Prickly Pear Seed Oil
INCI Opuntia Ficus-Indica Seed Oil. CAS 90082-21-6; EC 290-109-1, as CosIng gives them. Also: Opuntia ficus-indica seed oil, Cactus seed oil, Barbary fig seed oil, Cactus pear seed oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | 160.2–186.63 mg KOH/g (typical 186.63) |
| Used by the calculator | 186.6 mg KOH/g (typical) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1330 g/g |
| Iodine value | 101.35–130.5 g I₂/100 g (typical 130.5) |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 56 |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | 1.19 % |
A bar made of 100 % Prickly Pear 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 | 63.2 g(54.2–63.2) | 88.6 g(76.1–88.6) |
| 1 kg | 126.4 g(108.5–126.4) | 177.3 g(152.2–177.3) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 57.3 g(49.2–57.3) | 80.4 g(69.0–80.4) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 114.7 g(98.4–114.7) | 160.8 g(138.1–160.8) |
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 16 : 84
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 11.9–13.83 (typical 11.9) | 11.9 |
| Palmitoleic acid | C16:1 | 0.6–0.68 (typical 0.6) | 0.6 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 3.4–3.79 (typical 3.4) | 3.4 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 15.71–21.3 (typical 21.3) | 21.3 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 60.8–64.43 (typical 60.8) | 60.8 |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 0.2–0.45 (typical 0.2) | 0.2 |
| Arachidic acid | C20:0 · saturated | 0.2–0.34 (typical 0.2) | 0.2 |
| Gadoleic acid | C20:1 | 0.2–0.21 (typical 0.2) | 0.2 |
| Behenic acid | C22:0 · saturated | 0.22 | 0.2 |
| Lignoceric acid | C24:0 · saturated | 0.14 | 0.1 |
Where these numbers come from
Cold-pressed oil from Sidi Ifni seed: oil yield 6.5 +/- 0.5 %, saponification value 186.63, iodine value 130.5, unsaponifiable matter 1.19 %, refractive index, density, acidity, peroxide value, E232/E270, and the full fatty-acid composition with SFA/MUFA/PUFA totals.
Table 1 fatty-acid composition of a commercial cold-pressed prickly pear seed oil. Source of the fatty-acid maxima and of the behenic and lignoceric entries. No saponification or iodine value reported.
Yemeni seed, Soxhlet extract: saponification 160.20, iodine 101.35, acid value 1.16, peroxide 1.35, and oil yields of 13 % (Soxhlet), 5.4 % (maceration) and 5 % (ultrasound). Source of the saponification and iodine minima only; the same table's refractive index of 1.132 is physically impossible for an oil, so the rest of it is not used.
The 'typical' column and the constants are Zine, Gharby and El Hadek 2013 (Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia 10(1):99-105), oil cold-pressed on industrial equipment (IBG Monforts Oekotec) from seed bought at Sidi Ifni in southern Morocco in June 2012: saponification value 186.63 +/- 0.5 mg KOH/g, iodine value 130.5 +/- 0.3 g I2/100 g, unsaponifiable matter 1.19 +/- 0.2 %, refractive index 1.461 +/- 0.001 and density 0.906 +/- 0.001 at 20 C, acidity 0.56 %, peroxide value 3.5 +/- 0.5 meq O2/kg, E232 1.72, E270 0.31. Fatty acids: palmitic 11.9, palmitoleic 0.6, stearic 3.4, oleic 21.3, linoleic 60.8, alpha-linolenic 0.2, arachidic 0.2, eicosenoic 0.2 %, 98.6 % of the total. WHY IT COSTS WHAT IT COSTS, because a maker will meet the price before they meet the oil: the same paper reports that the seed makes up to 15 % of the fruit's mass and that cold pressing recovered only 6-7 % oil from that seed, against a literature figure of 10-15 % oil in whole seed. At the pressed yield a tonne of prickly pears gives on the order of ten kilograms of oil, and the seed has to be separated from the pulp before any of that happens. The plant is not scarce; the oil is, and that is arithmetic rather than marketing. Min/max on the fatty acids, and the behenic and lignoceric entries, come from Table 1 of Antioxidants 2025, 14(6):661, a commercial cold-pressed oil: palmitic 13.83, C17:0 0.05, stearic 3.79, arachidic 0.34, behenic 0.22, lignoceric 0.14, palmitoleic 0.68, oleic 15.71, eicosenoic 0.21, linoleic 64.43, alpha-linolenic 0.45, C20:3 n-3 0.18 % (the last is not one of the acids this database records and is omitted). That paper publishes no saponification or iodine value. A THIRD PAPER DISAGREES SHARPLY and sets the two minima: Thamer and Alshargabi 2026 (Sci. Rep. 16:13812), Yemeni seed from Khawlan, Sana'a, Soxhlet-extracted, gives saponification 160.20 +/- 0.02 mg KOH/g and iodine 101.35 +/- 0.21 g I2/100 g. Those are far below the Moroccan figures, its composition is reported as a GC-MS peak list rather than a fatty-acid profile so it cannot be checked against itself, and the same table prints a refractive index of 1.132, which no vegetable oil has - they sit near 1.47. That whole table is therefore treated as indicative only and the Moroccan measurements are used as the typicals, which is why 'typical' equals 'max' in both fields rather than sitting in the middle. FOR SOAP: a 61-64 % linoleic oil with almost no linolenic, so it behaves like a soft, fast-oxidising superfat rather than a base oil, and the low saturate content means it contributes nothing to hardness. The recorded composition implies about 193 mg KOH/g by stoichiometry, 3 % above Zine's measured 186.63 and 20 % above the Yemeni figure - a further reason to treat the latter as suspect. Melting point not reported (liquid at room temperature). INCI name from CosIng.
A published figure for this oil was checked and rejected: see why.
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