What is Wood Churned Oil?

As you may have seen many stores and super stores are stocked with a wide range of edible oils. Some are in pouches and some in bottles too. They are all labeled different to – refined, extra verging, immunity pro, wooden churner (ghana) and so on. It is always confusing in this state to know which is best one for you.

Traditionally oil was removed from seeds by crushing them in a mortar and a large pestle that was turned by a bullock tied to it. He would go around thus crushing the seed and the oil would be collected. Since there is no application of heat for the extraction process this is known also known as cold pressed oil. i.e., the seeds are pressed at room temperature to extract oil by crushing them.

The large mortars and pestles used are made of wood and so in India this cold pressed oil is also known as wooden churner oil. With modernization and large scale production by multinationals the traditional oil was replaced by refined oils and the utilization of wood churned (squeezed) oil slowly decreased, and was mostly found in rural India.

Yet, with expanding consciousness of wellbeing, and mindfulness towards the ingredients in our food wood churned oil has made a comeback. People now see the additional benefits of consuming oil that is traditionally made with food churners.