soapformulator
EN
Butters

Dhupa Fat

INCI Vateria Indica Seed Butter. Also: Dhupa butter, Malabar tallow, Piney tallow, Vateria indica seed butter, Vateria indica seed fat, Safed damar fat.

Calculate a 100 % Dhupa Fat bar

Published values

Saponification value187–192 mg KOH/g (typical 191.1)
Used by the calculator191.1 mg KOH/g (typical)
SAP for NaOH0.1362 g/g
Iodine value36–43 g I₂/100 g (typical 36.72)
INS (SAP − IV)154
Melting point36–37 °C
Unsaponifiable matter≤ 1.5 %

A bar made of 100 % Dhupa Fat

Hardness 57 above 29–54
Cleansing 1 below 12–22
Conditioning 43 below 44–69
Bubbly lather 1 below 14–46
Creamy lather 56 above 16–48

Conventional qualities summed from the fatty-acid groups; a single-oil bar is a reference point, not a recipe.

Fatty-acid profile

Fatty acidPublished range, %Used
Myristic acid C14:0 · saturated 0.7 0.7
Palmitic acid C16:0 · saturated 9.7–16.2 (typical 13) 13.0
Palmitoleic acid C16:1 ≤ 0.2 0.2
Stearic acid C18:0 · saturated 40.7–46.5 (typical 43.1) 43.1
Oleic acid C18:1 34.6–42.5 (typical 42.5) 42.5
Linoleic acid C18:2 0.1–2.3 (typical 0.1) 0.1
α-Linolenic acid C18:3 n-3 ≤ 0.5 0.5
Arachidic acid C20:0 · saturated 0.4–4.6 (typical 0.4) 0.4

Where these numbers come from

Indian Chemical Society (Journal of the Indian Chemical Society); scan hosted on Zenodo — Venkatarao C, Narasingarao M. 'Chemical examination of the seeds of Vateria indica. Part I. Component fatty acids of the fat.' J. Indian Chem. Soc. 20:239-242 (1943). Zenodo DOI 10.5281/zenodo.6597130. · document dated 1943 · read 2026-09-24

Table I (constants), Table V (component fatty acids) and the conclusion, read from rendered page images.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India — Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 - Chapter 2.2 'Fats, Oils and Fat Emulsions', Version 5 (01.08.2025), 2.2.4 item 9 'Dhupa Fat' · document dated 2025-08-01 · read 2026-09-24

Dhupa fat (refined): refractive index 1.4576-1.4590 at 40 C, saponification value 187-192, unsaponifiable matter not more than 1.5 %, iodine value (Wijs) 36-43, acid value not more than 0.5.

PlantFAdb (Michigan State University), based on the Seed Oil Fatty Acids (SOFA) database of the Max Rubner-Institut — PlantFAdb datasets for Vateria indica (plant 10691) · read 2026-09-24

Datasets #22024 (1984) and #12820 (1968).

A stearic/oleic seed fat from the Western Ghats tree Vateria indica (Dipterocarpaceae), historically 'Malabar tallow'. Typical values are Venkatarao & Narasingarao 1943 (J. Indian Chem. Soc. 20:239-242; scan on Zenodo, read from rendered page images because the OCR layer is garbled): a sample obtained through the Forest Utilization Officer, Madras. Table I (present workers): m.p. 36-37 C, specific gravity 0.8989 (temperature subscript not legible in the scan), refractive index 1.4578 at 40 C (butyro-refractometer), saponification value 191.1, iodine value 36.72 (Wijs), non-saponifiable 0.588 %, Hehner value 92.6, acid value 2.88. The same table quotes earlier workers: Forest Research Reports (India) saponification 175, iodine 40.15; Jones and co-workers 184.8, 42.8; Puntambekar & Krishna m.p. 40 C, saponification 190.4, iodine 40.0 (Hanus), non-saponifiable 0.8 %. Table V, total fatty acids: 'lower acids (C10)' 0.2, myristic 0.7, palmitic 13.0, stearic 43.1, arachidic 0.4, oleic 42.5, linoleic 0.1; the conclusion repeats 'stearic (43.1%)'. The abstract printed on the first page says 45.1 % stearic; the table, the conclusion and the arithmetic of Table V (60.7 % solid acids x 71.1 % stearic) all give 43.1, so 43.1 is used. The 0.2 % of 'lower acids (C10)' is not filed under capric because the paper does not identify it as a single acid. The fat also gave 0.05 % of a terpenoid essential oil (iodine value 148) on steam distillation. The paper cites Menon ('Manufacture of Soap in India'): 'this fat can replace tallow in the preparation of household and good toilet soaps'. Saponification value 187-192, iodine value (Wijs) 36-43 and unsaponifiable matter not more than 1.5 % are the FSSAI standard for 'Dhupa Fat' (Chapter 2.2, 2.2.4 item 9; refined fat 'from clean and sound seed kernels of Dhupa, also known as Indian Copal (Vateria Indica Linn) tree'), with refractive index 1.4576-1.4590 at 40 C and acid value not more than 0.5; the 1943 measurements sit inside it. Ranges add PlantFAdb: 'Butter from plants' (1984): C16:0 9.7, C18:3 0.5, C18:2 2.3, C18:1 42.2, C18:0 40.7, C20:0 4.6; 'Component fatty acids and composition of some oils and fats' (1968): C16:1 0.2, C16:0 16.2, C18:3 0.1, C18:2 1.7, C18:1 34.6, C18:0 46.5, C20:0 0.7. Check: the 1943 profile implies about 192 mg KOH/g against the 191.1 measured on the same fat, and about 37 g I2/100 g against 36.72.

This record is part of the open ingredient database (ODbL). Found an error or a better primary source? The dataset is on GitHub; corrections with a document link are welcome.