Boosted heart health. Improved brain function. Reduced hunger. Safeguarded hair and skin.
Many benefits come with eating coconut oil. But you don’t want just any jar of the superfood – you want to whip it up yourself.
Learning how to make coconut oil will take a bit of practice, but it’s entirely possible to create at home. Here’s how to do it.
How to Make Coconut Oil
First, gather up your supplies. You’ll need:
- At least one coconut, although it varies how much oil you can get from each piece of fruit. So, you might want to grab a few more than that.
- Cleaver or mallet/hammer and a towel
- Grater or food processor/blender
- Large bowl
- Cheesecloth
- Large pot
- Spoon
- Pan
Now, onto the making of the oil.
1. Crack Open Your Coconut
You can’t make coconut oil without opening the coconut first. You can crack it open with a firm whack from a cleaver.
Or, you can go the softer route and wrap your coconut in a towel. Then, hit it with a hammer or mallet until it breaks open.
Either way, remove any bits of the brown shell that stick to the fruit.
2. Grate the Fruit
Now, you have the coconut out in the open. Grab a grater and shred it with the finest side of the device. Let the coconut pieces fall into your large mixing bowl.
Or, you can pop your coconut into a blender or food processor for faster grating, if you have one of those Magical Brands.
3. Soak the Shreds
Add one to three cups of water to your bowl of shreds. This step helps release the juices from your coconut.
You can squeeze out the coconut juice with your hands, clumping and removing the shreds. Or, use a cheesecloth for straining.
Remove the shreds from the bowl.
4. Heat Your Liquid
Next, pour your coconut juice into the large pot. Put it over heat and warm it all the way through, but don’t let it boil
5. Rest Your Coconut Milk
Now, you have a pot full of coconut milk. Let the mixture cool down – you could even pop your milk into the fridge to hasten this step.
6. Skim the Oil
Once your coconut milk starts to cool, you’ll see a layer of oil begin to appear on the top. Grab a spoon and skim the fat you see. Then, transfer that fat from the pot to the pan.
7. Boil the Coconut Oil
Rounding out this coconut oil recipe is the longest step – cooking the oil.
Bring your pan of coconut fat to a boil. Then, turn it down for a simmer and let it heat through for about 45 minutes.
During this step, you’ll see the clear coconut oil start to separate from other brownish bits of byproduct. Spoon out the coconut oil you see.
8. Strain Any Shreds
Finally, strain your coconut oil one more time to get rid of any lingering bits of coconut. Then, all you have left is homemade coconut oil.
Make Coconut Oil Yourself
Now that you know how to make coconut oil, the possibilities are endless. There’s so much to do with it, from whipping up homemade beauty products to making insect repellent to cooking vegan mayonnaise.
All you have left to do is get started – and explore the endless possibilities that coconut oil offers you.
