DIY Coconut Oil At Home

To make virgin coconut oil it’s simple just takes a bit of finesse and time. If you have the ability to source a few mature coconuts (ie brown and furry), here’s a simple recipe if you’d like to give it a try…

We say ‘Virgin’ because it means the oil is generally unprocessed. For example, virgin coconut oil usually has not been bleached, deodorized, or refined. Virgin oil is typically made from fresh coconuts, but processing techniques will still vary in determining the product's quality.

In this technique, we use very low heat in the oven and on a hot plate or stovetop to process the coconuts.

Recipe :

5 mature coconuts

7 cups filtered water

Milk bag strainer

Oven

Hot plate or stovetop

Strainer

8-12 oz glass mason jar to store

1. Preheat your oven to low heat of about 325℉

2. Crack open your coconuts with a hammer or we usually use a machete here on Kaua’i. Usually, with more mature coconuts there is not as much coconut water, technically known as coconut juice in the food science world because of the sugar content and the ‘juice’ of the fruit. For marketing purposes, we refer to it as ‘Coconut Water.’ As the coconut matures, some of the juice remains in liquid form while the rest ripens into the solid white flesh known as coconut meat, that’s what we’re going for with the more mature coconuts (brown & furry)

3. Drain the juice (you can drink it but it may not be as sweet as your typical ‘coconut water’) and place your cracked coconuts onto a baking sheet. Place in the oven for 10 minutes @ 325℉

4. Take the coconuts out of the oven, let them cool a bit before removing the meat from inside. Use a spoon with some serrated edges or a knife to remove

5. Place the meat into a blender or food processor and add water (approximately 7 cups)

6. Blend on high, this will separate some pulp and make coconut milk

7. Strain the mixture through a milk straining bag into a saucepan

8. The extra coconut pulp pieces can be dehydrated, baked/toasted or mixed into a dessert recipe of choice

9. With the coconut milk in a saucepan heat on a very low and consistent heat

10. As the coconut milk is heating the water will begin to evaporate and become more solid in form, the process will take 1-2 hours where the oil will separate from the solids. Keep an eye on the mixture so as to not burn the bottom so it should be on an extremely low flame or heat during this process. We will usually allow the mixture to get to a brown sugar color (usually skincare products go to this stage of oil separation to get as much of that ‘coco-nutty aroma as possible)

11. Once the mixture has separated from oil to solid, gather the solids with a spoon and discard them (we usually toss them into our compost bin to give back to mother earth) then strain the oil into a glass mason jar

12. Store in the refrigerator for best results and use in your cooking or DIY coconut oil concoctions at home