Substitute for palm oil?

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fabiola

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Bernalillo, NM.
I am anxious to start my first batch, but all my easy recipes call for palm oil, which I don't find locally, does anyone know about a chain store that carries palm oil? If not, what can I use as a substitute? I am making hand mill soap to start into the hobby....:)
 
I don't use palm oil at all - and for your first batch, you want to keep it simple anyway. So if you can get olive and coconut oils, you're set. Try 15-25% CO, and make up the rest with the OO. It's a simple, but good recipe that will be fine to use after 4-6 weeks (if you use CP), but it will get better and better with a longer cure ...... If you want to add any other oils, you could consider around 5% castor oil to add to the creaminess of the lather.

Just be sure to run the final recipe with the weight of the oils you plan to use through a lye calculator like Soapcalc, and keep your batch fairly small (about 1kg or 2lb should be fine).


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So, can use lard in any recipe that calls for palm oil? and what would be the difference between a soap with lard and a soap with palm oil?
 
Whole Foods sell it under the brand name Spectrum. It's in their baking section. It's also sustainable!
 
I second that lard is a great sub for palm.

No offense but gross...Lard gave me DOS in every batch I tried it with.

You don't need Palm or Lard to make a good batch of soap, just work on your recipe and do your research on what certain oils bring to the table.
 
I agree with the poster who said 25% coconut, 75% olive oil. That makes a really nice soap and is nice and simple.

I've been making soap for five years and have never used palm oil. I mostly use olive oil (40-80%), coconut (15-30%), the remainder something economical like sunflower oil or rice bran oil (up to 20%) and a little bit of shea or cocoa butter (5-10%).

Have fun!
 

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