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Oils

Macadamia Nut Oil

Also: Macadamia oil, Macadamia integrifolia seed oil, Macadamia tetraphylla seed oil, Macadamia ternifolia seed oil.

Calculate a 100 % Macadamia Nut Oil bar

Published values

Saponification value194.3–195.8 mg KOH/g
Used by the calculator195.1 mg KOH/g (midpoint)
SAP for NaOH0.1390 g/g
Iodine value77.7–82.7 g I₂/100 g
INS (SAP − IV)115
Melting point
Unsaponifiable matter

A bar made of 100 % Macadamia Nut Oil

Hardness 13 below 29–54
Cleansing 1 below 12–22
Conditioning 66 44–69
Bubbly lather 1 below 14–46
Creamy lather 12 below 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 0.34–0.89 0.6
Palmitic acid C16:0 · saturated 8.66–9.45 9.1
Palmitoleic acid C16:1 18.06–20.81 19.4
Stearic acid C18:0 · saturated 2.66–3.6 3.1
Oleic acid C18:1 60.48–64.7 62.6
Linoleic acid C18:2 1.41–2.24 1.8
α-Linolenic acid C18:3 n-3 0.13–2.38 1.3
Arachidic acid C20:0 · saturated 2.25–2.93 2.6
Gadoleic acid C20:1 2.21–2.81 2.5
Behenic acid C22:0 · saturated 0.61–0.73 0.7
Lignoceric acid C24:0 · saturated ≤ 0.35 0.3

Where these numbers come from

Emirates Journal of Food and AgricultureRibeiro A.P.L., Haddad F.F., Tavares T.S., Magalhaes K.T., Pimenta C.J., Nunes C.A. Characterization of macadamia oil (Macadamia integrifolia) obtained under different extraction conditions. Emir. J. Food Agric. 2020, 32(4), 295-302 (doi 10.9755/ejfa.2020.v32.i4.2095) · document dated 2020-04 · read 2026-09-20

Full-text PDF. Table 2 = PV, free acidity, iodine value, saponification value, oxidative stability for treatments SP/HP/MSP/OSP/MHP/OHP; Table 3 = fatty-acid profile (%).

Food Science & Nutrition (Wiley) via PubMed CentralTu X.-H., Wu B.-F., Xie Y., et al. A comprehensive study of raw and roasted macadamia nuts: Lipid profile, physicochemical, nutritional, and sensory properties. Food Sci. Nutr. 2021, 9(3), 1688-1697 (doi 10.1002/fsn3.2143) · document dated 2021 · read 2026-09-20

Table 4 (raw nuts, M. tetraphylla, China): source of arachidic, behenic and lignoceric values; Table 2 acid/peroxide values.

Primary source (Ribeiro et al. 2020, Emirates J. Food Agric.) pressed commercial Macadamia integrifolia nuts bought in Lavras (MG, Brazil) six ways (screw or hydraulic press, with/without microwave or oven pre-treatment). Table 2: iodine value 77.7-82.7 g I2/100 g and saponification value 194.3-195.8 mg KOH/g across the six oils (no mean printed); peroxide value 0.81-6.33 meq O2/kg; free acidity 0.36-0.67 % oleic. Table 3 fatty-acid profile (%) gives the min/max used here for myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic (C16:1n7), stearic, oleic, linoleic, gondoic/gadoleic (C20:1n9) and alpha-linolenic (0.13-0.15 % in screw-press oils but 2.29-2.38 % in hydraulic-press oils; transcribed as printed, the spread is unexplained in the paper). The paper itself quotes Moodley et al. 2007 (SAP 193.7 mg KOH/g, IV 78.3) and Navarro & Rodrigues 2016 (IV 72-78) as literature comparisons. Arachidic (2.25-2.93 %), behenic (0.61-0.73 %) and lignoceric (0.35 % in one variety, ND in the other, so only a max is given) are NOT in the primary paper; they come from the additional source Tu et al. 2021 (Food Sci. Nutr., Table 4, raw Macadamia tetraphylla varieties 'Guire 1' and 'Own Choice' grown in China), whose other values fall within or close to the primary ranges (myristic 0.34-0.57, palmitic 8.16-8.86, palmitoleic 18.73-19.76, stearic 3.13-3.43, oleic 59.65-61.18, linoleic 2.26-2.87, gondoic 2.02-2.17 %). Tu et al. report acid value 0.64-0.76 mg KOH/g and PV 0.19-0.34 meq/kg but no SAP or IV. Melting point and unsaponifiable matter: not reported by either source. INCI not verified on CosIng or a producer TDS, so left null.

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.