How to Make Coconut Oil

How to make coconut oil? Well, it's not as hard as you think! And what better way to guarantee you're getting pure coconut oil than to make it yourself... at home... in your pjs?

All you need are brown coconuts, a few tools, some time and a little patience. The results - homemade coconut oil your skin will love.

So... are you ready to see how to make to coconut oil?

How to Make Coconut Oil: Summary

Prep Time: more than 12 hours
Cook Time: less than 1 hour (**optional**)

Ingredients:

• brown or mature coconuts [5 - 6 makes roughly 1 cup of oil]

Tools/ equipment:

• cleaver or hammer
• several bowls
• sturdy knife
• grating equipment [for example: a rough grater, coconut scraper, blender, food processor, or juicer]
• straining equipment [for example: a simple strainer, cheese cloth, or any clean cloth]
• spoons
• clean bottles or containers for coconut oil
• heavy bottomed pot [for example: cast iron pot] (**optional**)

Steps:

1. Buy brown or mature coconuts.
2. Crack them open.
3. Remove the coconut meat (also called copra or 'flesh').
4. Grate/ shred the extracted coconut meat.
5. Squeeze the grated meat to extract coconut milk. Add water if necessary.
6. Strain the coconut milk.
7. Leave the milk overnight in a cool place to separate.
8. Once separated, carefully scoop coconut oil from the top and bottle the oil.
   This is cold pressed, virgin coconut oil, which is sometimes called coconut cream or curd. And it typically contains some moisture.

**Optional** - Processing further
9. Heat the coconut curd in a heavy bottomed pot on medium heat.
10. Stir continuously until the coconut oil and curd separate.
11. Strain the oil.
12. Carefully squeeze the curd particles to remove as much oil as possible. Bottle the oil.
    This is 100% pure coconut oil so it doesn't contain any moisture.

How to Make Coconut Oil: Details

Step #1: Buy brown/ mature coconuts

You can get brown coconuts at your local farmers' market, big box stores and specialty groceries. Ask them when they restock so you can get the coconuts at their freshest. Also verify that they are organic nuts if you want to make organic coconut oil.

How many brown coconuts you should get will depend on how much oil you want to make. Typically, five to six nuts will give you one cup of coconut oil. But the actual yield will depend on the size, quality and 'freshness' of the brown coconuts.

So choosing the right nut is important. When you're at the store, you want to get coconuts that are brown on the outside, feel heavy, have no signs of mold, and when you shake them, you can hear liquid sloshing around inside. These coconuts are usually 'fresher' and are more likely to make better quality coconut oil. Coconuts that are lighter, grayish, moldy, or don't have much liquid in them are older and may be rancid. These will make poor quality coconut oil.

Still, you will only know if a coconut is truly good when you crack it open.

Step #2: Open the coconuts

To open the brown coconuts, you'll need a cleaver or hammer and a bowl or two. You may also have use for a corkscrew or sturdy paring knife.

Before cracking open the nut, you can use the corkscrew or paring knife to dig holes into the coconut's darker spots or 'eyes.' Empty the coconut water out of these holes into a bowl. You can drink this water or use it later to help extract the coconut milk. But this is all optional since the water isn't necessary for making the oil.

To crack open a coconut, place a bowl under it to collect the water (if you didn't empty it already). You can also do this over your kitchen sink too. Holding the coconut in one hand, use a hammer or the back of a cleaver to tap the center of the coconut (against its grain). Rotate and repeat as necessary until the coconut shell breaks. Be careful with your fingers!

If you are keeping the coconut water, make sure to strain and empty the water into a separate bowl before cracking open the next nut, just in case you got any bad coconuts.

Bad coconuts smell rancid and their meat can be slimy, runny, and gross. Discard them! Good coconuts (like the ones below) do not smell and their kernels or meat are hard and white. These are perfect for making coconut oil.

Step #3: Remove the coconut meat

If you are using a manual or electric coconut scraper, you can skip this step.

To remove the coconut meat, you will still need the cleaver or hammer and a sturdy knife. Use the back of the cleaver or hammer to gently tap the shell of the coconut. Sometimes, the coconut shell will pop right out. If it doesn't then insert the sturdy knife between the meat and shell and twist it slightly.

Note, the coconut shells can be a little unstable so be very careful when tapping and using the knife.

Separated coconut meat:

You can peel the brown 'skins' off the coconut meat before grating but this isn't necessary.

You can discard the coconut shells or use them to make cute bowls and decorations. You can also add the smaller pieces to your garden.

Step #4: Grate/ shred the coconut meat

With the manual or electric coconut scrapers, you can shred the coconut meat directly from the coconut shell. Be sure to place a bowl under the scrapers to collect all the gratings. It can get messy!

If you don't have these scrapers, you can simply use the rough side of your grater to shred the extracted coconut meat. It takes a while to get done and you can accidentally grate your finger, but still, it is one of the best ways to get coconut meat into a really fine consistency.

You can save time and your fingers by using a blender or a food processor. But you will need to cut the meat into small pieces to make it easier for your appliances. You may also have to add water to ensure the coconut meat blends properly. Note, by adding water, you will end up with a slurry-like consistency.

I, personally, don't like adding too much water in this step because my cold-pressed coconut oil tends to have more moisture when I do. That's why I prefer manually grating the coconut meat.

Step #5: Extract the coconut milk

There are a few ways you can extract coconut milk from the meat. You can use a strainer, cheese cloth, or ... a juicer!

I love using the juicer because I don't have to add a lot of water. I simply load the chute with my grated coconut meat and switch on the appliance. The milk pours right out and the coconut meat left is really, really dry. Some powerful juicers can get the meat to an almost powdery texture, which is awesome since you'll get all the milk out. Note, you can also add the coconut meat slurry from your blender to your juicer.

With my juicer, I run it once, collect the dry coconut meat, mix it with a little water and add it back to the chute. I double juice :) ... Here's after first run:

If you don't have a juicer, no worries. All you need to do is add a little water to the grated coconut and squeeze the coconut meat. You'll start seeing the water turning white. That's your coconut milk. And the more you squeeze the meat, the more milk you'll get out.

You can also work the slurry from your blender in the same way.

Step #6: Strain the coconut milk

You'll need a strainer, or cheese cloth or any cloth for this step.

The coconut milk and meat from your juicer, blender or gratings must be properly strained to remove any particles from the coconut milk. You can double strain and triple strain if necessary. And make sure you squeeze out as much milk as possible from the meat.

You can eat the coconut meat that is left behind. It is a great source of fiber. You can also add it to your garden as an all-natural fertilizer.

Step #7: Leave the coconut milk to sit overnight

Once you're sure the coconut milk is properly strained, place it in a large bowl and let it sit undisturbed in a cool place overnight. Sometimes I put it in the fridge to make sure it stays cool. If it does get warm, your milk will start to smell a little rancid and the odor does transfer to the oil. So it is important to keep the milk in a cool place.

You can also cover your milk with a thin cloth when leaving it overnight.

Step #8: Scoop out cold-pressed, virgin coconut oil

By morning, you will find your coconut milk has separated into a solid, white layer on top and clear-ish liquid below. Using a spoon, gently remove the solid, white layer. This is your cold-pressed, extra virgin coconut oil! It's also called coconut cream or coconut curd.

You will notice your oil will have a slight watery feel to it. That's because there is still water in the oil layer. But over time, the water will evaporate out. You can bottle the oil and store it in a cool place or in the fridge. If it is always cool, it will be good for several months to a year.

Here's my cold-pressed, virgin coconut oil/ coconut curd/ coconut cream:

How to Make Pure Coconut Oil

To make pure coconut oil, you have to process the cold-pressed, virgin coconut oil/ coconut curd further to remove the excess water. To do this you have to:

Step #9: Heat the coconut curd

Add the coconut curd to a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Stir continuously to prevent the curd from sticking. After 10 - 15 minutes, you will see the curd will separate into light colored oil and white particles.

After a few more minutes, you will notice the oil changes to a pale yellow color and the particles become brown. You can turn off the heat at this point.

Step #10: Strain the coconut oil

While the oil is still hot, carefully strain it using a cheese cloth or any other type of cloth. If you don't strain the oil, you may find tiny brown specks settling in it.

Step #11: Extract as much oil as possible

The brown curd particles also contain a lot of oil so it's a good idea to squeeze as much oil out of them too... Carefully! And while they're still hot. If they get cold, the oil will solidify around the particles and you won't get it out.

So you can strain the hot curd particles in a few ways. For instance, you can twist your cheese cloth at its ends and continue twisting until you get some oil out. You can also place the cheese cloth on a slotted spoon, and squeeze down on the cloth using another spoon or something heavy. Either way, get as much oil as you can out without getting burned. It is oil after all.

Your final products are 100% pure coconut oil and brown curd particles. I used 3 coconuts and got about 90 milliliters of coconut oil. If kept in cool conditions, the oil will turn white and last for a few months to a year.

Note #1: The brown curd particles will still have some oil in them and they are great additions to your skin scrubs.

Note #2: You can use the pure coconut oil for oil pulling and cooking. Plus it's great for all your skin care and beauty regimes.

Note #3: So there's an old saying about making coconut oil and full moon. According to my mom - among others - you can get a higher yield of coconut oil when you make it on or around the date of full moon. Try it at different times and tell me if you got more or the same amount.

So now you know how to make coconut oil! Leave a comment and let me know how your oil turned out. :)

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