What is it?
Now you may be thinking: “I’ve heard of coconut oil before, but what is this organic virgin mumbo jumbo?” How is it different? Can it help me? Is it the new health craze? Well, to start things off, coconut oil has been around as a key fat source for many tropical populations for generations. The oil comes from the coconut meat (or kernel) or milk found within coconuts. Its high saturated fat content, along with its fresh coconut flavour has made this type of oil a favorite to many. But wait! High saturated fat? Isn’t that a bad thing. Well, back in the 70s and 80s, coconut oil and other oils with high saturated fats were promoted as being bad and unhealthy. The thought was, high saturated fats were the cause of high blood pressure and heart attacks. So companies began to introduce trans-fats into their food, a big mistake. Presently, we have come full circle and now trans-fats are out the door and “good” saturated fats, like the medium chain fatty acids found in coconut oil, are here to stay. Now it is up to you to determine the best kind of coconut oil for your health.
Organic virgin vs regular coconut oil?
To understand the main differences between
1) where the coconuts are coming from, and
2) what the extraction process is like, i.e. how is the oil extracted from the coconut
For the first point, organic virgin coconut oil comes from, you guessed it, organically grown coconut palm trees. These palm trees are grown completely naturally, i.e. no pesticides, chemical fertilizers or have any genetic modifications. Eating a coconut oil that is organically grown is thus much less likely to contain any harmful chemicals, hormones or other unnatural ingredients.
In terms of the extraction process identifies if the oil is “virgin” or not. Ordinary coconut oil is extracted via a dry or wet process, which can involve heat, chemical solvents, salts and enzymes. Virgin coconut oil usually comes from the fresh coconut milk rather than the meat and is extracted only via a mechanical process. The oil then must be separated from the water and moisture via centrifugation or churning. With virgin extraction, heat should not be involved in the process, thus the coconut milk is compressed via a mechanical process without using any additives or solvents. The goal thus being to produce an oil directly from its raw materials without altering its chemical composition.
There you go, you now have a solid foundation of what organic virgin coconut oil is and how it is produced.
