Laurel Berry Oil
INCI Laurus Nobilis Fruit Oil. Also: Sweet bay oil, Bay laurel fruit oil, Laurel fruit oil, Ghar oil, Defne yağı, Laurus nobilis fruit oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | 198–199 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 198.5 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1415 g/g |
| Iodine value | 68–80 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 125 |
| Melting point | 36 °C |
| Unsaponifiable matter | 10 % |
A bar made of 100 % Laurel Berry Oil
Conventional qualities summed from the fatty-acid groups; a single-oil bar is a reference point, not a recipe.
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lauric acid | C12:0 · saturated | 18–27.7 | 22.9 |
| Myristic acid | C14:0 · saturated | 1 | 1.0 |
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 17.1–22.5 | 19.8 |
| Palmitoleic acid | C16:1 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 27.2–30 | 28.6 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 20–21.5 | 20.8 |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
Where these numbers come from
Open access under CC BY 3.0. Fixed-oil yield 15.0 % by weight at 250 bar and 40 C. Table 2 gives the fatty-acid composition of the fixed oil as percentages: C12:0 27.7, C14:0 1.0, C16:0 17.1, C16:1 n-7 0.3, C18:0 1.5, C18:1 n-9 27.2, C18:2 n-6 21.5, C18:3 n-3 1.2, others 2.5 (C10:0, C20:0, C20:1). The paper reports no saponification or iodine value.
Paywalled at the publisher; the bibliographic record and abstract were read through Crossref, and the figures used here are the ones the abstract itself states: oleic 30 % and linoleic 20 % as the main unsaturated acids, lauric 18 % and palmitic up to 22.5 % as the main saturated ones, in the neutral lipid fraction; volatiles about 10 % of the oil, with trans-ocimene and germacrene D predominating; sterol content on the order of olive oil's, β-sitosterol 84 % of it; dehydrocostuslactone and costunolide together about 5 %. The full tables were not read, so no acid is taken from this paper that the abstract does not name.
The source of the saponification value (198–199) and iodine value (68–80), which it prints as characteristics of laurel oil from Laurus nobilis, along with a density of approximately 0.88, a melting point of approximately 36 C and a refractive index nD25 of 1.4783. A patent is a dated, published, citable document but it is not a compositional standard, and it gives no method for either determination — hence the disputed note. The patent's separate figure of about 40 C is for laurel tallow, a different preparation, and is not used here.
This is the pressed fruit oil of the bay laurel, the fat that makes Aleppo and Nablus soap. It is not bay laurel ESSENTIAL oil (a steam distillate of the leaves, which saponifies nothing) and not West Indian bay, Pimenta racemosa, which is a different plant sold under the same English word. Fatty acids are a band across the only two published analyses of the fruit's fixed oil we could read in full. Where both report an acid the band spans them; where only Marzouki et al. reports one it is given as a single typical value rather than invented into a range. Marzouki et al. (2008, Table 2, supercritical CO2 at 250 bar / 40 C, Tunisian berries): C12:0 27.7, C14:0 1.0, C16:0 17.1, C16:1 0.3, C18:0 1.5, C18:1 27.2, C18:2 21.5, C18:3 1.2, plus 2.5 % grouped as C10:0 + C20:0 + C20:1, which is left unsplit here because the paper does not split it. Castilho et al. (2005, Madeira, neutral lipid fraction): oleic 30, linoleic 20, lauric 18, palmitic up to 22.5. Saponification and iodine values are from US 4,235,889, which prints them as bulk characteristics of laurel oil; no compositional standard covers this oil. They sit 4.8 % below what the fatty-acid profile alone implies, which is consistent with the unsaponifiable fraction rather than in conflict with it: Castilho et al. measured roughly 10 % volatiles in the Madeira oil, with sterols on the order of olive oil's and two sesquiterpene lactones at about 5 % of the whole. Ten per cent of a fat that is not a triglyceride is ten per cent that consumes no lye, and a measured saponification value is the honest figure to calculate from. The practical consequence for a soaper: the lye figure here is the measured one and can be used as it stands, but roughly a tenth of what you weigh out will not saponify and will behave as superfat on top of whatever discount you set. Traditional Aleppo recipes put laurel berry oil at 2-40 % of the fat, added to an olive-oil soap after the boil.
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.