Tiger Nut Oil
INCI Cyperus Esculentus Root Oil. CAS 223748-92-3, as CosIng gives it. Also: Chufa oil, Tigernut oil, Cyperus esculentus oil, Earth almond oil, Yellow nutsedge tuber oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | 183–197 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 190.0 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1354 g/g |
| Iodine value | — |
| INS (SAP − IV) | — |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | — |
A bar made of 100 % Tiger Nut 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 | 64.3 g(62.0–66.7) | 90.3 g(86.9–93.6) |
| 1 kg | 128.7 g(123.9–133.4) | 180.5 g(173.9–187.2) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 58.4 g(56.2–60.5) | 81.9 g(78.9–84.9) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 116.7 g(112.4–121.0) | 163.7 g(157.7–169.8) |
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 22 : 78
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 12.7–13.9 | 13.3 |
| Palmitoleic acid | C16:1 | 0–0.24 | 0.1 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 7.01–7.56 | 7.3 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 67.9–68.8 | 68.4 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 9.01–9.81 | 9.4 |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 0–0.29 | 0.1 |
| Arachidic acid | C20:0 · saturated | 0.64–1.04 | 0.8 |
| Gadoleic acid | C20:1 | 0–0.28 | 0.1 |
| Behenic acid | C22:0 · saturated | 0–0.15 | 0.1 |
| Lignoceric acid | C24:0 · saturated | 0–0.44 | 0.2 |
Where these numbers come from
Adopted 30 October 2024. Section 3.3 production process; Table 2 peroxide and saponification values per batch; Table 6 specification; Appendix A batch-to-batch fatty-acid profile (five batches, GC-FID). The data are the applicant's batch analyses as assessed by the Panel.
Quoted in notes for comparison only.
Tuber oil saponification value 192.0; quoted in notes for comparison only.
Fatty-acid table, 0-cycle (untreated) column; quoted in notes for comparison only.
Every field comes from the EFSA scientific opinion on tiger nut oil as a novel food (EFSA NDA Panel, EFSA Journal 22(11):e9102, adopted 30 October 2024), which reproduces the applicant's batch analyses of the product: oil cold-pressed from dried, pasteurised and milled tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus) tubers grown in Niger, applicant Tigernuts Traders S.L., pressing yield 17.5 %. Appendix A, five batches (#1-#5), GC-FID, % of total fatty acids: palmitic 13.7, 13.9, 12.7, 13.7, 13.6; stearic 7.01, 7.26, 7.56, 7.12, 7.02; arachidic 0.71, 0.64, 1.04, 0.72, 0.73; behenic 0.15, <0.05, <0.05, 0.13, 0.14; lignoceric 0.33, 0.44, <0.05, 0.30, 0.28; palmitoleic (C16:1 n-7) 0.20, <0.05, 0.24, 0.15, 0.20; oleic (C18:1 n-9 cis) 68.0, 68.8, 68.3, 68.1, 67.9; eicosenoic 0.18 and 0.28 in batches #3 and #4, otherwise <0.05; linoleic 9.39, 9.01, 9.81, 9.28, 9.40; alpha-linolenic 0.29, <0.05, 0.15, <0.05, 0.29 %. Values below the 0.05 % limit are stored as a minimum of 0, the convention this dataset's Codex records use for 'not detectable'. Myristic (0.0668 % in batch #5) and margaric (0.0542 % in batch #5) are left out as traces. Batch totals: SFA 21.3-22.2, MUFA 68.1-68.8, PUFA 9.01-9.96 %. SAPONIFICATION VALUE, Table 2: 184, 184, 183, 197 and 186 mg KOH/g in batches #8, #9, #10, #11 and #6 (titrimetric, ISO 3657:2013); the composition implies about 192. The specification the applicant proposed (Table 6) sets 'saponification value <= 189', which batch #11 exceeds; its other limits are palmitic 12-15, stearic 5-8, oleic 65-69, linoleic 9-12 %, acidity <= 2 %, peroxide value <= 20 meq/kg, p-anisidine < 1. Free fatty acids across ten batches were 0.42-2.21 %. OTHER ORIGINS DIFFER IN STEARIC ACID: a Chinese pressed oil (Zhang et al. 2024, Food Chem. X 23:101733, untreated control) has palmitic 13.44, palmitoleic 0.31, stearic 2.42, oleic 71.70, linoleic 11.19, arachidic 0.22, linolenic 0.22 %, and Dubois et al. 2007 as tabulated in PlantFAdb (#21256, 'chufa') has palmitic 13.8, stearic 3.2, oleic 72.6, linoleic 8.9 % - so the stored stearic band (7.0-7.6 %) describes this African-sourced product, not every tiger nut oil. Two older PlantFAdb tuber-oil datasets (#11504 and #22636) record 192.0 mg KOH/g. Iodine value and unsaponifiable matter were not reported. FOR SOAP: an olive-like, high-oleic oil (about 68 % oleic, 21 % saturated) - conditioning, reasonably stable, a little firmer than olive oil. INCI: CosIng's 'Cyperus Esculentus Root Oil' (CAS 223748-92-3) is defined as the fixed oil obtained from the tubers of Cyperus esculentus.
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