Delivering across India

Know your oil

Cold-pressed vs refined coconut oil: what’s the difference?

How each is made, step by step, what refining takes out, how to read the label, and why cold-pressed coconut oil costs more.

Published 30 October 20267 min readతెలుగు

The 30-second answer

  1. 01

    Both start as copra, the dried coconut kernel. Cold-pressed oil is simply pressed and filtered, with no heat added.

  2. 02

    Refined oil goes through a solvent, acid, caustic soda, bleaching earth and steam at up to 240°C. What comes out is plain and has almost no smell.

  3. 03

    Cold-pressed oil keeps the coconut’s own smell, taste and vitamin E. It takes more copra and more time, which is why it costs more.

01

From coconut to bottle

Pick a route, then step through it. The gauge shows how hot the oil gets along the way.

Step 1 / 4

Sun-dried copra

Coconut kernels are dried in the sun until only 6–8% moisture is left. That dried kernel, copra, is about two-thirds oil.3

HeatSun
100°C
Water boils180°C
Frying oil

Highest heat on this route: No added heat

02

Side by side

The same coconut, two very different oils.

Cold-pressedRefined
How it’s made
Pressed and filtered. Nothing added.1,6
Pressed or solvent-extracted, then treated with acid, caustic soda, bleaching earth and steam.
Smell and taste
The natural sweet taste and smell of coconut.7,3
Little or no coconut smell or taste.
Colour
Clear, sometimes with a pale golden tint.7
Very pale, almost colourless.
Vitamin E
Keeps what the coconut had.4
In one lab study, refining removed about 99% of it, and over a third of the plant sterols.
Highest heat
No added heat.1,3
Steam at 220–240°C.
On the label
Cold-pressed, wood-pressed, గానుగ.6,7
Refined, RBD, solvent extracted.
03

How to spot the real thing

Two sample labels. Tap the marked words to see what each one tells you.

Each marked word on the labels says something about how the oil was made.

Label A

Coconut Oil

·

From

Ingredients:

Label B

Coconut Oil

·

and light

04

Why cold-pressed costs more

Cold-pressed coconut oil costs more than refined. Here’s where the difference goes.

  1. Less oil from every kilo

    A wooden press leaves about 15% oil in the cake, around twice a screw press, and there’s no solvent to pull out the rest. Each bottle takes more copra.2,8

  2. Slow by nature

    A wooden press grinds slowly, in small batches, and the oil then needs time to settle before it’s filtered.2

  3. It has to start good

    There’s no bleaching or deodorising to clean up the taste and smell later. Cold-pressed oil is only as good as the copra it’s pressed from.7

05

Using it

Cold-pressed coconut oil brings its flavour with it, and that’s the point.

  • Everyday cooking

    Tadka, curries, chutneys, upma and coconut sweets. In coastal Andhra and Kerala the coconut flavour is part of the dish.

  • Hair

    Warm a little between your palms and massage it in before a wash, the way it’s been done at home for generations.

  • Skin

    Many people rub a little into dry hands, elbows and heels.

  • Oil pulling

    Swishing a spoonful of coconut oil around your mouth each morning.

    Read our oil pulling guide →
06

Questions people ask

Is wood-pressed the same as cold-pressed?

Wood-pressed is a kind of cold-pressing, done in a traditional wooden press (గానుగ or chekku). Both press the oil out without adding heat.

Why did my coconut oil turn solid?

Coconut oil sets when the weather turns cool. It’s natural, and it doesn’t harm the oil. Stand the bottle in warm water for a few minutes and it melts again.

Can I cook with cold-pressed coconut oil?

Yes. It’s the everyday cooking oil of coastal South India, used for tadka, curries and sweets.

Why does it smell of coconut?

That’s the coconut’s natural aroma. Refining steams it out, which is why refined oil smells of almost nothing.

How should I store it?

Keep it closed, in a cool place away from sunlight.

No. 01కొబ్బరి నూనెCoconut Oil1 litre

From our press

Cold-pressed coconut oil from Konaseema

Sun-dried Konaseema copra, pressed in a wooden press without heat and filtered. Nothing added, nothing taken out.

See the coconut oil₹1,399

Sources

Every claim above links to its source.

  1. 1Codex Alimentarius. Standard for Named Vegetable Oils, CXS 210-1999: definition of cold pressed oils (2.2.3) and fatty acid ranges (Table 1). FAO/WHO. www.fao.org/4/Y2774E/y2774e04.htm
  2. 2Achaya KT. Ghani: a traditional method of oil processing in India. FAO. www.fao.org/4/T4660T/t4660t0b.htm
  3. 3Kochhar SP. Processing coconut oil. OFI – Oils & Fats International, January 2017, pp. 25–27. www.ofimagazine.com/content-images/news/Coconut_oil_processing.pdf
  4. 4Liu R, Guo X, Cheng M, et al. Effects of chemical refinement on the quality of coconut oil. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 2019;56(6):3109–3116. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6542917/
  5. 5Divya PM, et al. A concise review on oil extraction methods, nutritional and therapeutic role of coconut products. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 2023;60(2):441–452. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9873890/
  6. 6FSSAI. Food Products Standards, Chapter 2.2: Fats, oils and fat emulsions (coconut oil, 2.2.1(1); refined vegetable oil, 2.2.1(16)). 2023. fssai.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/Chapter%202_2_Fats_oil_fat%20emulsions.pdf
  7. 7Vegetable Oils Grading and Marking (Agmark) Rules, Schedule IV: coconut oil. wdra.gov.in/documents/d/wdra/coconutoil_agmark
  8. 8Heuzé V, Tran G, Sauvant D, Bastianelli D. Copra meal and coconut by-products. Feedipedia (INRAE, CIRAD, AFZ, FAO), 2015. www.feedipedia.org/node/46

This article is general information about how coconut oil is made, not medical or nutritional advice.