# replacement for lard in walmart recipie?



## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

I'm a new soaper, and have been using the Walmart recipie with wonderful results. I have given away tons of soap to friends and co-workers and everyone just loves it and told me when I was ready to sell it, to let them know. Well, I've got my website up with an increasing number of soaps and I've got my packaging and labeling done and I'm in business, granted, it's small so far  My labels declare all. None of my friends are vegetarians, but when they read my label, and see the word "LARD" they are obviously kinda mortified, or something akin to that. I actually lost a nice sale to a co-worker's mother yesterday. I had given the girl some soap samples, and she had taken them home to her mother, whoLOVED them. The girl is out on maternity leave, and came back into visit me at work and brought her son, mother and grandmother. They came to buy some soaps. I had my labels all on, and they had made a list of soaps from my website that they wanted to look at. I had them all right there and they were ooing and aaahhing, and I was happy they liked them....until the mother read the label and said "what's this, LARD?" She asked me what kind of lard it was...I had to admit I had no idea. I explained that it made really nice soap, etc, etc. to no avail. I had forgotten she was Muslim. (her daughter and mother are NOT Muslim) She could not take a chance on it being pork, which it probably was....I did not remember to tell her that ALL commerical soaps, most that I've seen labels on anyway, contain tallow in some form. The look on her face went from wonderment and delight, to "oh no". She had been searching her wallet for more money, sending the grandson out to the car to get her checkbook, etc. etc. She liked it better than she thought she would, and wanted to buy extra...until she read the label. I was disheartened to say the least. I have been vegetarian for years, (although this year we are planning to eat home-grown goats) but had been using the lard until I had found something better, and really didn't anticipate my non-veggie friends having any adversion to it. What do I know?
I had planned to make a large purchase of oils from soapers choice, suggested to me by Lillian, but we've had many "money challenges" here at my house, including a truck breaking down, etc. and I've got lots of soap right now, so the order has not been placed. I am doing things in small steps. My next step was to buy new molds, and then start incorporating nicer oils, organics, etc. in my soaps. However, as I move forward in my business, I've decided that I do not want a repeat of what happened yesterday, so I need to replace just the lard in my recipe with something that works equally as well, with better label appeal. I am wondering if Palm Oil would be the correct replacement? I have tried veg. shortening, but the soap seems a bit softer with that and doesn't seem to feel as nice, plus I'm never sure of the saponification value as all the shortenings I can kind find are mixed veg. oils. 

I'd appreciate any suggestions you folks might have. 
Thanks,
Anita


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## Guest (Nov 27, 2008)

I understand the problems you are having with selling your lard bars... no way would I be able to sell them here either!

Have you played around with www.soapcalc.com ? Enter in your current recipe and the sub out/add in different oils and butters to come up with something you like. Fun!

Sara


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Thanks Sara,
I have tried the soap calc. or something similar on thesage. Being new to soap, and really not wanting to buy lots of different oils at this moment to experiment with, I was hoping someone else had modified the walmart recipe to all veggie and was wondering what replacement oil they were having the best results with? 

Also, is there a "nicer" term I could use to describe the lard on my label? On commercial soaps I often see "tallowate" or something similar...no one really knows what that is, or even reads the labels I am sure. I really hope I don't have to give ALL my soap away...even though I had planned on using many for gifts.. 

I didn't think the lard would go over well with the holistic or vegan/vegetarian crowd, but since I am the only vegetarian in my circle of friends/co-workers, etc. I really didn't think it would be an issue, and in many cases it's not, but I still get that look when people read the list of ingredients. Luckily, I only have a about a hundred and fifty or so bars. Darn
Thanks
Anita


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Most of my bars are non-lard. I use palm and palm kernel. It's my understanding that lard is from pigs and tallow is from beef so you could use tallow if you're selling to those who don't want pork products. I just started right off not using lard because I didn't want to have to deal with this. This year I started making some with lard but still the majority is without.


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

Anita we have a large number of holistic people here in the valley and surrounding us. I have been using lard in my recipes for about a year now and these people are still buying from me. I just explain it like Vicki did. Aren't we animals ourselves? Then I put a twist to it for the holistic people who are really into being true to themselves, if we deny are bodies what it really craves as omnivores we aren't being true to what we really are. I have actually made more sales with that little speal. Lard is pork fat, tallow is beef fat. Tammy


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## Guest (Nov 27, 2008)

4fromgoatilia said:


> Anita we have a large number of holistic people here in the valley and surrounding us. I have been using lard in my recipes for about a year now and these people are still buying from me. I just explain it like Vicki did. Aren't we animals ourselves? Then I put a twist to it for the holistic people who are really into being true to themselves, if we deny are bodies what it really craves as omnivores we aren't being true to what we really are. I have actually made more sales with that little speal. Lard is pork fat, tallow is beef fat. Tammy


That doesn't work on my well versed customers.

I hate lard bars so it's really easy for me to leave it out. 

Sara


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Do a search on here for The soaping characterisitcs of butters and oils...I believe it is from the soapnuts website. With it pick oils that are hard...salfflower, then use your coconut oil for your bubbly creaminess, and then another oil (Olive or sunfower) as filler and label appeal. All of these you can get locally. If you hunt around in ethnic stores you can get them in quantities and much cheaper than even columbus foods can do. or change your lables, put soapinfied butters and oils, legally you don't even have to do that. And since there is no lard left in the soap after it is made, you aren't 'lieing' by saying you use wonderful oils like blah blah blah in your soap. Cocoa butter is makes a wonderful soap, but you do have to purchase it in bulk to afford to use it. I am using more of it now. Shea is of course one of the more expensive butters, if you purchase it in bulk yourself you can drastically get the price down. With local oils, you can make a really nice bar of soap you just have to let it cure alot longer than you do bars that have butters in them. Also remember if it's solid like shortening it does not make it a butter, it is still soybean, be it oil or shortening.

Actual recipes are really not something anyone is going to help you with, so go to the walmart recipe, keep your coconut oil the same and replace the lard with hard oils, keeping your sunflower oil the same or sub it for olive if you have a way of getting the pomace cheaper.

Here sunflower oil, pomace olive, soybean oil, salfflower are all cheaper in Houston that I can freight it from columbus foods right now. The only thing cheaper is coconut oil, cocoa butter. I get shea $4 to my door and not even coops can touch that.

I love sallflower oil thanks to Tammy, it makes a very firm bar with crisp edges.

Don't only go by the softness, hardness, moisturings calculator, I don't think it is all that accurate. Make the soap and use it.

So you really have to work on your recipe for yourself...and honestly you aren't going to make a better bar of soap than the wallmart recipe  You can get close but it isn't anything like tallow or lard. vicki


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## Guest (Nov 28, 2008)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> ...and honestly you aren't going to make a better bar of soap than the wallmart recipe  You can get close but it isn't anything like tallow or lard. vicki


Wanna bet? 

Sara


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

ahhh, "saponified butters and oils". I like that one! I have looked high and low in my area for bulk oils, especially coconut, and so far have not come up with anthing...well, not the ones I want to use anyway. I'm still looking. Yes, shipping is very high, which is why I have been calling all over the place looking for oils. 
Thanks!
Anita


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Do you have a little Mexico part of your large city near you, a restaurant row type thing where wholesale plants are that resell to restaurants or Vietnamese type areas? The best prices are always the folks supplying restaurants etc... Vicki


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

If I do, I am unaware of it. I've tried some of the restaurant supply houses here, so far, none carry anything but vegetable oils, as in the mixed type or corn. There are a two asian grocery stores, but I can't find them in the phone book and I have not had time to stop by after work. We do have several asian and a couple of mexican restaruants here, I'll research where they get their oils.
I also go near enough to Richmond Va once a month to try in that area too. Only thing is, I usually go on a Sat, and during the week most supply houses probably are closed by the time I could get there in the evening. I haven't given up though!
Thanks
Anita


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## Carolyn (Oct 27, 2007)

We would like to use something other than lard in some of our soaps, but can't find anything that compares to the price---shipping is outrageous, no ethnic shops or stores at all. Most of our customers don't mind the lard, we have had comments about memories of soap making, rendering lard for the soap. I just think having a bar without lard would be good. Carolyn


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