Coconut oil has been used as edible oil for thousands of years and is still used by people in the tropics. Coconut oil can be used for food purposes, such as cooking oil, margarine and white butter. Meanwhile, the use of coconut oil for non-food purposes, among others, as lamp oil and ingredients for soap and cosmetics. Coconut oil is physically a liquid that is clear to brownish yellow in color and has a characteristic odor. The color in coconut oil is caused by dyes and other impurities. The natural dyes found in coconut oil are carotenes, which are unsaturated and unstable hydrocarbons at high temperatures. The color of coconut oil is affected by the base material and the temperature during the processing.
The production process of virgin coconut oil retains medium chain fats (MCT), vitamin E and enzymes contained in coconut flesh. Virgin coconut oil made from fresh coconuts is pure white in color when the oil is solidified and crystal clear like water when liquefied. There are two methods of making virgin coconut oil, namely the wet process and the dry process. The wet process is characterized by the extraction of coconut milk from which coconut milk is obtained. Then do the separation of oil from coconut milk head. Separation of oil from coconut milk can be done by heating, centrifugation, baiting and enzymatic. While the dry process, grated coconut is dried at a certain temperature. In this process, oil separation is carried out by applying pressure to dry grated coconut.
Many uses of virgin coconut oil have been found both for health and for others