Olive Oil Pomace vs EVOO

[Teddy G]

Hello, just curious if anyone has tried swapping out Olive Oil Pomace and replacing it with EVOO or vice versa. My normal suppler is out of the Pomace so I ordered some EVOO, probably not a very big difference but I'll be curious to see if I can notice any change to the soap. I was using Pomace just because it was about $10 cheaper for 4L.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Saponification value and fatty acid profile is identical for practical purposes, so recipe-wise it makes zero difference. (As long as either really is pure OO; there are circulating nasty stories about blended olive oils)

High-quality, fresh EVOO is a notorious slow tracer. Any “lower” quality OO, like second pressing, refined, FFA-bearing (old/rancid), solvent-extracted or pomace OO might be quite as slow, or trace quicker, up to a point where you'd call it a quick tracer. You won't know until you try out. If you don't rely on the tracing speed of OO, you don't need to care.

Many EVOO qualities have a distinctive, light but intense colour to them that is difficult to get rid of. Even refined pomace OO isn't the brightest, so you probably know already.

If you're normally choosing pomace OO for the price, have you thought about giving high-oleic sunflower or safflower oil a try?

My personal opinion is that the best place for EVOO is the kitchen, not the sink.

 

[Teddy G]

Thanks, I haven't thought of using sunflower or safflower but I think I'll give it a try and see how it goes. Cheers

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Just make sure you get the high-oleic variant. I haven't used olive oil for a long time since I went into those.

 

[dibbles]

I find that pomace traces quite fast, so likely you will notice that difference. I use regular olive oil, not EVOO, and find that it is slow to trace and doesn’t affect the soap color as much as EVOO does.

 

[maryloucb]

I find that pomace traces quite fast, so likely you will notice that difference. I use regular olive oil, not EVOO, and find that it is slow to trace and doesn’t affect the soap color as much as EVOO does.

This is really interesting to me. I use pomace and generally my batter is pretty slow to trace. I've read multiple places that pomace is fast to trace, but I have not had that experience. Maybe if I used regular olive oil I would notice a difference.

 

[dibbles]

@maryloucb that has been my experience with pomace. I haven't used it for a long time, and my skills have improved since I did use it so I might have better luck with it now. But even as a fairly new soaper, I noticed a difference between pomace and regular olive oil time to trace. I would have to order pomace online but can buy regular olive oil for less at Costco so I haven't had any incentive to try pomace again.

 

[maryloucb]

If I was anywhere near a Costco I would probably do the same, but alas, the nearest one is 4 hours away!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I've read multiple places that pomace is fast to trace, but I have not had that experience.

Ditto. Me too. and my Costco is only 5 minutes away.

 

[penelopejane]

I'm one of the few on this forum who use EVOO in all my soaps and I love it.
The speed of trace does not matter to me.
I do not use Pomace because I don't want the chemicals that they use to extract the "oil" on my skin.
I love EVOO in soap but it does take longer to cure fully (9-12 weeks for a mix of oils and 9-12 months for pure EVOO) but will turn into the hardest bar imaginable after 9 -12 months. (Ignore the "numbers" in the soap calcs because they don't allow for how OO soap behaves after cure). Use salt water as the water component and stand it on its edge in the shower.

You will have to be careful that the EVOO you are buying is the real deal. In the US and possibly Canada?? there have been concerns about fake EVOO as it is mixed with other oils to cheapen it.

 

[Albertina]

I too use EVOO in all my oils because I am an olive oil producer in Italy and find that olive oil bars tend to get a lot harder (and bubblier) with long cure. The yellowish colour tends to fade over time. Meaning months and years. I have some bars of EVOO soap made up to 5 years ago or more that are hard and lovely with no DOS (though I used some ROE).

Lately I have made a ZNSC soap with faux sea water, added mulberry silk and a little powdered rice starch. No fragrance, no essential oils. Just infused rose petals from my garden in the distilled water that I used in my lye solution. It feels great, creamy and I use it for both face and body. I can't smell the EVOO. The soap has a lovely smell of cleanliness..... If that is even a smell.

@Zany_in_CO should I post my recipe and observations of my ZNSC + silk + rice starch in one of the znsc threads?

 

[Anstarx]

I used to use pomace and EV both. EV for more luxury face bars and pomace for regular shower bars.

Pomace traces faster than EV or regular OO but it's still slow to trace in general. Some call it fast-tracing but I found it's still super fluid after beating it with my SB for 20 min. Faster then EVOO, yes, but definitely not my standard of fast tracing.
The soap made with pomace was slightly less slimey and had better lather, but the difference was minimal and you really need to pay attention to it. The bars high in pomace may also have a faint green tint which is cute.

However, I did found pomace to have a shorter shelf life than EVOO, as I did a batch of 100% pomace and 100% EVOO at about the same time. the EV batch was still okay after 2 years and still going strong, but the pomace one started having DOS after 1 year.

I swiched to use pure OO these days every since it's both affordable and stable, and also reducing OO amount in general since I really couldn't get used to the slimey lather

 

[Zany_in_CO]

You will have to be careful that the EVOO you are buying is the real deal. In the US and possibly Canada?? there have been concerns about fake EVOO as it is mixed with other oils to cheapen it.

True. Here is an article from The New Yorker magazine that details the adulteration of EVOO. It's from 2007 but, unfortunately, still applies today.

Slippery Business
The trade in adulterated olive oil.