Cocoanut oil

“ Copra and Cocoanut Oil. Until very recent years the demand for the “meat” of the cocoanut or its products was limited to the uses of soap boilers and confectioners. Probably there is no other plant in the vegetable kingdom which serves so many and so varied purposes in the domestic economy of the peoples in whose countries it grows. Within the past decade chemical science has produced from the cocoanut a series of food products whose manufacture has revolutionized industry and placed the business of the manufacturer and of the producer upon a plane of prosperity never before enjoyed. ”

“ For the cold process, 23 parts of fresh lard and 2 parts of Cochin cocoanut oil are warmed in a jacketed pan, and when the temperature reaches 113° F. are treated with 9 parts of caustic potash and 2 1/2 parts of caustic soda solution, both of 38° Bé. strength, the whole being stirred until saponification is complete. The soap is transferred to a large marble mortar and pounded along with the following scenting ingredients: 0.15 parts of oil of bitter almonds and 0.02 parts of oil of geranium rose, or 0.1 part of the latter, and 0.05 parts of lemon oil. ”

“ Where large quantities of the oil are saponified care must be exercised as the soap formed suddenly rises or puffs up and may boil over. Cocoanut oil soap takes up large quantities of water, cases having been cited where a 500 per cent. yield has been obtained. ”

“ All modern cocoanut-oil mills are supplied with a decorticator armed with revolving discs that tear or cut through the husk longitudinally, freeing the nut from its outer covering and leaving the latter in the best possible condition for the subsequent extraction of its fiber. This decorticator is fed from a hopper and is made of a size and capacity to husk from 500 to 1,000 nuts per hour.
Rasping and grinding machinery of many patterns and makes, for reducing the meat to a pulp, is used in India, Ceylon, and China ”

“ The soap is harsh to the skin, develops rancidity and darkens readily.
Palm Kernel Oil, which is obtained from the kernels of the palm tree of West Africa, is used in soap making to replace cocoanut oil where the lower price warrants its use. It resembles cocoanut oil in respect to saponification and in forming a very similar soap. Kernel oil is white in color, has a pleasant nutty odor when fresh, but rapidly develops free acid, which runs to a high percentage. ”

“ Sesamé oil has an agreeable taste, and is considered equal to Olive oil for edible purposes. The best qualities are rather difficult to obtain; those usually sold being much inferior to Peach-kernel and Olive oils. Cotton-seed oil is the cheapest of the edible ones. Salad oil, not sold under any descriptive name, is usually refined Cotton-seed oil, with perhaps a little Olive oil to impart a richer flavour.
The solid fats sold as butter and lard substitutes, consist of deodorised cocoanut oil, and they are excellent for cooking purposes. ”

“ When pure and fresh they usually have little or no taste or smell; but, when exposed to the air, they become darker in color, have a disagreeable taste and smell, and are called rancid. As examples of vegetable oils we have cottonseed-oil, linseed-oil, olive-oil, almond-oil and cocoa-butter. Linseed is brought largely from Russia and India; Africa supplies palm-oil; India and the Pacific islands cocoanut-oil; while the best olive-oil is brought from Italy. In animal oils the principal ones are butter, lard, tallow, neatsfoot-oil and sperm-oil. ”

“ Very large quantities of gingelly, castor and cocoanut oils are manufactured. The castor oil is generally made in iron mills in regular factories. There are twelve or thirteen of such factories at Cocanada, four or five at Rajahmundry and Peddápuram, and others at Pithápuram, Tuni and Dowlaishweram. Gingelly oil is made in a factory at Tuni; but every- where else both it and cocoanut oil are made in the ordinary wooden mills. ”

“ Add to 5 cubic centimeters of 70 per cent. alcohol (specific gravity 0.890) at 59° to 62.5° F., 10 drops of the oil, and shake. If a clear solution results the oil is very likely unadulterated.
The so-called Turkish geranium oil is frequently found mixed with cocoanut oil. To detect this, place the oil in a test-tube in ice or a cold mixture for several hours, whereby the cocoanut oil separates as a white substance. Adulterations of upward to 20 per cent. are said to frequently occur. ”

“ The stem is so strong and tough, being composed of closely-interwoven fibres, 96that the entire top may be torn off by the hurricanes and the trunk remain uninjured. The cocoanut commences to bear when from three to ten years old and will continue to produce fruit, year after year, for from seventy-five to one hundred years. The nut is used for both food and drink, and the shell is made into dippers, jars, spoons and other household utensils. The dried cocoa is a valuable article of commerce, but the real value of the oil prepared from the fresh meat is only beginning to be realized. ”

“ A thoughtful person cannot fail to be impressed with the remarkable adaptation of the palm family to the requirements of the natives of this region. Take, for instance, the cocoanut-tree, and realize for a moment its bountiful, beneficent products. It affords never-failing water in an always thirsty clime. Nutritious and palatable cream is obtained from its luscious nut; toddy to refresh the weary traveler, or arrack when fermented, comes from the same source, besides a rich oil for various domestic uses. ”

“ As found in our Northern markets, the cocoanut is difficult of digestion, as is likewise the prepared or desiccated cocoanut. The cocoanut contains about seventy per cent of oil.
The Chestnut is an exception to most nuts in its composition. It contains starch, and about fifteen per cent of sugar. No oil can be extracted from the chestnut. In Italy, and other parts of Southern Europe, the chestnut forms an important article of food. It is sometimes dried and ground into flour, from which bread is prepared. ”

“ The Chinese here, as elsewhere eastward, monopolize the vegetable-growing industry. The largest cocoanut plantation and oil factory is on Pulu Daát, a large islet lying between Labuan and the Bornean coast. The total number of cocoanut trees in the colony is estimated at 200,000. The nuts, retail, either green or ripe, fetch two or three cents each, and the oil obtained [117] from them fetches the uniform price of £33 per ton. A young plantation of the African oil-palm (Elæis guineensis) has been established on Pulu Daát, and the experiment promises to be a successful one. ”

“ Of the cocoa palms the ordinary cocoanut tree is the most important, the oil of which is put to many and varied uses. The bamboo is much valued, the young and tender shoots making a very acceptable article of food, in the form of salads and other dishes, and the fibre is used for numerous purposes. ”

“ When freshly expressed, the oil is an exceptionally good cooking fat, and enters largely into the dietary of our own people. The medicinal uses of the oil are various, and in the past it has been strongly advocated for the cure of eczema, burns, as a vermifuge, and even as a substitute for cod-liver oil in phthisis. ”

“ If the beetles do not destroy half the trees, the estates here when in bearing, if they yield anything, will give half that quantity; and it must be borne in mind that coco-nut oil is not a strong oil, like palm oil, and that soap boilers will never use it to any extent, for it will allow but little admixture of rosin, &c.; its use in Europe will be principally for candles and fancy soaps; but as by refining and compression they can now purify tallow, and make of it candles fully equal to those made from coco-nut oil, the consumption of the latter is not likely to increase. ”

“ The kernel of 37the ripe nut, thoroughly dried and pressed, gives forth a strong, clear, tasteless oil, which is used by the natives for anointing their skin and hair, and at the same time forms so important an article in European commerce, that above 5,000,000 ripe cocoa-nuts are annually exported through foreign mercantile houses in exchange for European fabrics. ”

“ Ua olelo ia me ka lau niu i lele ai kekahi kanaka mai luna aku o ke kumu niu a haule iloko o ke kai.
6. Concerning the oil. Coconut is valuable for its oil. Here is how it is prepared. When the coconut is young, that is the proper time for extracting oil from it. When desirous of making some, a man must carry a tub and leave it by the tree, right under where the fruits are hanging then go for the young fruit, cut open the bud and let the water drip into the tub ”

“ In such a house lives yonder toddy-man, and he says that it keeps out both rain and heat. The young buds are a delicate vegetable. The cocoa-nut shells are manufactured into drinking vessels and measures; the solid fruit within the shell, besides being a delicate relish of delicious flavour, and constituting the main support of hundreds of poor natives in Ceylon and other parts of India, is compressed into an excellent transparent oil, used by Europeans for lamps, and by the natives to mix with sweetmeats or curry, whilst their women apply it to the hair ”

“ The natives also are fond of such display. The common lamp which they have for burning cocoa-nut oil is nothing but a glass tumbler. This is partly filled with water, a small quantity of oil is then poured in, and on this float two small splints that support a piece of pith in a vertical position for a wick. When the oil is first made, it has a sweet, rich taste, but in such a hot climate it soon becomes extremely rancid, and that used for cooking should not be more than two or three days old. ”

“ According to Guibourt, [1] the "macassar oil," much prized in Europe for at least some decades as a hair oil, is a cocoa nut oil digested with the flowers of Cananga odorata and Michelia champaca, and colored yellow by means of turmeric. In India unguents of this kind have always been in use. ”

“ That is why it is used in painting. Such oils are called "drying" oils, although the hardening process is not really drying, since they contain no water, but is oxidation. The "semi-drying oils," those that will harden somewhat on exposure to the air, include the oils of cottonseed, corn, sesame, soy bean and castor bean. Olive oil and peanut oil are "non-drying" and contain oleic compounds (olein) . The hard fats, such as stearin, palmitin and margarin, are mostly of animal origin, tallow and lard, though coconut and palm oil contain a large proportion of such saturated compounds. ”

“ The milk of the coconut is itself highly esteemed as a delicious article of food. Grated coconut is one of the basic constituents of that familiar condimental substance, East Indian curry. Coconut oil is a very highly edible fat from which butter is made. The fat itself is valuable for cooking purposes. The composition of the coconut is shown in the following table:
The solid edible portion of the nut is highly oleaginous and contains also a considerable quantity of starch and sugar. ”

“ Coconut oil may be regarded as the one edible oil which approximates in constitution ordinary butter. Coconut oil has been used very extensively as an adulterant for oleomargarine, since by reason of its high volatile acid it brings that substance much nearer to the composition of butter or indicates a larger percentage of butter therein than is actually present. While it is used extensively as human food its principal value is for soap making. ”

“ For the same reason, cocoa-nut oil enters largely into the constitution of hydrated soaps, but the desired yield or grade of soap allows of a variation in the choice of materials. Whilst marine soap, for example, is usually made from cocoa-nut oil or palm-kernel oil only, a charge of 2/3 cocoa-nut oil and 1/3 tallow, or even 2/3 tallow and 1/3 cocoa-nut oil, will produce a paste which can carry the solutions of silicate, carbonate, and salt without separation, and yield a smooth, firm soap. ”

“ They are immoderately fond of cocoa-nut oil for the same reason; a great quantity of which they not only pour upon their head and shoulders, but rub the body all over, briskly, with a smaller quantity. And none but those who have seen this practice, can easily conceive how the appearance of the skin is improved by it. This oil, however, is not to be procured by every one; and the inferior sort of people, doubtless, appear less smooth for want of it. ”

“ Even in dangerous fevers the burning thirst of the sufferer can safely be assuaged by the frequent administration of small bits of ice. In cases of incomplete nutrition, cocoa, chocolate, and other preparations of the fruit of the cocoa-palm, are invaluable adjuncts; the active principle of all these is identical, and the chief nutritive element is oil. A very small quantity of cocoa will sustain life a long time. ”

“ Cocoa-nut oil is now manufactured in different parts of the South Seas, and forms no small part of the traffic carried on with trading vessels. A considerable quantity is annually exported from the Society Islands to Sydney. It is used in lamps and for machinery, being much cheaper than the sperm, and, for both purposes, better than the right-whale oil. They bottle it up in large bamboos, six or eight feet long; and these form part of the circulating medium of Tahiti.
To return to the ship. The wind dying away, evening came on before we drew near the island. ”