How's your coconut oil smell?

Gardener972

I've been cooking with coconut oil and have found that it has a slight animal fat smell. ??? The label says "Coconut Oil" under Ingredients. It is manufactured & distributed in U.S.A..... not sure if I should say the maker? Is this normal? The coconut oil in the blue bottle that I use on my skin/hair has a bit of a coconut scent. What's the difference?

Also, why is the Indian community switching to using cooking oil instead of coconut oil when coconut oil is much better for our bodies (even though it has more saturated fatty acids)? Does anyone out there use coconut anymore?

the opoponax

Coconut oil for the hair might have coconut scent added, to give you that exotic, tropical feeling.

Pradeep Nayak

Yes, a lot of people in the southern part of India use Coconut oil for cooking purpose. In fact people from the state of Kerala are the known users.

crvlvr

While coconut oil was beign used traditionally, lot of reports from western scholars/medical community (back in the 80s) suggested thtat coconut oil was not healthy. Many Indian doctors picked up on that the began to recommend that their patients switch. http://www.americanheart.org/present...identifier=532

Also, I don't think that refined coconut has the same health promoting properties

Gardener972

How does one know if it's refined or virgin?
It's the long chain fatty acids that are not good for our hearts (found in animal fats, some oils, etc.) whereas the medium chair fatty acids aren't as bad (like in coconut & palm oils). Check this out: http://www.coconutoil.com/

Sadanand Kamath

We use coconut oil in our cooking.

Unrefined coconut oil will generally be yellowish while refined one will be colourless.

Sadanand

__________________
Sirf ek kadam utha tha galat rahe shauk mein
Manzil tamam umr hame dhunti rahi.

[Just one wrong step on the way of the quest
My destination looked for me all life long]

Scandojazzbuff

Here in Thailand, I buy the highest quality Organic Virgin Coconut Oil that I've ever had and it is neither yellowish nor has a very strong coconut smell. In fact, I've never seen an organic unrefined coco oil that was yellowish in color and I've been using it for years from various sources.

There are different ways of extracting the oil but the agreed upon best way is through a fermentation process that uses no heat. In this way, the oil retains all its properties and can be heated to a high degree when cooking with it. When coco oil is not extracted this way, the heating of it makes it indigestible and that is how it has earned its 'bad' reputation as an oil.

Most of the coco oil I have seen in India smells as if it has been cooked, but, there must be some organic virgin source in Kerala or TN.

Cardamom

Hey Gardener -

I love your food posts - I think you and I both have a one track mind about cooking

Out of curiosity, what brand did you use for your coconut oil? The first time I tried cooking with it (ages ago) was some stuff from the health food co-op. It had a very "earthy smell". Then I bought some SWAD brand which had no scent whatsoever and didn't impress me much. Now I use Parachute brand (good for cooking and hair/body moisturisation) and it has that "earthy smell". I don't think I've ever smelled an animal - fat scent in coconut oil. However, real coconut oil doesn't smell like stereotypical "coconut" scent.
So confusing how we're conditioned with scents and flavors. Sometimes I like how "watermelon" candy tastes much better than actual watermelon

Ok off to bed with more thoughts of food in my head!
C

Gardener972

The brand I'm using is Laxmi Brand and is manufactured by House of Spices, Inc.

I've been sitting here watching food videos and am ready now to make come cashew burfi and gulab jamun. If I had more time, I'd do it now!

ebby

We use cocunut oil in our cooking and it has a distinct "nutty" smell. It has a habit of going rancid if contaminated by water etc and then smells bad or like animal fat. Earlier we use to extract it from copra in a hand mill but now we buy "Parachute Brand" off the shelf. One property of pure CO is that it solidifies even at temperatures of 12 F. All oils are bad in excess and coconut oil in moderation has no ill effects. My cholestrol, trigliserates, HDL, VDL are all within the parameters in spite of using CO. Hope I wasnt too boring!

Gardener972

Not boring at all! My coconut oil is brand new... do you think it would smell like this NEW? I should look for that brand here; not sure if it's available though.

ebby

Cardomom is using Parachute brand coconut oil in New York. So it looks like it is available in US. Definetly, new Co should'nt smell bad.It has a pleasant nutty smell but never an animal fat smell. But it gets rancid pretty fast and smells bad if contaminated so I suggest that you dont touch the oil but pour it into your hands or vessel and in case you have taken excess dont put it back in the bottle, keep the bottle closed and away from moisture and it wont hurt if you sun it for sometime.

pundabee

There are three grades of coconut oil (the first two retain important health properties) and the third, which is the one commonly used, is not recommended.

The cold pressed, virgin oil (grade 1), can be bought in Kerala from

http://www.indiamart.com/jaimathacoconutproducts/

and

http://www.farmerindia.com/

The Kerala state coorporation produces a 2nd grade coconut oil, which is more widely available.

There is lots of useful information here:

http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/vi...oconut_oil.htm

Scandojazzbuff

I wonder how much they sell a litre for? They don't quote any prices on their site. Top quality coco oil is expensive. In Thailand, more than 800Rs a litre.

pundabee

We cook a lot of South Indian food, and are reluctantly using refined coconut oil. Therefore, we contacted both the linked companies. Only one of them replied. They were very positive, and asked us to send a detailed email about our needs (we would collect directly from their factory near Pala, so it would be no effort for the company). No reply.

So, we have investigated getting the 2nd grade coconut. This costs around Rs. 300 per litre, but, of course, it is not available where we live (people are generally not too concerned about health issues, and the ones who are tend to be misinformed, for instance it seems to be a general belief that sunflower is healthy, which it is not, especially not in the triple refined form it is found here). I imagine that the 1st grade coconut oil will be quite expensive in Kerala (the mentioned producers are export companies).