Coconut milk(contains mainly coconut oil) is a common ingredient in many South Asian delicacies such as Curry and Nasi Lemak. Coconut oil itself is commonly used in cooking. Although coconut oil has a high level of saturated fat content,
virgin cold-pressed coconut oil has become popular as a top choice healthy cooking oil with organic and health lovers in the world, especially in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Russia and USA.
So, what is the difference between virgin cold-pressed coconut oil vs the common normal coconut oil?
virgin means that the oil has not been refined – a process which uses solvent
cold-pressed means that no heat is used to express the oil which help retain the natural properties of the oil
So in the nutshell,
virgin cold-pressed coconut oil is perceived as more natural and organic than the common cooking oil by health conscious consumers.
Cooking oil can either be unrefined or refined
Unrefined oils are processed by cold-pressed and mechanical methods. These type of oil usually has low smoke oil point and are not suitable for frying. Most unrefined oils are typically used in salads dressing and for flavouring foods.
Refined oils uses one or more of the following refinement processes such as Distilling, Degumming, Deacidification, Bleaching, Dewaxing, Deodorizing to extract the cooking oil. These refinement process helps to produce clear cooking oil, free from rancidity and foreign matter. Refined oils has high smoke point which is suitable for cooking and frying.
To differentiate refined oils from unrefined oils is simple by looking at its color and smelling it flavor. Unrefined oils has darker color and stronger flavor while refined oil has paler color and bland flavor. For the example: Unrefined sunflower oil is light amber in color whereas refined sunflower oil is pale yellow in color.
Cooking oil intended for the health and organic food market will often be unrefined as health conscious consumer thinks that the refinement process to be unnatural and unhealthy.
Smoke point of cooking oil
One of the main critical point to consider when choosing your cooking oil is the smoke point of the oil. The smoke point of an cooking oil is the temperature at which enough volatile compounds emerge from the oil that a bluish smoke becomes clearly visible. It is therefore important to choose a cooking oil that has a high smoke point if you like to cook at high temperature such as deep frying, etc.
After examining the difference between unrefined vs refined cooking oils and the smoke point, it is not a wonder that health conscious buyers will want to buy a cooking oil which is both unrefined and has a high smoke oil.
One cooking oil which foot such criteria is the
coconut oil which has a smoke point of 177°C (351°F), much higher than typical smoke point of unrefined oils.
Where to buy virgin cold-pressed coconut oil in Singapore?
Virgin cold-pressed coconut oil can be found in several health or organic shops in Singapore but the price is a bit steep. However, there is one USA online shop which sells virgin cold-pressed coconut oil at a reasonable price and most importantly, it ship intentionally. So if you are a online shopper from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines or any parts of the world, you can get your
virgin cold- pressed coconut oil from iHerb shipped to your home country.
