Perilla Seed Oil
INCI Perilla Frutescens Seed Oil. Also: Perilla frutescens seed oil, Perilla oil, Egoma oil, Deulkkae oil, Shiso seed oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | 196.48–198.26 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 197.4 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1407 g/g |
| Iodine value | 196.7–213.19 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | -8 |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | — |
Soapmaking books print about 0.137 g NaOH per g (median of 3 books). Why book figures and ours can differ.
A bar made of 100 % Perilla Seed 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 | 66.8 g(66.5–67.1) | 93.8 g(93.3–94.2) |
| 1 kg | 133.7 g(133.1–134.3) | 187.5 g(186.7–188.3) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 60.6 g(60.4–60.9) | 85.1 g(84.7–85.4) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 121.3 g(120.7–121.8) | 170.1 g(169.3–170.9) |
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 8 : 92
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 4.43–5.62 (typical 5.62) | 5.6 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 1.86–1.92 (typical 1.92) | 1.9 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 16.92–21.16 (typical 21.16) | 21.2 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 9.12–14.53 (typical 11.19) | 11.2 |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 60.11–64.05 (typical 60.11) | 60.1 |
Where these numbers come from
Table 3, 'Physicochemical characteristics and fatty acid composition of perilla oil': three columns (UAAEEO, SEO, CPEO), n=3, mean +/- SD. Refractive index, acid, iodine, saponification and peroxide values, total tocopherol and phenolics, then the five fatty acids with SAFA/MUFA/PUFA totals. PDF read via the journal's SciELO PDF endpoint (?format=pdf&lang=en) and text-extracted.
Every figure here comes from Table 3 of Li et al., Food Science and Technology (Campinas) 37(Suppl. 1):71-77 (2017), which characterised one batch of Chinese perilla seed by three extraction routes side by side: ultrasound-assisted aqueous enzymatic (UAAEE), solvent (SE) and cold press (CPE). Saponification value 196.48 (UAAEE), 198.26 (SE), 197.82 (CPE) mg KOH/g; iodine value 210.654, 213.192 and 196.695 g I2/100 g; acid value 3.058, 1.299, 1.143 mg/g; peroxide 3.2, 4.5, 4.3 meq O2/kg; refractive index 1.479-1.481; all three liquid at room temperature. The min/max here span all three columns; 'typical' is the COLD-PRESSED column throughout, because cold-pressed is what a soapmaker buys and because it is the least favourable of the three for alpha-linolenic content, so a recipe built on it will not be surprised downwards. Cold-pressed fatty acids: palmitic 5.62, stearic 1.92, oleic 21.16, linoleic 11.19, alpha-linolenic 60.11 (total 100.00 %). The paper reports only these five acids, and they sum to 100 %, so nothing is missing: perilla really is essentially a five-acid oil. WHAT MATTERS FOR SOAP: at 60-64 % alpha-linolenic this is among the most unstable fats a soapmaker can put in a pot. The iodine value the same paper measured, 196.7-213.2 g I2/100 g, is higher than linseed's and far above the 70-ish that hobby lore treats as the softness ceiling; expect a soft, slow-tracing bar that goes rancid (DOS) early unless it is a small proportion of the recipe, kept cool and used fresh. The paper's own discussion notes the high polyunsaturated fraction makes perilla oil 'very suitable for the production of liquid soaps and shampoos', which is the honest use for it. The saponification range 196.5-198.3 sits about 2 % above the 192.8 mg KOH/g implied by the cold-pressed profile, well inside measurement noise and the free-acid content (acid value 1.1-3.1 mg/g). Unsaponifiable matter is NOT recorded: section 2.5 of the paper states unsaponifiable matter was determined by ISO methods, but Table 3 never prints the result, so there is no number to transcribe. Melting point not measured (liquid). INCI name from CosIng.
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