Reconsidering Crisco - A Neglected Soap Making Oil?
Friday August 15, 2008
Today, I want to talk about Crisco.
Yes...Crisco...
It may be "better than butter for cooking," but what about for making soap? I've always considered Crisco (which is a hydrogenated blend of cottonseed and soybean oil) to be a "filler" soapmaking oil...inferior to our "core" soap oils of coconut, palm and olive. And my impression is that most soap makers do as well. However, I was preparing to do an article about Sandy Maine of SunFeather Natural Soap Company and her book The Soap Book, and found that the "basic" recipe that she uses for all the varieties of soap in her book is 44% Crisco, 28% Olive and 28% Coconut. That's her core, basic recipe. Just those three oils.
So I tried it...
It's good soap...!
It doesn't have quite the rich, heavy, creamy lather that castor oil in the recipe gives...it's a lighter lather...but quite plentiful. And I don't feel any more or less moisturized than I do with batches that have higher palm or olive amounts. So what do you think? The qualities that Crisco gives to soap are actually very similar to the qualities that would be imparted by cottonseed oil. They have nearly identical scores on the SoapCalc. But how many of us every use cottonseed oil in our soap...or are at all familiar with using it???
So that's my point...have we been missing out on a really good and cheap soap making oil - just because it comes in a can we get at the grocery store? What do you think? Oh...and did you know that Crisco was originally invented to be a replacement for tallow in candles!!?? Click on "comments" below to add your two cents...
Image Credit: Ladies Home Journal - 1912
Comments
OK David … here’s what I think about Crisco.
The first soap I ever made had Crisco in it because as I said in my presentation at the TX Soapmakers Convention, I used Sandy Maine’s first little book which was all well and good. It’s decent soap. No doubt about it.
BUT… as a farmer’s daughter…I know that almost all of the soybeans and much of the cotton crops are GMO (genetically modified), which in and of itself is despicable, plus they’re planted in huge monocultures, thereby reducing bio-diversity, requiring major pesticide usage, depleting the soil, and on and on. So for me, it’s not that they make bad soap (although I think there are better oils), it’s more about the damage they do to the environment There’s lots of that going on though, so you have to pick and choose your evils.
Our choice of ingredients shouldn’t be just about the cost. In the long run, we really can’t afford to use that as a basis for our decisions either…
I actually want to comment on the previous comment rather than on Crisco itself (which I never buy any more, even for cookin, on principle; I’m glad our health food co-op sells the Spectrum organic veg shortening). I heartily agree with the Soap Bartender! It’s so nice to see yet another person who feels the same way about these things.
I have my doubts about palm oil now, too, with the world shortage; I don’t want to take away oils that people in developing countries need desperately for food.
*laughs* And I would like to add my agreement with BOTH the above comments, and add my personal reasons for not using Crisco (and palm oil, actually). Crisco is – as your article states – hydrogenated oil. While the hydrogenation process renders the oil solid at room temperature and therefore extends the shelf-life (which is the point), the method employed to accomplish the bonding of the hydrogen molecule with the oil molecule – which often involves metals such as nickel – results in the finished solid oil being toxic to the body (not to mention the creation of trans fats, which we all know are bad). I refuse to eat anything with hydrogenated oil in it, and since I firmly believe that ‘on the body is IN the body’ (though people like to argue with me about this, scoffing at my reasons for not using/making products with synthetic ingredients, I have to counterpoint ‘why do you think nicotine patches work?’), I will not use it in my soaps. As for palm oil, in addition to the reason stated above, the over-production of palm oil is deforesting tropical habitats that many already-scarce creatures are dependent on for their survival. Even unknowingly contributing to the further endangerment of precious ecosystems is unconscionable – in today’s information-saturated culture there is no excuse for not educating oneself about the impact your actions have on the world and its inhabitants.
In addition to the environmental effects of GMOs — I don’t put trans-fats inside my body, so why should I put them outside my body to be absorbed? I never have and never will use Crisco.
I’m glad to hear that these “Soapers” don’t use Crisco. I personally do, and over the past 12 years have been told by thousands of people that they have never used a better bar of soap. I don’t use as much as Sandy , but it is still a main ingredient in my batch.
It is true that it is a low cost ingredient, but so what. With the skyrocketing costs of all of the other ingredients, it is nice NOT having to charge customers $2.00 per ounce for my product.
And have we forgotten about “Soap Making 101″?
Saponification, changes the moleculear structure of the oil to the point that the “hydrogenated” properties are changed anyway.
And as far as the “eco system” argument, I’ll bet that your also a firm beleiver in not using plastic bags for your customers. So what do you use? Paper? Cloth? Whatever it is, I’m sure that it is also cutting into your “Bottom Lilne”
So what else do you have to say about this great ingredient?
yeah, i hafta say that the whole i-won’t-eat-it-so-why-would-i-wash-with-it arguement seems silly. sodium explodes in water, but when chemically combined with chlorine, salt is necessary for life. people who lower their salt or cholesterol intake *prob*ably don’t induce heart disease by using salt scrubs or washing with lard-based soaps. saponification chemically alters the fats, this is the magic of soap, yes? it seems like a simplistic and flimsy reason not to use shortening to make soap.
I also used vegetable shortening in my first batch of cold processed soap. As I experimented with other oils, however, I found that I could create something more substantial with better lather. Sure the shortening will make soap. I just don’t think it makes GOOD soap. The majority of my soaps are made with vegetable oils and butters, but if I had to choose, I would rather soap with lard than Crisco!
Teresa, so what do you think your ORGANIC veggy shortening is made of?
Check you ingredients list (or http://www.spectrumorganics.com), and you will find that it’s made of 100% PALM OIL!
Just because it’s organic doesn’t mean it’s the “holy grale” that saves the world!
I will definitely give Crisco a try (am a beginner)! Thank you for this post!
I’m not a “soaper”, but in defense of using cottonseed oil isn’t it somewhat “green” to get double use out of a cotton field? We get both fiber and oil from one agricultural footprint. Being from a cotton producing state (AZ) I’d rather see more land left as natural sonoran desert rather have one field for fiber (cotton) and then have to put some other virgin ground under the plow for an oil producing crop. Just a thought.
I have made over 300 soaps with Crisco and have been told by people that they have never used a better bar of soap.
crisco sucks and palm oil is unethical
I am working up to making my first batch of soap. Never have done it yet. I have bought the coconut, lard, and olive oils and was have read that palm oil is used in most cold process soap recipes. I read the label of Criso and there is fully and partially hydrogenated palm oils in it, so I chose it over the other shortenings on the shelf. How much of the palm is in Crisco? If I lower the amount of Crisco, what should my other percentages be? Helping hints? I don’t know where to even get pure palm oil from.
Thanks, Simone
When I look at crisco.com, it’s listing the ingredients for Crisco as “SOYBEAN OIL, FULLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED AND SOYBEAN OILS”
If there’s palm oil in it, that would be new for me.
In many lye calculators, there is a choice for “shortening” – and that should be fine. The SAP number for palm is a bit higher than soybean – but probably nothing that a 5-7% superfat couldn’t give you enough wiggle room for.
You can get palm oil from some ethnic grocers…but be careful not to get the “red” palm oil. The red color will color your soap. You can also get it from any of the various soap making supplies vendors online.
I happen to love crisco soap I also add coconut and shea butter to it as well. Their are two kinds of people who buy homemade soap organic save the earth types and babyboomers who grew up with granny who grew up during the depression and made her own soap with whatever was in the kitchen. As a retailer of soap the babyboomers are my customers.the earth cookies shop at Whole Foods in my area
In regards to palm oil as an ingredient in Crisco, research on the internet shows that in 2007, Crisco reinstated palm oil as an ingredient to their recipe and left out the cottenseed oil. There were many complaints and they soon went back to cottenseed. For whatever reason, the tub I bought just last week has palm oil listed as an ingredient and not cottenseed. Is it an old tub, and old label, or something else? Mystery. Anyway, if my can of Crisco does indeed consist of palm oil instead of cottenseed oil, will it then produce a better soap????…setting aside, of course, the other oils that I might use.
Thanks, Simone
I have crisco and I have generic shortening that my mom bought and the generics ingredients say animal and vegetable shortening. If I use it in place of what says crisco or shortening in a soap recipe will it come out ok?
The generic shortening is most likely a blend of lard and hydrogenated soybean oil. Without knowing the % of each oil, you can’t get an EXACT lye amount – however…the saponification numbers for both oils are very similar…so with a lye discount of at least 5%…you should be o.k. You could figure the amount of shortening as 50% lard and 50% shortening (vegetable.) You might be able to find out the % blend from the manufacturer.