Edible oil india

History
Ancient India had done lot of research on edible oils and its extraction and usage. We can find references to various oils and its health benefits in Ayurveda.
Indians believed that seed oils extracted from good quality seeds without increasing the temperature while extracting the oil.
Groundnut, Coconut, Sesame, Mustard, Kalaunji, Flaxseed, Almond, Neem, Safflower, Sunflower, Nirgudi, Walnut, Cashew are some of the seeds from which ancient indians used to extract oil.
Oil churners were made either from wood or stone.
The reason behind making churners from these materials is, they dissipate the heat and maintain temperature of the oil during extraction process.
Churning Process
Churners were operated either by Bullock or human being in earlier days. In modern times motorized churners are available.
Ayurveda mentions specific type of wood for making the churner. Babul, Tamarind, Mango are some of the trees which can be used to build a churner. Other trees are forbidden. The reason being suggesting specific trees was, other trees can insert their own flavour, taste, colour into the oil.
After the process, oil used to be collected and cakes were used as a feed for cattle.
Oil percentage is low from this process compared to screw expeller or solvent extractor but quality of oil is best.
Oil Cakes
After taking out the oil, oil cakes were used to make feed for cattle. It was believed that this feed is good for their health.
Cold Pressed Oil extraction today
Even today, mechanized wooden churners are used in places in india to extract oil.
IndicWisdom has similar wooden churner in Mumbai if you wish to see it yourself.

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