Palm oil vs cocoa butter in soap
Cocoa butter is the harder of the two, nearly two-thirds saturated, and scores 61 for hardness on its own against palm oil’s 50. Faiola finds that above about 15 % it can make a bar crack, which is why the bar below uses 15 %, and unless it is deodorised it smells of chocolate. The lye differs by 3.3 %, and a swap moves the superfat only to 4.6 %.
Palm Oil Cocoa Butter (Theobroma Oil) Compare them with other oils
The published figures
| Palm oil | Cocoa butter | |
|---|---|---|
| Saponification value, mg KOH/g | 190–209 | 188–198 |
| Used by the calculator, mg KOH/g | 199.5 (midpoint) | 193.0 (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH, g/g | 0.1422 | 0.1376 |
| Iodine value, g I₂/100 g | 50–55 | 33–42 |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 147 | 156 |
| Melting point, °C | — | 31–35 |
| Unsaponifiable matter, % | ≤ 1.2 | — |
| Name on a soap label | Sodium Palmate | Sodium Cocoa Butterate |
Each oil alone
| Palm oil | Cocoa butter | Usual range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 50 | 61 | 29–54 |
| Cleansing | 2 | 0 | 12–22 |
| Conditioning | 51 | 38 | 44–69 |
| Bubbly lather | 2 | 0 | 14–46 |
| Creamy lather | 48 | 61 | 16–48 |
A single oil’s hardness, cleansing and the rest are the same sums the calculator shows for a recipe, applied to that one oil. They explain what the oil brings to a blend; they do not predict how a soap of only that oil would feel.
Swapping one for the other
Gram for gram, cocoa butter takes 3.3 % less lye than palm oil. For a kilogram of oil at a 5 % superfat, that is 135.1 g of sodium hydroxide for palm oil and 130.7 g for cocoa butter.
In the bar below, where it is 15 % of the oils, weigh the lye for one and put in the other without recalculating, and the superfat moves:
| Lye weighed for | Oil used | Superfat |
|---|---|---|
| Palm oil | Cocoa butter | 4.6 %barely moves |
| Cocoa butter | Palm oil | 5.4 %barely moves |
The superfat is the share of the oils the lye leaves unsaponified, planned here at 5 %; below zero, there is more lye than the oils can take. Put the oil you actually have in the lye calculator and it works out the lye for that oil.
The same bar with either
The bar: 15 % of the one or the other, at a 5 % superfat, for 1,000 g of oils. The rest: 55 % olive oil, 25 % coconut oil, and 5 % castor oil.
| With palm oil | With cocoa butter | Usual range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sodium hydroxide, g | 140.5 | 139.9 | |
| Hardness | 37 | 38 | 29–54 |
| Cleansing | 17 | 17 | 12–22 |
| Conditioning | 60 | 58 | 44–69 |
| Bubbly lather | 22 | 21 | 14–46 |
| Creamy lather | 24 | 26 | 16–48 |
| Iodine value | 61 | 58 | 41–70 |
| INS | 147 | 148 | 136–165 |
| Linoleic and linolenic acid, % | 9.4 | 8.4 |
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | Palm oil | Cocoa butter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myristic acid | C14:0 | 1.3 (0.5–2) | 0.0 |
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 | 43.4 (39.3–47.5) | 26.5 (23–30) |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 | 4.8 (3.5–6) | 34.0 (31–37) |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 40.0 (36–44) | 34.5 (31–38) |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 10.5 (9–12) | 3.2 (1.6–4.8) |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 0.3 (0–0.5) | 0.8 (0–1.5) |
| Arachidic acid | C20:0 | 0.5 (0–1) | 0.8 (0–1.5) |
The figure the calculator uses for each oil, as a percentage of its fatty acids, with the published range in brackets.
Recipes with palm oil
- Piped soap cupcakes 60 % of the oils
- Classic olive, coconut and palm bar 30 % of the oils
- Everyday bar, the usual three 30 % of the oils
- Apricot seed scrub bar 25 % of the oils
- Everyday bar, gentler 25 % of the oils
- Gardener's pumice scrub bar 25 % of the oils
Recipes with cocoa butter
- Mocha swirl bar 25 % of the oils
- Cream and honey luxury bar 23 % of the oils
- Men's cedar and orange bar 20 % of the oils
- Rice bran and avocado bar 20 % of the oils
- Vegan hard bar 20 % of the oils
- Unscented chamomile bar 17 % of the oils
Guides
Other comparisons
Where these numbers come from
Palm Oil
Verbatim mirror of the FAO file CXS_210e.pdf; the official FAO link (https://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/sh-proxy/en/?lnk=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fworkspace.fao.org%2Fsites%2Fcodex%2FStandards%2FCXS%2B210-1999%2FCXS_210e.pdf) was Cloudflare-gated at retrieval. Table 1 (Section 3.1) = mandatory GLC fatty-acid ranges, % of total fatty acids, ND = not detectable (<=0.05%). Table 2 (Appendix 'Other quality and composition factors') gives saponification value, iodine value (Wijs) and unsaponifiable matter of CRUDE oils; the Appendix is explicitly ADVISORY (a product not meeting it may still conform). This print predates the 2021-2025 amendments; the 2024 additions (avocado, camellia seed, sacha inchi, high-oleic soya bean) are not included.
Cocoa Butter (Theobroma Oil)
Mirror site hosting the USP 29-NF 24 text; values transcribed from that page. Newer USP editions may differ.
JP XVIII 'Cacao Butter' (Oleum Cacao): melting point 31-35 C; congealing point of fatty acids 45-50 C; acid value NMT 3.0; saponification value 188-195; iodine value 35-43.
Five Venezuelan hybrid cultivars: palmitic 22.9-26.1%, stearic 34.7-37.3%, oleic 36.2-39.9%, linoleic ND-1.6%; iodine value 32.5-34.1; saponification value 193.4-194.9 mg KOH/g; melting point 35-36 C.