Have you ever looked at the price tag of Virgin coconut oil in the stores ?
Have you ever heard about the values of Virgin coconut oil for human lives ?
Fact: Both are significantly higher 🙂
Forget about the myths of coconut & coconut oil being threatened as a high-cholesterol stuff to be refrained from !
Coconut oil is rich in saturated fats but they do provide the much needed good cholesterol to the body.
Lauric acid, an immune-multiplier is highly concentrated in Mother’s milk and it has anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-protozoa properties. Coconut oil has nearly 50% Lauric acid in it. How could you say no to this unique composition ?!!
Coconut oil can also be applied topically as it moisturizes the skin & hair and act as sunscreen. It takes care of your dental health when used for oil pulling, atleast once in a week.
It can generally be used as a before and after Nappy lotion for babies. Especially for girl babies, when they get itching and irritations in the vaginal outer walls, coconut oil does miracle in curing this. It can be applied in the anal area too when baby passes hard stool.
The above mentioned benefits could only be bestowed by virgin coconut oil and not the refined one ! Thanks to my neighbour Bharathi akka who have introduced me to our ancestral practice of making virgin coconut oil @home. I have explored & attempted many trials in this for the past 1 year and here you go with an easy extraction ..
Virgin Coconut oil Recipe – Ingredients
Coconuts – 2
Preparation
- Take 2 coconuts(not dried ones) that we normally use for cooking. Break each into 2 halves and reserve the coconut water(filter if required). Using coconut knife(as in pic below) or any sharp knife, take out thin pieces.
    2. Grind it in mixie. Add coconut water and normal water(no measurement needed. Just add as required). Grind it finely. Depending upon your mixie jar size, repeat this step in 2-3 batches.
     3. Take a wide mouthed container and tie a thin cotton cloth around its mouth. Pour the ground coconut over the cloth. Untie the cloth and hold all the corners in one hand and squeeze out the coconut milk(Thick or First milk) using the other hand.
     4. After squeezing out the milk, separately gather the coconut mass held up inside the cloth. Repeat this process until all done. Pour some hot water into the gathered mass and let it soak for 5-10 mins. Again squeeze out the milk(Thin or Second milk) from it.
     5. Coconut milk is ready. Keep the container covered and leave it untouched for 3 to 4 hours. Keep it untouched and allow it to ferment. You could witness the water settled down and the cream raised up to a separate layer. Now, move it to refrigerator and let it be inside for 3 hrs to 4 hrs. I left it in the fridge overnight!
    6. Take out of refrigeration. The cream(top layer) would have been solidified and you could easily cut it with knife like a cake .
    7.  Collect the creamy cake slices to a thick bottomed pan. You shall filter out the broken pieces of the cream and collect it as well. Leave the viscous white layer settled in the bottom.
    8.  Switch on the stove in high flame. The slices melt down and bubbles up. Keep stirring. When oil starts to separate, it pops up. At this stage, reduce the flame(do not fully simmer) and keep stirring.
     9. Oil and white residue starts to separate. It will start sticking to the pan and so keep stirring. Even if oil is well separated, stir for some more time until the residue looses its moisture.
  10. The white residue turns to brown colour and this is the right stage to switch off the stove. It took 15 mins for me to reach this stage, but it varies depending upon the coconut and climate. While it is still hot, pour the oil along with the residue into a filter/sieve placed on top of a container. Leave it for an hour so that all dripping oil from the residue is collected.
   Pure and healthy Virgin coconut oil is ready 🙂 The collected brown residue is still healthy and it can be used to make laddoo, which I will post sooner 😉 [Update: Click here for laddoo recipe]
Tips/Tricks
- Do not skip coconut water as it acts as a catalyst to expedite fermentation.
- If you are using more than 2 coconuts, you shall grate the coconut instead of slicing to avoid overheating of mixie.
- If you are using 5+ coconuts, you shall grate the coconuts and grind it in grinder as that will save time and avoid overheating of mixie.
- Refrigeration is optional. You can directly scoop out the cream after fermentation and start boiling. But it might take extra few mins in stove as the water content will be little more compared to refrigerated one.
- Some people even skip fermentation and just take the coconut milk and start boiling. But it will double your boiling time!
- This oil keeps well for 4+ months in room temperature and 6+ months if refrigerated.
Nutritional Benefits
Virgin Coconut oil – Lauric acid, Polyphenols, Anti-oxidants, Vitamin E, vitamin K and minerals such as iron
Nice one,Will tender coconut can be used?
Hi Santosh, tender coconut would have more moisture in it and I don’t think it can be used to extract oil. I use normal coconut that we use for cooking.
Coconut oil is my holy grail product and I’ve never heard of your method of coconut oil extraction. It sounds interesting and I can’t wait to try it. Thank you!
Good one , virgin cocunut oil usage is coming back, it has good medicinal usage
Hi Shyamala, Very happy to see this excellent website. very useful. am gonna try this.
Should i have to deep freeze or just leave in the refrigerator?
Hi Manjula, Do not put it in the freezer as it would solidify the water layer too. Just keep it in fridge for 4 hours so that you can easily scoop out the top cream layer. If you want the cake cut experience, leave it still longer 😉 Do try and comment back about ur outcome!
Interesting!! Could not refrain from trying this out!!
wow….sema…..thanks for ur all the info…sply for coconut oil preparation..thanks ma.if u interest plz read the book aram thainal -ku,sivaraman.that s vry much useful for u.not only babies for all
@Anonymous, Thanks for visiting my space. I am already an ardent fan of Dr.Sivaraman. His “Aaraam thinai” , “7aam suvai” are my fav books. I prepared Oregano/Karpooravalli bajji just by seeing the reference in his books. Keep visiting my space 🙂
Hi Shyamala.you are doing good job and your site looks very interesting. Thanks for all your effort. Recently I Started visiting your site and would like to visit often as I think I get to know more new words and it helps improving my vocabulary.also more interesting articles n recipes
@Jayanthi, Thanks for being here.. I am glad that my space serves you in improving your diction too .. Keep following 🙂
Hi, A very interesting blog. My mom used to make oil without fermentation which would take hours to complete. That made me keep away from making coc oil at home. But your way is quite easy. How much oil will we get approx with 2 coconuts( I know quantity depends on size and quality of coconut , but still, approx)
@Delinda, I got 1/2 cup(125ml) using 2 coconuts.. As you said, the quantity depends on size and age of coconut. Do try and share your experience.. Keep following the blog for more posts:)
Made this today with 2 coconuts and it yielded about 100 ml of oil…though happy with the result, it was not so flavourful like my mom’s preparation…. When asked mom, she said that cooking grated coconut with water will give good smelling oil….I will continue to make oil by your way, cas my moms method is time consuming. Thanks
Also, would like to know about your thoughts on oil that are used for deep frying…which one you use for ur dep frying process.
@Delinda, the original recipe that my neighbour gave me for this oil prep is without fermentation. I tried that for 3-4 times and switched to fermentation method as this halved the cooking time.
I use gingelly/groundnut/coconut oil for cooking and Rice-bran/Cardia-Life(Corn+Olive) oil for deep frying.
But there are lot of controversies regarding oils that are not cold- pressed…..anyways happy to see a blog that is an eye-opener for many…keep going
Do post lots of health baby foods, I am having a one year old baby who prefers to eat only fruits
Thank you for your time
I tried it .. It came just perfectly fine..
Can we apply this oil for babies in tummy and on hair?
@Anonymous, Glad that you tried and it turned out perfect. You can apply it for babies in tummy, hair and the whole body.
After removing the water at the bottom allow the cream to rest at room temperature in a dark undisturbed place.
The continuous microbial action will further separate the oil and some white cremy residue will remain at the bottom.
Collect the top layer (oil) and just warm it up (to increase the shelf life ) cool down and store in a clean bottle.
The way you need not to cook for somewhat long time. Try this way
@Kani, Wow that sounds cool.. Will try next time.. Thanks for sharing this 🙂