Homemade Virgin Coconut Oil

Thanks to the growing cost of living, I have resorted to a lot of DIYs, and luckily, so far it has been pretty successful. My most recent discovery (and possibily most cost saving) and attempt in DIY is making virgin coconut oil (VCO).

Recently I stumbled across a simple method to making cold-pressed VCO in one of Facebook sharing, and I was like 'You can't be serious?'

Doing further discussion with Mr. Google I realised how easy it was to actually make cold pressed VCO. Thanks to recent popularity of VCOs we have all gone out and purchased expensive drops of oil which seems to be a cure and beneficial for almost everything in our daily lived. 

The most shocking discovery as yet is that the complicated sounding cold pressed method just implies to the preparation that does not rise above 49C. 

1. Although pressing and grinding produces heat through friction, the temperature must not rise above 120°F (49°C) for any oil to be considered cold pressed. Cold pressed oils are produced at even lower temperatures. Cold pressed oils retain all of their flavor, aroma, and nutritional value.

That's it? I had this giant press machine with some features or parameters that extracts the best and most nutritional drops of oil going in my head. I have been so deluded, luckily enough, I know it now. If this is true, then we have so been over-charged for something that is easily made!

After much reading I came down to this Desert Enlightment blog, enlightenment indeed! So simple, so cheap and so preservatives free! And I followed it to the tee.

1) I bought fresh coconut milk. It is strained off the grated coconut meat. Let it rest on the counter top, covered, for 24 hours.

2. Then I moved it into the fridge. And left it for another 24 hours.

3. At the end of the total 48 hours, this is how it turned out.

The coconut milk had separated into a thick layer on top, and water at the bottom. The thick layer on top is the coconut oil that had hardened being chilled.

I was rather confused for the first 30 minutes, and out of curiousity I even tasted both the layers. The hard white layer (which eventually turned out to be the coconut oil) was coconut-y smelling, mild tasting, and melting in my mouth. And the bottom water layer was sour and yucks!

After it struck me that I have just got my own VCO, I was in disbelief for a short while. I finally broke the white solid piece and strained it a while to get any moisture off it. And there is the home made much cheaper VCO!

As this is home made and we did not use any specific method to dry the moisture, it is advisable to store it in the fridge at all times. I am so excited to use this for cooking or even conditioning purposes for hair and skin. Looks like I have just uncovered another money-saving shortcut to making healthy goodies at home and I cannot be more esctatic! And I am definitely ditching store-bought VCO!