Lard and Tallow

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I actually use the PKO to offset the drying nature of the coconut oil. I've tried the recipe without it and I just didn't get the feel I wanted. I know, my recipe is more complicated than most but I've tinkered with it quite a bit to get what I wanted from my soap.
What proportion do you generally use, CatahoulaBubble? I've used the together, but not really paid attention closely enough to evaluate what that meant to the overall soap. It might be worth it to me to do a little comparison testing.
 
Last edited:
I don’t like more than 20% Coconut Oil in my soaps. Too drying. I would use either/or Coconut or Palm Kernel. I do like Lard in my soap, it adds hardness and creamy lather. Also if you need a fluid batter, Lard really helps a lot. I made a lollipop soap today with four colors and probably couldn’t have done it without Lard in the recipe.
 
Does anyone have a favorite place they like to purchase lard and tallow from and what's the general price range I should expect to find it for?

I get beef kidney fat from a meat vendor at our farmer's market for free (I make some soap for her from it at that I sell back to her at wholesale price) - once a year she brings me a cooler full. You wouldn't need that much for an experiment. It's not hard to render, but if you're doing a lot at one time it helps to do it in the winter so you can set the covered pots outside to chill.
 
Not yet. Maybe because I always force gel.

Forcing gel won't have anything to do with getting DOS. DOS - dreaded orange spots are from oils going rancid. Grapeseed oil and other oils with high Linoleic and Linolenic Acid are prone to rancidity. I live in South Florida, I have to really watch my oils/butters and keep my Linoleic/Linolenic acid number under 14.
 
I use Tallow/Lard at 40/27% Tallow Lard and 15-18% PKO/CO Split approx 50/50. This combo makes a really creamy soap and lathers nicely with 1% added sorbitol at 2-3% superfat. I use the 18% PKO/CO in my men's fragranced soap since most men like a little more cleansing.
Can you clarify this recipe? I want to try an animal fat recipe for my next batch. So your recipe consists of Tallow 40% Lard 27% 18% PKO/CO? Or is it T/L at 27-40% + 15-18% PKO/CO + some liquid oil? THX... I was tinkering at soap calc and so far came up with Tallow 20%, CO 20%, HO Sunflower 25%, Shea 15%, Cocoa 15%, Castor 5% to which I plan to add 1 tsp of sugar.
 
I love lard in soap and if you want a lard - tallow mix that makes a great soap try Walmart great value shortening with tallow and lard. It does have a small amount of soy but I haven't had any issues with it at all. Makes a very nice bar of soap. I was pretty shocked by just how good.
what % of gv shortening tallow/lard do you use in your recipes and which listing in a lye calculator do you use?
 
Back
Top