Milk Fat / Ghee
Also: Ghee, Anhydrous milk fat (AMF), Butter oil, Clarified butter, Butterfat.
Published values
| Saponification value | 217–235 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 226.0 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1611 g/g |
| Iodine value | 22.6–50.6 g I₂/100 g (typical 29.21) |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 197 |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | — |
Soapmaking books print about 0.165 g NaOH per g (median of 2 books). Why book figures and ours can differ.
A bar made of 100 % Milk Fat / Ghee
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 | 76.5 g(73.5–79.6) | 107.4 g(103.1–111.6) |
| 1 kg | 153.1 g(147.0–159.2) | 214.7 g(206.2–223.3) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 69.4 g(66.7–72.2) | 97.4 g(93.5–101.3) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 138.9 g(133.3–144.4) | 194.8 g(187.0–202.5) |
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 71 : 29
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caproic acid | C6:0 · saturated | 0.86–1.44 | 1.2 |
| Caprylic acid | C8:0 · saturated | 0.41–0.99 | 0.7 |
| Capric acid | C10:0 · saturated | 0.86–2.55 | 1.7 |
| Lauric acid | C12:0 · saturated | 2.04–3.15 | 2.6 |
| Myristic acid | C14:0 · saturated | 8.54–10.3 | 9.4 |
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 24.03–28.84 | 26.4 |
| Palmitoleic acid | C16:1 | 1.13–1.18 | 1.2 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 9.36–14.04 | 11.7 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 18.64–20.04 | 19.3 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 0.92–1.64 | 1.3 |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 0.48–0.66 | 0.6 |
Where these numbers come from
Table 1 (acid value, saponification value, iodine value, peroxide value, moisture) and Table 2 (fatty acid composition) for cow and buffalo ghee. Published 2020.
Table 3: ISO 3657:2013 titration SAP of five bovine butter samples: 232, 234, 235, 231, 231 mg KOH/g (NMR-derived 239-245). Used for the SAP upper bound.
Pure ghee (1:1 cow/buffalo, direct cream method): iodine value 29.21 +/- 0.52, Reichert-Meissl 31.38 +/- 0.73, Butyro-refractometer reading 42.96 +/- 0.31. Used for 'typical' IV.
Retrieved through the FoodData Central API search endpoint; g fatty acid per 100 g (total lipid 99.5 g). Cross-check only.
Primary: Pena-Serna & Restrepo-Betancur, Food Science and Technology (Campinas) 2020, Table 1 for cow ghee vs buffalo ghee: saponification value 217 +/- 9.2 vs 233.9 +/- 38.5 mg KOH/g; iodine value 50.6 +/- 1.59 vs 22.6 +/- 1.58 g I2/100 g; acid value 0.21 vs 0.03 mg NaOH/g; peroxide 0; moisture 0.3 %. Table 2 fatty acids (% of FA), cow / buffalo: C4:0 1.78 / 1.96 (butyric, no key - not mapped), C6:0 1.44 / 0.86, C8:0 0.99 / 0.41, C10:0 2.55 / 0.86, C12:0 3.15 / 2.04, C14:0 10.30 / 8.54, C16:0 24.03 / 28.84, C16:1 1.18 / 1.13, C18:0 9.36 / 14.04, C18:1 20.04 / 18.64, C18:2 1.64 / 0.92, C18:3 0.66 / 0.48; the min/max here are the cow-buffalo spread (the table lists only major acids, so rows sum to ~85 %). SAP max 235 comes from Foods 11(10):1466 (2022), Table 3: five bovine butters (Romania/Bulgaria/Moldova) by ISO 3657 titration 231, 234, 235, 231, 231 mg KOH/g (+/- 1-2); the buffalo-ghee mean 233.9 carries a very large SD and is not used as a bound. The cow-ghee IV of 50.6 in the primary paper is unusually high for milk fat; 'typical' IV 29.21 +/- 0.52 is pure mixed cow/buffalo ghee (direct-cream method) from Int. J. Food Science 2025 (DOI 10.1155/ijfo/4673218), which also gives Reichert-Meissl 31.38 and BR reading 42.96. USDA FoodData Central 'Butter oil, anhydrous' (fdcId 173412, NDB 01003) for cross-check, g per 100 g (total lipid 99.5): 4:0 3.23, 6:0 1.91, 8:0 1.11, 10:0 2.5, 12:0 2.79, 14:0 10.0, 16:0 26.2, 18:0 12.1, 16:1 2.23, 18:1 25.0, 18:2 2.25, 18:3 1.45 (not normalised to total FA; not merged into the ranges). Milk fat contains ~3-4 % butyric acid (C4:0) and other short chains which raise the SAP well above ordinary triglyceride fats. Melting point and unsaponifiables not sourced (null). INCI not verified (null).
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.