What is Vegetable Fat Called Sal?

I bought a chocolate spread that uses, among other things, a vegetable fat called sal. What is that?

The vegetable fat sal is obtained from the oil-rich seeds of the sal tree. This tree species grows in northern India and forms lush sal forests there. There are also trees in Nepal and Myanmar, for example. The oil of the seeds/nuts is also called sal butter. It contains the saturated fatty acid stearic acid and the monounsaturated fatty acid oleic acid.

Sal butter is not only used as a cosmetic product, but also in the food industry as a substitute for palm oil.

Palm oil is obtained from the red flesh of the oil palm. It is much more productive than other oil plants. Due to its good processing properties, palm oil is used worldwide for the production of margarine, chocolate creams, cocoa glazes, chocolate fillings and ice cream confectionery. The worldwide increased demand for oils and fats leads to the expansion of cultivation areas in tropical countries with catastrophic consequences for the environment. Habitat for humans and animals is lost.

In contrast, oil seed production from the Indian sal forests is a sustainable form of management. It helps to preserve the ancient forests in India and to secure the livelihood of the people who live there. However, it will not be able to replace the increasing demand for palm oil.

Alternatives to palm oil such as oil from soy, rapeseed or sunflowers are not more sustainable either. Cultivating them yields much less and thus takes up significantly more land than oil palms. The cultivation of palm oil must be converted to sustainable certified production in the long term.