Organic Food Products

Oils

1. Coconut oil—cold-pressed

2. Gingelly oil—cold pressed

3. Groundnut oil—cold pressed

Large industrial manufacturers of vegetable oils world over use the solvent–extraction process to extract oil from seeds.  The solvent most widely used is a chemical called hexane, a very cheap and abundant byproduct of petroleum refineries. This process is highly efficient and extracts every bit of oil from the seeds, making it very economical. More chemicals are added at high temperatures for deodorizing, bleaching and straining the oils, whose residues remain in them. The high heat also makes the oils lose their unique flavours and nutrition. Finally, to increase the shelf-life of the oils, trans-fats are added, which can cause an increase in bad LDL cholesterol.

In another process, the oil seed paste is pressed manually in low temperatures by small-scale, slow expellers which expel the oil. No artificial chemicals are used throughout the entire process. These cold-pressed oils retain their nutrition and a high degree of flavour, colour, aroma and nutrition and are hence preferred by chefs and health-food enthusiasts.

Since this method is less efficient (yields less oil than the industrial, solvent-extraction method), it is more expensive.

Our cold-pressed gingelly oil (sesame oil) and groundnut oils are very sought after by our customers. When we offer them a sample, we often hear the older customers commenting, “It has been years since I smelled original gingelly oil such as this!” These oils are extracted from organically grown sesame seeds and groundnuts by small villager groups in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.