Virgin Coconut Oil: Uses, Nutrition And Health Benefits
The coconut tree belongs to the palm tree family (Arecaceae), which is botanically a drupe, not a nut. Coconut oil is an edible oil produced from the kernel of mature coconuts and it has gained immense popularity in the recent years for its innumerable health benefits.
Almost over thousands of studies have proven, coconut oil to be one of the healthiest foods. The many uses and healing benefits of coconut oil go beyond people’s expectation, coconut is indeed a true superfood.
The coconut tree is claimed as the ‘lifeline of health’ due to its versatile benefits and uses. However, choosing the right type of oil from the different types available coconut oil brands can be a bit challenging.
Coconut oils are typically available in two varieties -virgin and refined oil. Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) is produced by cold-pressing the liquid from the coconut meat, later extracting the oil from milk and water and has a milky appearance. It is 100% natural, unbleached and cold-pressed. Virgin coconut oil is popular for its pleasant aroma, taste, powerful antioxidants, healthy fatty acids and essential vitamins to name a few.
Virgin coconut oil is produced from the coconut without heat exposure. It is gaining more popularity across the world in comparison with ordinary coconut oil for its indispensable nutrition and benefits.
Refined coconut oil is refined and processed through heat exposure. It has a very little coconut flavour as it is made from dried coconut or copra. The refined coconut oil is called RBD – refined, bleached and deodorized. During this process of RBD, the oil gets deodorized under extreme heat, gets filtered through clays to bleach the oil and remove impurities. Sodium hydroxide gets added to the final product to ensure a longer shelf life.
Though refined coconut oil is less expensive, it is not widely recommended as it loses all its nutrition while processing.
How To Make Virgin Coconut Oil
The main distinction between regular and virgin coconut oil lies in the making and extraction. Virgin oil is extracted from coconut milk got from fresh coconuts. Then it undergoes several processes like fermentation, churning (centrifugal separation), refrigeration and the enzyme actions after this oil is parted from moisture.
The raw materials and process of extraction of virgin oil do not allow any usage of heat. So, it is potent to take extreme care while selecting the kernel and raw ingredient coconut milk should not be exposed to heat or sunlight throughout the complete process. Sometimes virgin coconut oil is made directly by cold compression of fresh dried coconut meal called micro expelling.
Virgin coconut oil obtained by cold compression method is considered far better than that extracted by the fermentation method. As the oil obtained by fermentation has high moisture content and can get spoiled faster. During winter season if you need to melt the oil, take oil in a small glass and place the glass in warm water, never melt it directly on the heat.