Mowrah butter (mahua / Indian illipe): SAP value and fatty acids
Mowrah butter (mahua / Indian illipe) has a saponification value of 191.5 mg KOH/g. One gram needs 0.137 g of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for bar soap or 0.192 g of potassium hydroxide (KOH) for liquid soap to turn fully into soap, before any superfat.
Key numbers
- SAP, NaOH
- 0.136517 g per g oil
- SAP, KOH
- 0.1915 g per g oil
- Saponification value
- 191.5 mg KOH/g
- Iodine value
- 64
- INS
- 128
- INCI name
- Bassia Latifolia Seed Butter
Example: 100 g of Mowrah butter (mahua / Indian illipe) with no superfat needs 13.7 g of 100% NaOH, or 19.2 g of 100% KOH. A 5% superfat uses 5% less.
In soap
Its main fatty acids in our cited profile are oleic (45.8%) and palmitic (21.7%). The eight fatty acids used in soap-quality scores make up 98.9% of the profile.
On its own it scores 43 for hardness, 0 for cleansing and 56 for conditioning, with a saturated : unsaturated split of 43 : 56.
Soft butter from Madhuca seeds. Only the Indian government standard was usable. Not the same as Borneo illipe butter. Only one published source was found for this value; confirm it against your supplier's certificate of analysis.
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | % of fatty acids | Counts toward |
|---|---|---|
| lauric | 0% | hardness, cleansing, bubbly lather |
| myristic | 0.1% | hardness, cleansing, bubbly lather |
| palmitic | 21.7% | hardness, creamy lather |
| stearic | 20.9% | hardness, creamy lather |
| ricinoleic | 0% | conditioning, bubbly and creamy lather |
| oleic | 45.8% | conditioning |
| linoleic | 9.8% | conditioning |
| linolenic | 0.6% | conditioning |
Basis: Thilakarathna et al. 2023 Ultrasonics Sonochemistry Table 2, mahua (Madhuca longifolia) seed oil, mechanical (press) extraction 'ME' column, n=3.
Soap-quality scores (this oil alone)
| Hardness | 43 |
|---|---|
| Cleansing | 0 |
| Conditioning | 56 |
| Bubbly lather | 0 |
| Creamy lather | 43 |
| Iodine | 64 |
| INS | 128 |
Each score adds up certain fatty acids, the way Soap Ledger scores a whole recipe. They are for comparing recipes; they don't predict how a bar will feel, and they say nothing about safety or skin.
Sources
SAP value: 191.5 mg KOH/g (FSSAI range midpoint), from Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations 2011, Chapter 2.2 Fats, Oils and Fat Emulsions (Version 2, 05.10.2023), Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Printed value: 187 to 196 mg KOH/g.
Published values we checked:
Fatty acids and iodine: Thilakarathna R.C.N., Siow L.F., Tang T.K., Chan E.S., Lee Y.Y. (2023) Physicochemical and antioxidative properties of ultrasound-assisted extraction of mahua (Madhuca longifolia) seed oil in comparison with conventional Soxhlet and mechanical extractions. Ultrason Sonochem 92:106280. doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2022.106280, Elsevier (open access, PMC9816963). Also checked: BMC / Springer Nature (open access, PMC12275253) (Table 1); Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) (2.2.1 item 5, Mahua oil (Bassia latifolia or B. longifolia)).
NaOH and KOH values are converted from mg KOH/g with the molar masses 39.997 and 56.106 and rounded to 6 decimals, exactly as in the Soap Ledger app. Real oils vary by origin, grade and lot: check your supplier's certificate of analysis. Verify every weight before you make this, and follow lye safety. Not a safety or compliance certification.
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