Re: Re: Virgin Coconut Oil

[Guest guest]

Dear ,

You should put an ad in Wise Traditions! I think we sent you the ad info.

Sally

[Guest guest]

yes, and these terms are new, and colloquial, and a recently developed,

unofficial, unsanctioned convention in reference to coconut oil.

Re: Re: Virgin Coconut Oil

> Actually the term virgin in reference to coconut oil is an invented

> convention, really it doesn't mean very much, its a marketing thing. It's

> not the same as when the word is used to refer to olive oil.

>

> Most coconuts (nearly all?) are organically grown, the agricultural

> chemical producers haven't developed product for that market yet.

>

> I would look for a coconut oil that is not refined with chemicals and is

> made with evident care, eg. made as to keep oxidation to a minimum and

> retain vitamins , etc.

>

> Bruce

Bruce,

Virgin is applied to oils that are extracted without (very much) heat.

Expeller-pressed oil is heated a little to drive off the last of the

water. Sometimes the coconut is roasted a bit to quick-dry it first.

Similarly, fermented coconut ol is skimmed, then heated a little to drive

off the last of the water.

REAL virgin coconut oil is wet milled, expeller pressed while still wet,

then chilled. The chilling seperates the oil from the juice, and

centrifuging dries it out. I guess this is EXTRA virgin, as it is the

ONLY zero-heat process.

Lots of companies have oil approaching virgin; I chose to represent the

best one for the gourmet market. The company also has other oils, such as

shea butter.

Duncan Crow

[Guest guest]

what does expeller pressed mean?

thanks, Ken

Re: Re: Virgin Coconut Oil

> Actually the term virgin in reference to coconut oil is an invented

> convention, really it doesn't mean very much, its a marketing thing. It's

> not the same as when the word is used to refer to olive oil.

>

> Most coconuts (nearly all?) are organically grown, the agricultural

> chemical producers haven't developed product for that market yet.

>

> I would look for a coconut oil that is not refined with chemicals and is

> made with evident care, eg. made as to keep oxidation to a minimum and

> retain vitamins , etc.

>

> Bruce

Bruce,

Virgin is applied to oils that are extracted without (very much) heat.

Expeller-pressed oil is heated a little to drive off the last of the

water. Sometimes the coconut is roasted a bit to quick-dry it first.

Similarly, fermented coconut ol is skimmed, then heated a little to drive

off the last of the water.

REAL virgin coconut oil is wet milled, expeller pressed while still wet,

then chilled. The chilling seperates the oil from the juice, and

centrifuging dries it out. I guess this is EXTRA virgin, as it is the

ONLY zero-heat process.

Lots of companies have oil approaching virgin; I chose to represent the

best one for the gourmet market. The company also has other oils, such as

shea butter.

Duncan Crow

[Guest guest]

When you have a jar of virgin coconut oil which you occasionally use because you

forget to take it or apply on your body, you sure would hope it has a long

life, after all it is so expensive out there. :-)

Re: Re: " Virgin " coconut oil

> Everyone wants to use the term " virgin " coconut oil. But there is

> really no definition of what makes coconut oil worthy of being called

> " virgin " . I suppose the traditional process is what they refer to as

> virgin since it is the first method of extracting the oil, and it

> hardly contains moisture and really lasts long.

I think calling it " traditional " oil would be appropriate if you want

to distinguish the process; as you know, the term virgin in other

oils refers to no-heat or very low-heat extraction which is usually

by pressing, but it is a term without regard for how traditional the

process is that generated the finished product. So as close as we get

to an established convention is that coconut oil extracted by both

pressing or fermentation with very low heat would similarly qualify

as virgin.

As far as your comment about lasting really long goes, North

America's largest coconut oil wholesaler Quality First International

quotes about four months storage before a rancidity factor can be

detected in the world's traditional virgin oils. We know it's true,

wild claims by some manufacturers aside, by the " catch in the throat "

that people have often complained about when using virgin oil of both

types.

Although it is possible to produce virgin oil that has a long shelf

life by the traditional method, this then would be the exception,

perhaps worthy of some other distinguishing descriptor. Quality First

International has an oil that is medically and pharmaceutically pure

for example that has at least a three year shelf life, in other words

no detectable rancidity, and they don't know how much longer the

shelf life would have been if the experiment had continued. Although

it is a virgin oil it is not produced by a traditional method; one

could say that the traditional process has been improved on because

here there is a consistent product that always lasts really long.

But who except perhaps a survivalist would want their coconut oil to

last that long anyway?

regards,

Duncan Crow

[Guest guest]

As I always stated, a properly processed traditional vcno should never get

moldy.....it lasts up to three years or more.

But I still think that in fairness to consumers sellers should include in its

labels what type of processing was used and whether heat was applied.

Re: Re: " Virgin " coconut oil

> Everyone wants to use the term " virgin " coconut oil. But there is

> really no definition of what makes coconut oil worthy of being called

> " virgin " . I suppose the traditional process is what they refer to as

> virgin since it is the first method of extracting the oil, and it

> hardly contains moisture and really lasts long.

I think calling it " traditional " oil would be appropriate if you want

to distinguish the process; as you know, the term virgin in other

oils refers to no-heat or very low-heat extraction which is usually

by pressing, but it is a term without regard for how traditional the

process is that generated the finished product. So as close as we get

to an established convention is that coconut oil extracted by both

pressing or fermentation with very low heat would similarly qualify

as virgin.

As far as your comment about lasting really long goes, North

America's largest coconut oil wholesaler Quality First International

quotes about four months storage before a rancidity factor can be

detected in the world's traditional virgin oils. We know it's true,

wild claims by some manufacturers aside, by the " catch in the throat "

that people have often complained about when using virgin oil of both

types.

Although it is possible to produce virgin oil that has a long shelf

life by the traditional method, this then would be the exception,

perhaps worthy of some other distinguishing descriptor. Quality First

International has an oil that is medically and pharmaceutically pure

for example that has at least a three year shelf life, in other words

no detectable rancidity, and they don't know how much longer the

shelf life would have been if the experiment had continued. Although

it is a virgin oil it is not produced by a traditional method; one

could say that the traditional process has been improved on because

here there is a consistent product that always lasts really long.

But who except perhaps a survivalist would want their coconut oil to

last that long anyway?

regards,

Duncan Crow