The pressing of oil from seeds is a process that’s been going on for centuries. In many parts of the world, it’s still common practice to press oil from seeds at home. The most popular types of oils are olive and sunflower seed oil, which has been used since ancient times as cooking oils.
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Why Should Oils Be Homemade?
It’s much healthier than store-bought oil! You control the quality of the oils you use. And it will make your food taste better too, which is always nice! Homemade oils are also a great thing to do as a hobby because not only are they healthy but they’re fun to do with friends or family members alike. They’ll have fun learning how to press their own cooking oil from sunflower seeds or from olives while you make some delicious food together.
Cold Pressed Oils are Very Healthy
Cold-pressed oils are the best kind because they have been extracted from their sources without any heat. This means that all of those precious nutrients and antioxidants in your seeds or olives remain intact as well as the wonderful flavor, which isn’t noticeable when heated up during cooking.
Another great thing about cold press oil is that it can last a long time, sometimes even over a year! Most store-bought oils only last for one or two months before going bad but not with these ones because you’re making them yourself! You control how much to make so there’s never too much either. And since olive oil has such an incredibly high smoke point–over 500 degrees Fahrenheit!–it makes it really easy to cook with at higher heats than other kinds of oil.
This is because the cold-pressing process extracts every last drop of oil from your ingredients, which means you’re also getting more nutrients in each tablespoon than usual. For example, olive oil contains over 20 percent oleic acid whereas store-bought has only around seven or eight percent. This makes it far healthier for you! It’s full of antioxidants and other good stuff that are really great for overall health as well as maintaining a healthy weight to keep yourself fit and looking young longer too.
What is Best Suited for the Oil Press?
For oil production are suitable some substances such as olives, garlic, rosemary, flowers of the bush basil, among others. In crushed raw material form equally like lavender, sage, mint, and roses. The industry obtains its oils through the process of extraction mostly today. The solution is then obtained by heating. Through distillation, the oil is obtained.
This is a chemical process with the exception of olive oil. This is obtained by pressing. To produce oil by extraction is not possible and not useful. At that moment the oil would not be of good quality. However, it is possible to produce oil by pressing.
In pressing, a distinction is made between cold and hot pressing. The cold-pressed oil (native oil) is gentler on the ingredients. However, this process is more expensive than hot pressing. With hot pressing, more oil is obtained.
Plants that are particularly suitable for oil production are:
- Sunflower seeds
- Sesame
- Coconut
- Walnuts
- Almonds
- Linseed
- Hemp seed
- Chia seeds
- Poppy seeds
It’s worth getting your own little oil bar at home in the kitchen. Cold-pressed oils are wonderful for salads and refined soups. Also, feel free to explore our selection of Franconian vinegar and salad dressings.
The Cold Pressing
The cold pressing is produced by the mechanical oil pressing pressure. The friction of the oil mill produces the oil. Cold pressing is gentle and all the natural ingredients and omega 3 fatty acids are preserved. The taste and smell are intense and correspond to the natural pure substance. After pressing with the oil press, the cold-pressed oil is filtered. This removes the suspended particles from the oil. The cold-pressed oil has the best quality. For this purpose, a hand-operated press for oil is enough. Likewise, of course, an oil extraction machine is possible.
Pumpkin and sunflower seeds as well as walnuts and hazelnuts are very suitable for own oil presses. A wonderful fine taste is created. Herbs from the garden can be pressed yourself (mint, sage, basil from shrubs, or rosemary). Those who love cooking and cooking will certainly get creative and come up with more ideas of what you can press yourself. If you like to press a lot, you should use an oil mill. The pure pressing by hand will be too costly.