"Cold Pressed" Coconut Oil: is it the real thing?

I have quite a few people ask me about so-called ‘cold pressed’ coconut oil. It’s a clever marketing term that has been bandied about, but what does the heat of processing have to do with coconut oil? It may apply to olive oil, but does it apply to coconut oil?

Tropical Traditions founders Brian and Marianita Shilhavy were the first ones to export “Virgin Coconut Oil” from the Philippines in 2001, defining the term “Virgin Coconut Oil” on their websites since there was no industry-wide standard or agreed upon definition for such a label. Their definition has subsequently been used by most manufacturers and distributors of Virgin Coconut Oil.

Some groups have tried to improve upon this definition by including a “no heat” condition for processing Virgin Coconut Oil. But in 2005 Professor Vermont P. Dia of the University of the Philippines conducted a study with some of his graduate students to analyze various Virgin Coconut Oils produced using different methods, with all of them using little or no heat in the processing. Their results were published in December 2005, in The Philippine Agricultural Scientist, and these results became the standard for Virgin Coconut Oil quality in the Philippines. In 2006 Tropical Traditions had Professor Dia and his students test their Virgin Coconut Oil which is made using the traditional method and includes low levels of heat at the end of the process. It was not among the samples tested in the Philippines in 2005, since Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil was marketed exclusively in the United States. They discovered that Tropical Traditions’ Virgin Coconut Oil tested much higher in polyphenols, an antioxidant, than any of the low-heat or no-heat samples they had tested previously, sometimes testing with antioxidant levels that were twice as high! (Read Professor Dia’s statement here) This is further proof that low-tech traditional methods are not inferior to modern mass-produced machine methods emphasizing no heat. We suspect that some low-level heat is necessary to remove any existing enzymes or bacteria from the oil that can compromise the integrity of pure unrefined Virgin Coconut Oil.

To understand the “heat” issue in making Virgin Coconut Oil, go here:

While almost all Virgin Coconut Oils sold in Australia are mass-produced, Tropical Traditions still produces their Virgin Coconut Oil by hand in small batches by family micro enterprises. Most of them have been producing Virgin Coconut oil for over 6 years. They have learned what it takes to produce the highest quality oil, such as how to hand pick the best coconuts from each harvest.

Their most recent discovery in 2007 came when certain groups in rural areas had problems with water sources. Water is needed to make the coconut milk from which the oil is extracted. Using true Filipino ingenuity, they started collecting and using the pure nutritious coconut water from inside the organic coconuts instead. They noticed that the water separated from the oil much quicker, that less heat was needed at the end, and that less filtering was needed also. The end result was a higher quality and better tasting Virgin Coconut Oil. Independent laboratory analysis shows that this new method produces even higher levels of antioxidants than first tested in 2006 by Professor Dia!

So we now require all of our Virgin Coconut Oil producers to use the pure coconut water from their coconuts instead of boiled or purified tap water. This enhanced Virgin Coconut Oil with the highest levels of antioxidants is the same one we supply here in Australia.