Palm oil... the question

Palm oil has been in the news as of late... at least it has been over at the Dish. From what I have read, the need for palm oil has risen especially in regards to biodiesel fuels ... so some countries are cutting down rainforests to put in more palm plantations while other countries are carefully protecting the rainforests and keeping the new palm plantations on lands that were already being used for other crops (coconut, rubber are what I can recall from the list). Several species are being threatened by this deforestation (orangutans, Sumatran tigers, rhinoceros)... and the loss of these forests and its impact on the environment while of great concern, also means we have organizations like Greenpeace throwing in their two cents... and frankly I read and view anything by that organization with skeptism. So its terribly hard to know what to believe...

So basically what I am saying here is that I just don’t know where the future of palm oil and palm kernel oil is in MY soaps. I have made a new formula using cocoa butter in place of both the palm and palm kernel and upping the olive... and while the numbers look good I won’t know for sure until I have made batches with the recipe and tested them. The other option is to use tallow or lard... but my eldest daughter tells me she wont use it or buy it... and none of her friends would either if it had those items in it... what a pita she is ... but at the same time soap has been made using those products since the beginning of time. They produce lovely bars of soap and I could use something that would otherwise go to waste instead of an item that is causing such ecological problems if you will. I just dont know what the answer is. (((Spell check on blogger sucks by the way... it tells me words are spelled wrong but where is the correct spelling .. sheesh)))

I went through my base oils last night... many of them had been sitting in the basement for 8 + months... and a lot of them have gone rancid. I had a feeling that would be the case but sheesh I was disappointed to see it. The coconut was a hard blow... it was a relatively new container and the lid had warped or something so it wasn’t closed all the way. It was orange on top and as we dug through it the color of the oil got lighter and lighter... but then it had this odd smell to it and parts were wet with droplets of liquid... I just can’t trust that it’s ok...I want to make a batch of soap so bad lol... I have olive, palm kernel flakes, castor and lard. So tonight as soon as the kids clear out of the kitchen area I will make soap... need to make soap... need to saponify. lmao I will scent it with tea tree, Bul. lavender and rosemary. I would love to add some color to it... not sure i will though... depends on how i am feeling when i start getting everything ready. Hopefully i will have some pics for tomorrow. We will see.

~Regi