Virgin Coconut Oil

Virgin Coconut Oil is extracted from fresh coconuts sourced from Sri Lanka’s finest coconut plantations, both organic-certified and conventional. The extraction process preserves the natural goodness of the coconuts, including a superior lauric acid content. Virgin Coconut Oil is extracted under carefully controlled process conditions with great care taken to limit the temperature used during drying. After extraction, high quality filtration is the only process used.

Daily consumption of coconut oil has been shown to have multiple benefits. Due to the high medium chain triglyceride content, coconut oil is metabolized differently to other edible oils – being preferentially broken down in the liver for energy source as opposed to being transported around the body and deposited as fat. For this reason, coconut oil is used in both high quality infant milk formulas, as well as a supportive agent for critical care patients. Lauric acid has been shown to have benefits as a natural anti-microbial and anti-viral agent. Coconut oil also brings substantial improvement in the quality of life as a supportive measure for Alzheimers’ and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Benefits of Virgin Coconut Oil

Not just for cooking, coconut oil can be put to many more uses. It is medicinal and has several healing properties. Sunitha shares some of them as have been given below:

• It is a good moisturizer, especially for new born babies because it is mild and fresh.
• You should have a teaspoon of coconut oil before breakfast, first thing in the morning. It is good for your stomach and helps in boosting your digestion. It is also great for the Ayurveda practice of oil pulling that aids digestion.
• It can help lowering bad cholesterol levels which most of the refines oils we use today have been found guilty of causing cholesterol problems.
• It is a great beauty ingredient and can help in controlling dandruff and preventing acne.
• Homemade coconut oil is a great remedy for mouth ulcers. Dab some coconut oil over the ulcers and let it stay overnight. You will feel relieved the next morning.

The process to make virgin coconut oil

Ingredients

• 9 to 10 coconuts will give you 3 liters of coconut milk, from which you can extract approximately 150 grams of coconut oil.
• 3 to 4 coconuts will give you 1 litre of coconut milk, from which 50 grams of oil can be extracted. This quantity is better suited to make virgin coconut oil at home, since fewer coconuts are required.

Method

• Step 1: Extract the flesh from the coconut. Once you have collected the flesh from all the coconuts, grate it.
• Step 2: Extract the coconut milk from the flesh by squeezing it with your hands in a muslin cloth. Keep a bowl below the cloth to collect the liquid. You can add very little hot water to it to make it easy to handle and squeeze out all the milk.
• Step 3: Once the coconut milk has been extracted, sieve it using a muslin cloth to remove any impurities.
• Step 4: Place the coconut milk in a brass vessel (known as Urli in Malayalam) and put it on fire. Let it cook for 2 to 3 hours, but make sure the heat is kept low.
• Step 5: Keep stirring it every now and then till the milk becomes brownish in colour. However, be careful that it doesn’t burn as coconut milk has a very delicate texture.
• Step 6: Once the milk becomes concentrated, remove it from the fire and let it cool down. Place the cooled thickened milk in a muslin cloth and squeeze out the oil. Collect it in a bowl and then store it in a can or a plastic bottle.