Nilotica Virgin Shea Butter

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Becky1024

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I ordered a bucket of Nilotica Virgin Shea Nut Butter. Boy was I surprised when I opened the bucket and found it was semisolid chunks in a golden liquid. I'm used to unrefined or refined which is solid. Have any of you experienced soapers used it in soap making?
 
I researched it before posting. Nilotica Virgin is supposed to be liquid like.
 
From a rarer East African subspecies of the shea nut tree, according to Jedwards.

SAP is higher (.135) than than the West African Shea (.128) according to:
https://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/resources/sapon.asp
If you bought it from a soap making supply house, you might want to check with them to confirm the NaOH SAP (or KOH SAP for conversion) before you make soap with it. If the SAP is indeed higher, you will end up with excess superfat if you use the “traditional” shea in the calculator.

This site states that there is more oleic and less stearic in Nilotica, with a comparison photo further down on the page:
Shea Nilotica has a 25 % higher oleic acid and a 45 % lower stearic acid content. Since stearic acid is a very hard fatty acid, it’s easy to see why Shea Nilotica has a lower melting point than regular shea butter and is significantly softer and creamier.
 
Interesting. It has a slightly different saponification value according to this: Saponification Chart

I wonder which lye calculators include it. You can add it to Soapmaking Recipe Builder & Lye Calculator as a custom oil, though, if you can't find it listed in another one.

ETA: Oops! I just realized that Zany posted the same link. I don't know how I missed it! Sorry, dear heart.
 
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I haven't seen it anywhere either. As a provisional replacement, cupuaçu looks reasonable (similar stearic and oleic acid content, similar saponification value 0.137). Caveat: fromnaturewithlove.com gives a SAP for cupuaçu that is wildly different from all other sources and inexplicable from the fatty acid profile (mistake?).
 
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