Coconut oil is known to have a huge amount of health benefits. The oil is beneficial to the skin, hair, heart, including a lot more health benefits not mentioned here. Coconut also has a delightful taste when used in dishes or for baking a wide selection of pastries. If you look in the beauty section of the stores you will notice that there are many beauty products that have coconut as one of the main ingredients. If you don’t feel comfortable purchasing coconut oil or if you want to make sure that you are using 100% natural organic coconut oil, you may consider making your own from scratch. It’s pretty straight forward, as long as you follow the directions correctly. You are just minutes away from making your own natural coconut oil right in your home.
Preparing the Coconut
Purchase three or four dried coconuts from the produce section in the supermarket. Gather all the things that you will need to prepare your organic coconut oil. The ingredients will be limited to only coconut and water, as you are making 100% natural oil.
Things You Will Need:
- Coconuts
- Safety Glasses
- Hammer
- Strainer
- Cup
- Containers
- Knife
- Blender
- Water
- Pot
- Jar
Coconut Oil Recipe
1. Put on your safety glasses to protect your eyes from any flying debris, such as coconut shell.
2. Break each coconut with the hammer.
3. Pour the coconut water through a strainer, and into a cup.
4. Use the knife to carefully loosen the coconut from the shell. Sometimes you may need to break the shell into smaller pieces to make it easier to remove the coconut.
5. Wash all the coconut in a container to remove small pieces of shell and other debris.
6. Thoroughly drain the water from the container. Slice the coconuts into strips. The pieces should measure 1/2 inch in width and 1 inch in length. Continue to cut strips of coconut until all the coconuts are sliced.
7. Place two cups of sliced coconut into the blender and add three cups of warm water (the warm water helps to extract the milk from the blended coconut) to it. Blend at high speed using the “Grate” button. Blend for at least 2 to 3 minutes.
8. Pour the blended coconut from the blender into a container. Keep adding two cups of sliced coconut each time, along with three cups of water, until all the coconut is blended.
9. Place a pot beside the one that has the blended coconut, then put a strainer across the top.
10. Grab a handful of coconut and squeeze out the coconut milk (the milk should be going into the same container with the blended coconut). To get more milk out of the shredded coconut, put a few handfuls of the blended coconut into a clean cheese cloth, then twist it (while holding the top of the cloth) to squeeze out the milk.
11. Place the juice-less pieces aside in a separate container. Follow the same direction as above (squeezing out handfuls of coconut milk) until there are no more blended pieces to take out.
12. Pour the coconut juice into the strainer slowly, and let it drain into the empty pot.
13. Cover the pot that has the coconut milk, then put it on the stove. Turn on the stove and put it on medium.
14. Let the coconut juice boil all the way down until you start to see oil and “custard” at the bottom. It may take more than an hour to reach to this stage. At this point you should remove the pot cover. Continue to boil down the oil without the cover on the pot. Removing the cover will prevent extra moisture as a result of the steam.
15. Boil the juice down until the custard at the bottom starts to become brown.You will start to hear a frying sound and the oil will begin to rise on top of the custard.
16. Pour the oil into a clean, dry pot. Make it cool thoroughly, then pour your natural organic coconut oil into a jar. Cover the jar and keep it in a cool area.When coconut oil is cool, it becomes crystallized or solid.
Tips
Always place your hands on the cover of the blender while in use, to prevent spills.
Add coconut custard to dishes to create an island taste.
Don’t forget to enjoy the refreshing coconut water that you previously poured into your cup.
Update May 28th, 2013
Recommended Brands of Coconut Oil
Now that you know how to make coconut oil at home, here are some updates on the great benefits that you can get from using coconut oil. It is known to naturally cure: skin problems, high cholesterol, weight issues, dull or lifeless hair, including many more. There have been a lot of excitement about using coconut oil on the skin to get rid of keratosis pilaris, also known as “chicken skin.”
Many people have tried different things to get rid of this unpleasant skin condition, then suddenly decided to use coconut oil to treat it. It is known to smooth rough, dry skin and keep the skin moisturized throughout the day. It even helped some people to get rid of stubborn acne on different areas of the body. Here is a product called Nature’s Way Organic, Extra Virgin coconut oil, which is getting a lot of favorable reviews from many people who used it. It has many uses ranging from cooking to keeping your skin healthy.
Barlean’s Organic Coconut Oil is another recommended coconut oil that you may want to try also. Nourish your body, hair and skin the natural way. It’s amazing to know how many health benefits you can enjoy, when you add this miracle oil to your diet and your daily beauty regimen. Unlike some coconut oil that has a rancid smell, these are some of the highest quality around. Start enjoying the many benefits today.
