Cold Pressed Groundnut Oil — Milled Fresh, Unrefined

Cold pressed groundnut oil, crushed from whole shelled groundnuts in a wooden-barrel rotary press and filtered only through cloth. Nothing is heated, bleached or deodorised, which is why it still smells of roasted peanut. We press in small batches because unrefined oil is best used within a few months, not stored for a year.

How we make it

Shelled groundnuts are cleaned, sun-dried to the right moisture and fed into a slow wooden chekku press. The pestle turns at low speed so the temperature in the barrel stays around 40-45°C — the point of cold pressing is that the oil never gets hot enough to lose its aroma compounds or its vitamin E. The first run of oil is cloudy; it settles for two days, then passes through a cloth filter. No solvent, no caustic wash, no clay bleaching, no steam deodorising. Roughly three kilos of groundnut yield one litre of oil, which is the honest reason cold pressed oil costs more than refined.

What goes in, what stays out

One ingredient: groundnuts. No refined oil blended in, no antioxidant preservative such as TBHQ, no added vitamins to replace ones stripped out, no anti-foaming agent. The oil-cake left after pressing goes to cattle feed, not back into the bottle.

How to use it

• Everyday South Indian tempering — the aroma survives the tadka in a way refined oil cannot
• Andhra and Tamil cooking where groundnut is the traditional fat
• Shallow frying and sautéing at medium heat
• Chutney podi and pickle, where the oil carries the flavour
• Oil pulling and body massage, since it is food-grade and unrefined

How to store it

Keep the bottle capped, away from the hob and out of direct sun. It does not need refrigeration. Use within about six months of pressing — unrefined oil has no synthetic antioxidant, so it is meant to be used, not stored. A little sediment at the bottom is ground groundnut solids and is normal.

What it is called

Where to buy it

Milled to order at our Kondapur and Serilingampally stores in Hyderabad, or shipped across India. Browse the rest of our Freshly Extracted Oil range, or see cold pressed sesame oil and cold pressed coconut oil. If you want the background, read how to spot adulterated spice at home.

Frequently asked questions