Trace Speed of Soy Shortening?

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Anstarx

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I usually use palm for my soap recipes as it's cheapest oil I can get here but I always use lard if I want to do a very delicate swirl as it traces do slow..
However, I have a friend who can't use anything containing lard. She had tried my other soaps and liked them but she really loves a clam shell swirl soap I made and want to order a batch from me to use as party favors.
I used lard for that batch and found palm to be too fast-moving in my test batches. I've considered using cocoa butter or shea but that would increase the price a lot and they also move fast. I've also considered using soy wax but I think the high temp it needed to melt doesn't fit for intricate swirl, either.
The supplier I usually purchase from recently started offering a kind of soy shortening for soaping and it's cheaper than lard.. I compared its data to soapCalc and found it to be almost the same as the soybean, 27.5% hydrogenated option. Had anyone soaped with this kind of shortening or something similar before? I would like to have some feedback on its tracing speed and overall behavior in soap. I plan to use it at 20-25%.
 
I think some have used Crisco Shortening here and it's Soybean and Palm. Soy has a shorter shelf life but being hydrogenated it may be okay. I would watch it for DOS. I don't know how it would be for tracing speed as I don't use soy.
 
I use hydrogenated soy and it traces fairly faster than lard. Speed of trace is also influenced by other oils in the recipe, as well, so soy is not the only factor. AND how vigorously you mix the oils. But if you are doing a straight across trade of 20-25% soy for lard with no other changes, then expect a faster trace. I find there is less time for inticate designs with soy than with slower moving oils. So I suggest trying a simple design the first couple of times to get used to a new recipe.
 
Palm, lard and hydrogenated soy are similar to each other in that they're fats high in stearic and palmitic acids. Rice bran oil and canola are low in these fatty acids and rich in oleic and linoleic acids. Not to say they can't be used, but they would create a different type of soap.
 
Just throwing this out there but what about RBO or canola oil?
RBO will accelrate trace and make the soap yellow no matter how much TD I use. I use canola for 10-15% in order to avoid DOS.
Generally I use these two oils for my soaps no problem. The reason I wanted to use soy shortening is that I want a hard oil in place of lard or palm.
My usually recipe will be something like 20 CO, 20 PO/lard, 5 castor, 30 OO, 10 canola/RBO and some S.almond, so I'm already using RBO and canola. The 20 lard/PO is my concern.
 
I use hydrogenated soy and it traces fairly faster than lard. Speed of trace is also influenced by other oils in the recipe, as well, so soy is not the only factor. AND how vigorously you mix the oils. But if you are doing a straight across trade of 20-25% soy for lard with no other changes, then expect a faster trace. I find there is less time for inticate designs with soy than with slower moving oils. So I suggest trying a simple design the first couple of times to get used to a new recipe.
Eeish, guess I can't just use my old recipe and just swap for soy then. Back to the drawing board, I think I will just use less palm and up the liquid oils...
 
Palm, lard and hydrogenated soy are similar to each other in that they're fats high in stearic and palmitic acids. Rice bran oil and canola are low in these fatty acids and rich in oleic and linoleic acids. Not to say they can't be used, but they would create a different type of soap.
You are right about that.
RBO will accelrate trace and make the soap yellow no matter how much TD I use. I use canola for 10-15% in order to avoid DOS.
Generally I use these two oils for my soaps no problem. The reason I wanted to use soy shortening is that I want a hard oil in place of lard or palm.
My usually recipe will be something like 20 CO, 20 PO/lard, 5 castor, 30 OO, 10 canola/RBO and some S.almond, so I'm already using RBO and canola. The 20 lard/PO is my concern.
My idea was a shot in the dark anyway.
 
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