Cohune Oil
INCI Orbignya Cohune Seed Oil. Also: Cohune kernel oil, Cohune nut oil, Attalea cohune kernel oil, Orbignya cohune seed oil, Manaca palm oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | 241.2–256.5 mg KOH/g (typical 254.6) |
| Used by the calculator | 254.6 mg KOH/g (typical) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1815 g/g |
| Iodine value | 11–18.9 g I₂/100 g (typical 12.7) |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 242 |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | — |
One soapmaking book prints 0.182 g NaOH per g, which agrees with ours to within 2 %.
A bar made of 100 % Cohune Oil
Conventional qualities summed from the fatty-acid groups; a single-oil bar is a reference point, not a recipe.
How much lye
| Oil | NaOH | KOH |
|---|---|---|
| 500 g | 86.2 g(81.7–86.9) | 120.9 g(114.6–121.8) |
| 1 kg | 172.4 g(163.3–173.7) | 241.9 g(229.1–243.7) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 78.2 g(74.1–78.8) | 109.7 g(103.9–110.5) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 156.4 g(148.2–157.6) | 219.4 g(207.9–221.1) |
For this oil alone at 5 % superfat, with pure sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or pure potassium hydroxide (KOH); in brackets, across the published range of its saponification value. KOH is usually sold at 90 %: divide by 0.9. For a whole recipe, open the calculator.
Fatty-acid profile
Saturated : unsaturated 88 : 12
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caprylic acid | C8:0 · saturated | 4–8 | 6.0 |
| Capric acid | C10:0 · saturated | 5.9–7 | 6.5 |
| Lauric acid | C12:0 · saturated | 42.4–50.8 | 46.6 |
| Myristic acid | C14:0 · saturated | 16–18.7 | 17.4 |
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 8.3–9.5 | 8.9 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 2.1–3.2 | 2.7 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 5.6–14.9 | 10.3 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 0–3.6 | 1.8 |
Guides that discuss it
Where these numbers come from
Datasets #15190/#15191 (SOFA TAB_008357 / TAB_009872): kernel oil composition, iodine value and saponification value.
Datasets #20788 (1969) and #22053 (1916).
Dataset #15466 (1979) and oil content #19149 (1962).
The source of the typical saponification and iodine values and the maximum saponification value. Five kernel fats (three samples of fruits and two of kernels, from palms on the Belize River): saponification value 255.0, 256.5, 256.5, 252.4, 252.4 mg KOH/g; iodine value 13.6, 13.7, 11.4, 13.7, 11.0; acid value 3.5, 13.1, 1.2, 20.4, 12.3; Reichert-Meissl value 6.8, 8.3, 8.2, 7.1; Polenske value 15.4 and 12.5; unsaponifiable matter 0.24, 0.28, 0.23, 0.28 %. The report finds the fat 'resembles very closely both coconut oil and palm-kernel oil'. Read from the Internet Archive scan's text.
One sample, oil extracted with ether (about 40 % of the kernel): 'Saponification equivalent ... 253.9-255.3. Iodine absorption ... 12.9-13.6', fatty acids melting at 27-30 C; the oil 'closely resembles cocoa and palm nut oils' and saponified readily. 'Equivalent' is an error for saponification value (Lewkowitsch, below); as an equivalent the figure would mean 220 mg KOH/g, which a lauric fat of iodine value 13 cannot have.
Prints the 1903 figures as saponification value 253.9-255.3 and iodine value 12.9-13.6, with the footnote: 'The original stated erroneously saponification "equivalent" instead of saponification "value."'
A lauric kernel oil from the Central American cohune palm, in composition close to babassu (same genus). No modern journal paper with a full analysis could be opened, so the fatty acids rest on PlantFAdb's transcriptions of four older sources: Attalea cohune (plant 11576): 'Fette und Lipoide (Lipids)' (Springer, 1969; SOFA TAB_003197): C6:0 0.0, C8:0 7.5, C10:0 6.5, C12:0 46.5, C14:0 16.0, C16:0 9.5, C18:2 1.0, C18:1 10.0, C18:0 3.0; 'Some new oil-seeds derived from American palms' (1916; TAB_003194): C8:0 8.0, C10:0 7.0, C12:0 46.0, C14:0 16.0, C16:0 9.0, C18:2 1.0, C18:1 10.0, C18:0 3.0. Attalea cohune (plant 14271; TAB_008357 and TAB_009872, kernel oil, oil content 65.8 %, remarks 'vide Orbygnia cohune' and 'Nigeria', publication listed as 'Development of Tucum pulp oil fractions for possible edible and industrial use' (1988)): iodine value 18.9, saponification value 241.2, C8:0 4.0, C10:0 6.0, C12:0 42.4, C14:0 18.7, C16:0 8.3, C18:2 3.6, C18:1 14.9, C18:0 2.1. Orbignya cohune (plant 12322): 'Seed lipids of the palm family' (1979; TAB_006540): C8:0 7.0, C10:0 5.9, C12:0 50.8, C14:0 18.4, C16:0 9.0, C18:2 0.0, C18:1 5.6, C18:0 3.2; oil content 52.2 % ('Analyses of seed samples from 113 plant families', 1962). SAPONIFICATION AND IODINE VALUES are the Imperial Institute's measurements on cohune kernel fat from British Honduras (Belize), in the palm's native range. Five fats from palms on the Belize River (Bulletin of the Imperial Institute 11:229, 1913) gave saponification values of 255.0, 256.5, 256.5, 252.4 and 252.4 mg KOH/g, whose mean, 254.6, is the typical, and iodine values of 13.6, 13.7, 11.4, 13.7 and 11.0 (mean 12.7, the typical), with 0.23-0.28 % unsaponifiable matter and Reichert-Meissl and Polenske values like coconut oil's. An earlier sample (Bulletin 1903, p. xxvi) gave 253.9-255.3 and 12.9-13.6; that report labelled its figure a saponification 'equivalent', an error Lewkowitsch corrected in 1909, and the 1908 Handbook of Soap Manufacture reprinted the label uncorrected. The 1916, 1969 and 1979 compositions above give 253-256 mg KOH/g as pure triglyceride, in line with the measurements. The 1988 entry (saponification value 241.2, iodine value 18.9) describes a less lauric, more oleic oil whose own composition gives 244.6; its metadata suggest the cohune figures were quoted in a paper about another palm, and it stays as the minimum of both bands. Until 2026-09-26 the record used that entry alone as its typical, 241.2, about 5 % under the Imperial Institute's figures. PlantFAdb labels every value 'GLC-Area-%', including the 1916 figures, which must predate gas chromatography. The fatty-acid ranges are min/max over the four compositions; no typical is given.
This record is part of the open ingredient database (ODbL), which you can download as CSV or JSON. Found an error or a better primary source? Corrections with a link to the document are welcome at support@soapformulator.com.