Traditionally, cold pressed or pure virgin coconut oil are made without using heat though in some standards nowadays, it may involve (just) low amount of heat to produce more oil.
Cold pressed virgin coconut oil
Virgin coconut oil or unrefined coconut oil is used in many ways. It can be used as moisturizer or skin lotion, in low heat cooking, and most commonly as a dietary supplement taken daily. Many people would prefer cold pressed coco oil because of its promise of better quality and because it is natural and pure coconut oil – produced without mechanical processes like refining, bleaching, or hydrogenating and without the use of chemicals.
Cold pressed coconut oil can also be made at home provided that you do not intend for mass production but more for personal or household consumption. Here is how:
1.) Buy or choose coconuts that are fresh, mature, and of high quality.
2.) Break the coconut shell and make sure that the water inside it does not spill. Pour the coco water inside a pitcher.
3.) Grate coconut meat – this can be done through a grating machine. In tropical countries, natives may have their own manual way of grating coco meat. In the Philippines, for example, they have a bench coconut grater called the kudkuran.
4.) Collect the meat and put them in a nylon net bag.
5.) Squeeze the meat in the bag forcefully with the use of a cold press machine or with your own hands to produce milk.
6.) To make the most of the coconut milk, soak the squeezed bag in coconut water and press the meat one more time.
7.) Place the coco milk mixed with coconut water in a transparent bottle or glass jar.
8.) Set it aside and let it settle for not more than twenty hours at a room temperature. You will notice that water will fall at the bottom of the jar, while proteins (white substance) float at the surface. The oil then settles in the middle.
9.) Harvest the oil and let it go through series of filtering and straining until the coconut oil looks pure – it can be very pale yellow or colorless.
