about unrefined & refined coconut oil (unrefined is best)

[Guest guest]

About making coconut oil:

From: Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil site:

" Most commercial grade coconut oils are made from copra. Copra is

basically the dried kernel (meat) of the coconut. It can be made by:

smoke drying, sun drying, or kiln drying, or derivatives or a

combination of these three.

If standard copra is used as a starting material, the unrefined

coconut oil extracted from copra is not suitable for consumption and

must be purified, that is refined.

This is because the way most copra is dried is not sanitary. The

standard end product made from copra is RBD coconut oil. RBD stands

for refined, bleached, and deodorized. High heat is used to deodorize

the oil, and the oil is typically filtered through (bleaching) clays

to remove impurities. Sodium hydroxide is generally used to remove

free fatty acids and prolong shelf life. This is the most common way

to mass-produce coconut oil.

The older way of producing refined coconut oil was through

physical/mechanical refining (see Tropical Traditions Expeller

Pressed Coconut Oil.). More modern methods also use chemical solvents

to extract all the oil from the copra for higher yields.

RBD oil is also sometimes hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated.

This happens mostly in tropical climates, since the natural melting

point of coconut oil is about 76 degrees F, and already naturally a

solid in most colder climates. Since coconut oil is mostly saturated,

there is little unsaturated oil left to hydrogenate. Hydrogenated

oils contain trans fatty acids. "

The best in health,

Bee

[Guest guest]

This is similar to what the WFN website has. There are also some

pictures there that make me want to stay away from refined coconut oil.

See:

http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com/store/refined_coconut_oil.htm

Zack

On Tue, 1 Feb 2005, Bee wrote:

>

>

> About making coconut oil:

> From: Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil site:

>

> " Most commercial grade coconut oils are made from copra. Copra is

> basically the dried kernel (meat) of the coconut. It can be made by:

> smoke drying, sun drying, or kiln drying, or derivatives or a

> combination of these three.

>

> If standard copra is used as a starting material, the unrefined

> coconut oil extracted from copra is not suitable for consumption and

> must be purified, that is refined.

>

> This is because the way most copra is dried is not sanitary. The

> standard end product made from copra is RBD coconut oil. RBD stands

> for refined, bleached, and deodorized. High heat is used to deodorize

> the oil, and the oil is typically filtered through (bleaching) clays

> to remove impurities. Sodium hydroxide is generally used to remove

> free fatty acids and prolong shelf life. This is the most common way

> to mass-produce coconut oil.

>