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Oils

Sesameseed Oil

INCI Sesamum Indicum Seed Oil. Saponified with NaOH it is listed as Sodium Sesameseedate, with KOH as Potassium Sesameseedate. Also: Sesame oil, Gingelly oil, Benne oil, Til oil.

Calculate a 100 % Sesameseed Oil bar

Published values

Saponification value186–195 mg KOH/g
Used by the calculator190.5 mg KOH/g (midpoint)
SAP for NaOH0.1358 g/g
Iodine value104–120 g I₂/100 g
INS (SAP − IV)79
Melting point
Unsaponifiable matter≤ 2 %

A bar made of 100 % Sesameseed Oil

Hardness 16 below 29–54
Cleansing 0 below 12–22
Conditioning 83 above 44–69
Bubbly lather 0 below 14–46
Creamy lather 16 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 0–0.1 0.1
Palmitic acid C16:0 · saturated 7.9–12 9.9
Palmitoleic acid C16:1 0–0.2 0.1
Stearic acid C18:0 · saturated 4.5–6.7 5.6
Oleic acid C18:1 34.4–45.5 40.0
Linoleic acid C18:2 36.9–47.9 42.4
α-Linolenic acid C18:3 n-3 0.2–1 0.6
Arachidic acid C20:0 · saturated 0.3–0.7 0.5
Gadoleic acid C20:1 0–0.3 0.1
Behenic acid C22:0 · saturated 0–1.1 0.6
Lignoceric acid C24:0 · saturated 0–0.3 0.1

Where these numbers come from

Codex Alimentarius Commission (FAO/WHO)CXS 210-1999 Standard for Named Vegetable Oils, print of the 2019 revision (adopted 1999; revised 2001, 2003, 2009, 2017, 2019; amended 2005, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019) · document dated 2019 · read 2026-09-20

Verbatim mirror of the FAO file CXS_210e.pdf; the official FAO link (https://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/sh-proxy/en/?lnk=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fworkspace.fao.org%2Fsites%2Fcodex%2FStandards%2FCXS%2B210-1999%2FCXS_210e.pdf) was Cloudflare-gated at retrieval. Table 1 (Section 3.1) = mandatory GLC fatty-acid ranges, % of total fatty acids, ND = not detectable (<=0.05%). Table 2 (Appendix 'Other quality and composition factors') gives saponification value, iodine value (Wijs) and unsaponifiable matter of CRUDE oils; the Appendix is explicitly ADVISORY (a product not meeting it may still conform). This print predates the 2021-2025 amendments; the 2024 additions (avocado, camellia seed, sacha inchi, high-oleic soya bean) are not included.

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (Japanese Pharmacopoeia, 18th Edition, English version)JP XVIII, Crude Drugs and Related Drugs (official monographs) · document dated 2021-06-07 · read 2026-09-20

JP XVIII 'Sesame Oil': acid value NMT 0.2; saponification value 187-194; unsaponifiable matters NMT 2.0 %; iodine value 103-118.

Fatty acids from CXS 210 Table 1 (mandatory GLC ranges, % of total fatty acids; 'ND' = not detectable, <=0.05%, entries that are ND-only are omitted; C17:0, C17:1, C20:2, C22:2 and C24:1 columns omitted because they are outside this schema's key list). sapKohMgPerG, iodineValue and unsaponifiablePercent from Appendix Table 2 (crude oils; ADVISORY, not mandatory; unsaponifiable converted from g/kg). No 'typical' values are printed in the standard, so none are given. C22:0 printed 'NN-1.1' (typo for ND-1.1). Appendix: Baudouin test positive. JP XVIII 'Sesame Oil': SAP 187-194, IV 103-118, unsaponifiable NMT 2.0 %, specific gravity 0.914-0.921.

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.