Various methods of Coconut oil extraction

Virgin Coconut oil in its natural state has a mild aroma, delicate taste and silky thin consistency. There are many ways to extract the oil from coconuts, some use heat, others are cold processed.  When coconut meat or milk is significantly heated at any point in the extraction process it results in a stronger flavour and aroma, this aroma does not exist in fresh coconut meat.

In the early years of coconut oil production the coconut aroma was commonly associated as natural to the coconut. This is mainly because the first products of coconut involved significant heating, and thus the existence of this aroma. With the advent of good quality Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO), like centrifuged Virgin Coconut Oil, the strong coconut aroma is now starting to be recognised as a contamination of the oil due to excessive heating during processing.

So what is the difference between Centrifuge (Cold Processed) and Expeller (Cold Pressed) methods:

In the Centrifuge method the coconut meat is finely spun and the milk and oil separate, much in the same way cream separates from dairy milk. It requires quite a few passes through the centrifuge to obtain pure oil. The temperature during the entire process is monitored to be under 38C. Centrifuge extracted oil has a mild aroma and delicate taste, due to the absence of significant heat in the extraction process.

In the Cold Pressed method, ground coconut meat is passed through a hot-air dryer before being pressed, the dryer may heat the coconut up to 80C. The term “Cold-Pressed” is to differentiate the final pressing method at around 48C, from a previously used “Hot-Pressed” method which heated the coconut to more than 100C. Cold Pressed Expeller extracted oil has a more “stonger coconut” aroma and taste, due to the presence of significant heat in the extraction process.

The table below shows 3 types of extraction and the difference between cold pressed and centrifuged (cold-processed) extraction.