will not be the same thing and the label would say so. Just cuz folks shortcut the name and call "all" shortenting Crisco...doesn't mean folks won't use common sense and read a label for themselves.

 

[Lbrown123]

I was referring to the brand Crisco. Y'all are right that all brands have different ingredients so may not be the same. I have read the labels on generic brands and chose not to use those. I mainly use Crisco because it has palm oil in it and I don't have to pay shipping on palm oil. I also use the Brambleberry Calc.

 

[peepla]

That BB calc is the greatest ain't it?

 

[Lbrown123]

It's the only one I have figured out so far! Lol!

 

[Hazel]

I never suggested using it as a single oil...I suggested that yes...it is a suitable replacement for coconut oil.....which is what she was asking about.

As cmzaha already mentioned, Crisco isn't a good replacement for coconut. They have different properties. SoapCalc also lists Crisco and New Crisco. I agree not all lye calculators are created the same which is why I like SoapCalc the best. I hate having to go back and re-enter everything if I want to tweak percentages. Plus, SC doesn't erase previous info and I can go back and forth to compare recipes. I've had 5 variations on SC and kept clicking back and forth to see which one I wanted to make. Can you say indecisive? Sure...I knew you could.

Over the years, I've discovered common sense isn't and some people just don't read.

Miz Jenny -

I also vote for PKO as a replacement for coconut. I've used palm kernel oil flakes in soap and really liked it as a substitute for coconut. I prefer babassu but as you already said, it's expensive.

 

[Susie]

I had trouble learning SoapCalc also. One day I got mad at myself and made myself use SoapCalc until it made sense. Once it did, I can now use any soap calculator out there, even the advanced ones for liquid soap formulations.

Hang in there on learning SoapCalc. It really is simple once you get the hang of it. You just need to take one entry at the time. If you are measuring in ounces, start there. Click the ounces option. Type in how many ounces of oil you intend to use. Then look down at the part of the chart that has oils and whether to use % or ounces. Click ounces.

Then, choose whether you are using NaOH or KOH, and which kind of KOH.

Determine the amount of SF you are using. It is automatically set for 5, but you can change it. Then how much fragrance/EO you are using.

Once I got the above set, the rest was easy. Choose the fats(read twice, click once). Set the amount. Add additions and any specific notations at the bottom. (Like cool lye water to 110 degrees or any other specific instructions.)

Hit the calculate button, and look for any red info(like your oils do not add up to 100%). Fix any mistakes.

Then click view and print recipe. Give your soap a name with a date if you are making it right away. If I got the recipe from someone else, I put initials of the source so I know who to give credit to. Example: for a recipe from here, I use SMF: EG for Soapmaking Forum: Efficacious Gentleman. It comes out in a color coded chart that is easy to use. I print these out and punch holes for my soaping binder.

I use the areas at the bottom to take specific notes such as lye water was X degrees or it took X minutes to trace. I then put the dates it was molded, cut, etc on that page. I also put notes on what I think about the soap on there and any specific responses from others.

Being able to compare formulas, know my numbers of hardness, conditioning and such, and plenty of room for notes at the bottom makes SoapCalc my favorite calculator for bar soaps.

 

[Miz Jenny]

I finally figured out soapcalc and prefer it to MMS. Seeing the properties of my soap is a big plus IMHO. Hazel, I've already got PKO plugged into my next order.

 

[Dennis]

On SC I like that even if you select ounces for calculation, the chart shows ounces and grams of each ingredient.