Most of what makes an oil good is decided by what is left out of it. Our process page lists five things we do not do to any oil we sell. This is what each of those five steps actually is, in an ordinary refinery, and what skipping it changes in the bottle you get.
1. No solvent extraction
Industrial extraction does not crush the seed so much as dissolve the oil out of it. The seed is flaked, heated and washed with hexane, a petroleum solvent, which pulls out far more oil per kilogram than any press can. The hexane is then evaporated off.
We press mechanically and nothing else. The seed goes into the press whole and is crushed until oil comes out. No solvent touches it at any point.
The cost of that is yield: some oil stays behind in the cake, and we do not get it back.
2. No bleaching
Refined oil is passed through bleaching clay to strip out colour. It is done because pale oil looks cleaner on a shelf, and because a uniform colour hides variation between batches of seed.
We do not bleach. That is the whole reason our oils are amber rather than water-pale, and why one pressing can look slightly different from the next. A bottle that always looks identical has usually been made to look that way.
3. No deodorising
This is the step most people have never heard of and it is the one that changes the most. Refining finishes with high-pressure steam at temperatures up to 250°C, which drives off the volatile compounds that give an oil its smell. The result is an oil that smells of nothing at all — which is the point, because a neutral oil can be sold for any cuisine.
We do not deodorise. Our groundnut oil smells like groundnuts and our niger oil smells green and grassy, because those aroma compounds are still in there. Alongside the smell, our process page notes that bleaching and deodorising also strip out the vitamin E, antioxidants and flavour compounds that were in the seed.
4. No preservatives, additives or colour
Preservatives are commonly added to refined oil, and colour sometimes is. Both exist so a bottle can sit in a warehouse for a year and still look the same.
We add nothing. What is in the bottle is oil and only oil. The honest consequence is that our oil has a shorter working life than a refined bottle: we tell you to use it within three to six months of opening, and we press in small batches rather than warehousing stock so that bottles are not already old when they reach you.
5. No blending
Blending is mixing a cheaper oil into a more expensive one. It is a common form of adulteration and it is invisible on the label and nearly invisible in the bottle.
We do not blend. Each oil we sell is the single seed it is named after. If you want to check that for yourself rather than take our word for it, the refrigerator test is the quick one — pure oil thickens uniformly in the cold, while a blend separates into layers — and there are four more tests in our guide on how to check whether cooking oil is pure.
What leaving all five out costs
Less oil from the same seed. Shorter shelf life. Batches that vary in colour and strength. A product that cannot be stored cheaply for a year. Those are real costs, and they are most of the reason cold pressed oil is priced above refined oil rather than any premium being charged for the word.
What you get in exchange is oil that still tastes and smells like the seed it came from, with a layer of sediment at the bottom that tells you it was settled and simply filtered rather than industrially polished.
How to check we mean it
A promise is worth what it can be verified against. Our FSSAI licence number, 1122632300006, is printed on every label and can be checked on the FoSCoS portal — we have written out the step-by-step here. Across our range, 8,600-plus customers have left reviews averaging 4.65 out of 5.
And when a bottle arrives, the two-hour fridge test and the smell of the open cap will tell you more than any claim on a website. See the full range.
Frequently asked questions
Is hexane-extracted oil unsafe?
That is not our claim. Solvent extraction is a legal, regulated process. Our objection is narrower: it is not how we want our oil made, and the refining steps that follow it strip out the colour, smell and flavour compounds we would rather keep.
Why does the colour of my bottle differ from the last one?
Because we do not bleach and seed varies by season and lot. Consistent colour is a manufactured quality, not a sign of purity.
Why does unrefined oil only last three to six months once opened?
Because nothing has been added to preserve it. Keeping it cool, dark and tightly capped makes the most of that window.
Do you sell blended or mixed oils at a lower price?
No. Every oil in our range is single-seed, and we do not offer a cheaper blended line.