Which grade of oil?

by Mia Berggren
(New zealand)

I am looking at wholesale oil suppliers for good value oils to use for cold process soapmaking. My thoughts are that I don't want to waste money on buying premium, food grade oils unless it will make a reasonable difference to the quality of the soap.

Olive oil; is pomace grade sufficient or does it have to be a better grade? Coconut oil; I have three choices: crude oil, RBD or virgin. Which one? If I use crude oil, could it discolor the soap?

Strong>Answer:

Many people use pomace oil in their soap making but I personally prefer Grade A or B due to it's lighter golden colour and it doesn't trace as quickly. Pomace grade is quite green and often contains very small bits of olive in it. Sometimes chemicals are used to extract that last bit of oil from the olive as well.

As for coconut oil, I'm guessing "crude" means that it hasn't been refined, bleached or deodorized. I would ask the supplier you are wanting to purchase it from. I personally buy Coconut Oil 76 which is probably the one you are referring to as RBD(refined, bleached and deodorized) and is inedible. I imagine you could use the virgin but as you said, it will be quite a bit more expensive and not necessary.

Cathy