portioning and using palm oil

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SoapDaddy70

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first time buying palm oil and had a question. it was 8lbs and came in a jug with a tiny opening so i figured i would need to melt it and then portion it out. i put the jug in a 10qt bucket i use for brining meats. Boiled a bunch of water and poured it around the jug. Let it sit there until most of it melted. Poured as much as i could into a dutch oven and then sliced open the jug to get to the rest of it. Put it over very low heat until it was all clear and then portioned it out into quart containers at 600g each. My question is...Can I just grab what i need from each of those portions like you would coconut oil and then melt or do i have to melt the whole 600g portion and grab from that and then let the rest solidify again?
 
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Treat it just like coconut oil, grabbing what you need from your portions without melting first. :)

Curious - Do you have palm oil or palm kernel oil? Just asking because I've seen palm oil semi-solid so it had to be "glooped" out (your technical term for the day - you're welcome), but not so solid that it required boiling water to melt.
 
I thought palm oil had to be melted every time between uses (??). I was under the impression that it separates.

I was buying smaller, microwave sized containers, but I was going through them quickly. So I bought a larger container that I melt on the stove (in a pot of hot water), then portion out into the smaller container that fits in the microwave.
 
Mine is in a bag, and I can feel different levels of hardness at different layers once it cools, so I think it is beneficial to at least soften it and mix it prior to use. I have heard of mixing it with a SB when it's mostly cool and having it stay homogenized that way, too.
 
There's a 'no-stir' version in which case it doesn't need to be melted and stirred. It's my understanding that if it doesn't say non-stir, they it must be melted down and stirred before weighing.
 
My question is...Can I just grab what i need from each of those portions like you would coconut oil and then melt or do i have to melt the whole 600g portion and grab from that and then let the rest solidify again?

It depends on whether it is a shallow or deep container. I melted a 35lb bucket down and portioned into 1-gallon freezer bags. The bag would then be warmed up in a sink of water and cut open and poured into shoe-box sized container. When I made soap, I would then reheat the container until the oil was a slurry, given it a good stir, measure out what I needed and then do it again the next time.

Now I masterbatch my oils/butters...this time of the year, it's a thick mush as opposed to waffle batter, but the commercial paint stirrer I have works just fine and actually thins the batter. I do make sure to stir it very well before measuring it out, even when I'm doing multiple batches.

I do have a 5lb bucket of some "no-stir" PO that I'm going to try out this weekend.
 
I melt mine down to clear every time, but I batch prep for 3 or so loaves at a time so for a gallon bucket I only have to melt fully 2-3 times.
 
I've learned something new - thank you all! And this sort of thing is why I am thankful for finding this forum.
 
first time buying palm oil and had a question. it was 8lbs and came in a jug with a tiny opening so i figured i would need to melt it and then portion it out. i put the jug in a 10qt bucket i use for brining meats. Boiled a bunch of water and poured it around the jug. Let it sit there until most of it melted. Poured as much as i could into a dutch oven and then sliced open the jug to get to the rest of it. Put it over very low heat until it was all clear and then portioned it out into quart containers at 600g each. My question is...Can I just grab what i need from each of those portions like you would coconut oil and then melt or do i have to melt the whole 600g portion and grab from that and then let the rest solidify again?
If you have regular Palm Oil and you melted the entire bucket and portioned it out into smaller containers, then you should really melt that entire container. Palm oil separates into different fatty acids - scooping from various parts of the large container, like some have said above is no good. How would you know which parts have which fatty acids? Otherwise buy the no-stir Palm which has been homogenized.
 
If you have regular Palm Oil and you melted the entire bucket and portioned it out into smaller containers, then you should really melt that entire container. Palm oil separates into different fatty acids - scooping from various parts of the large container, like some have said above is no good. How would you know which parts have which fatty acids? Otherwise buy the no-stir Palm which has been homogenized.
Thank you @linne1gi I will be on the safe side and do that. I divided it into 600g portions and the recipe I am going to use uses about 300g. I will melt the whole 600g portion and use what I need and then let it sit again. I read on Brambleberry's site that you should be able to melt and remelt numerous times. I figure if I only have to do it 2x per 600g container I should be fine. Thanks again.
 
Thank you @linne1gi I will be on the safe side and do that. I divided it into 600g portions and the recipe I am going to use uses about 300g. I will melt the whole 600g portion and use what I need and then let it sit again. I read on Brambleberry's site that you should be able to melt and remelt numerous times. I figure if I only have to do it 2x per 600g container I should be fine. Thanks again.
Absolutely - you're welcome.
 
Mine is in a bag, and I can feel different levels of hardness at different layers once it cools, so I think it is beneficial to at least soften it and mix it prior to use. I have heard of mixing it with a SB when it's mostly cool and having it stay homogenized that way, too.

Please excuse my ignorance; but I can't figure out what SB stands for, ? Solid Butter? is my only guess. And thanks for bringing up this topic since I have wondered this as well. And it looks like I will be melting the whole container now whoops.
 
Please excuse my ignorance; but I can't figure out what SB stands for, ? Solid Butter? is my only guess. And thanks for bringing up this topic since I have wondered this as well. And it looks like I will be melting the whole container now whoops.
Yes, it's a stick-blender, otherwise known as an emersion blender.
 
If you have regular Palm Oil and you melted the entire bucket and portioned it out into smaller containers, then you should really melt that entire container. Palm oil separates into different fatty acids - scooping from various parts of the large container, like some have said above is no good. How would you know which parts have which fatty acids? Otherwise buy the no-stir Palm which has been homogenized.
Yes, thanks, @linne1gi . I know my unrefined palm kernel oil separates and settles into visible layers, for lack of a better word, but I didn't know the fatty acids of my refined palm and refined palm kernel oils separate when melted (I'm assuming we're all talking about refined oils since we're talking about oils that melt into a "clear" liquid). A quick search gave me nothing, so I have some fun soapy research to do! :)
 
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