Two phrases dominate Indian oil labels right now: cold pressed and wood pressed. Many brands use both on the same bottle. Many shoppers assume they mean the same thing. They overlap, but they answer different questions.
Cold pressed describes the temperature
"Cold pressed" is a claim about heat. It means the oil was mechanically pressed without external heat, and that friction was kept low enough that the oil stayed below roughly 50°C throughout.
It says nothing about what the press was made of. A modern stainless steel expeller running slowly enough can be genuinely cold pressed.
Wood pressed describes the machine
"Wood pressed" — mara chekku in Tamil, ghani in North India, gaana in parts of Karnataka — means the crushing was done in a press with a wooden pestle, traditionally neem or sal wood, rotating inside a stone or wooden mortar.
Wooden presses turn slowly by design, typically 8–12 rotations per minute. That slowness is the point: it generates very little friction heat. So a genuine wood pressed oil is almost always also cold pressed.
The relationship, stated plainly
- Wood pressed oil is nearly always cold pressed.
- Cold pressed oil is not necessarily wood pressed.
- Neither term is tightly regulated in India, so the brand's own honesty matters more than the label.
Does the wood actually change the oil?
Honestly, less than most marketing suggests. The meaningful variables are temperature and speed, and a well-run slow steel press achieves both. What wooden presses do reliably deliver is a very low rotation speed and no metal contact during crushing.
The bigger practical difference is scale. Wooden presses are slow and low-yield, which forces small batches. Small batches usually mean fresher oil reaching you.
How to judge a bottle for yourself
Ignore the adjectives and check these instead:
- Colour. Unrefined oil is never pale and watery. Groundnut oil should be amber. Mustard should be deep gold. Niger should look dark.
- Smell. Open the cap. If it smells of nothing, it was deodorised.
- Sediment. A little settling at the bottom is a good sign, not a bad one.
- Batch size and date. Brands that press in small batches usually say so and date the bottle.
- FSSAI licence. It should be printed on the label and should be verifiable.
Frequently asked questions
Is wood pressed oil better than cold pressed oil?
Not automatically. Both avoid heat and chemicals. Wood pressing guarantees a very slow, low-friction crush, but a properly run slow mechanical press achieves the same result. Judge the specific producer, not the phrase.
What is mara chekku oil?
Mara chekku is the Tamil term for wood pressed oil, made in a wooden pestle-and-mortar press. In Kannada-speaking regions the same method is often called ghani or gaana pressed.
Why does wood pressed oil cost more?
Wooden presses are slow and extract less oil per kilogram of seed than solvent extraction or fast expellers. More seed and more time go into every bottle.
Can wood pressed oil be used for deep frying?
Groundnut and coconut hold up best to frying temperatures. Sesame and mustard are better for tempering and sauteing than for repeated deep frying.
Our oils are pressed slowly in small batches in Karnataka, without heat or chemicals. Browse the range or read about how cold pressed compares to refined oil.