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Cooking oil consists of edible vegetable oils derived from olives, peanuts, and
safflowers, to name just a few of the many plants that are used. Liquid at room
temperature, cooking oils are sometimes added during the preparation of processed
foods. They are also used to fry foods and to make salad dressing.
People in many regions began to process vegetable oils thousands of years ago,
utilizing whatever food stuffs they had on hand to obtain oils for a variety of cooking
purposes. Early peoples learned to use the sun, a fire, or an oven to heat oily plant
products until the plants exuded oil that could then be collected. The Chinese and
Japanese produced soy oil as early as 2000 B.C. , while southern Europeans had begun
to produce olive oil by 3000 B.C. In Mexico and North America, peanuts and sunflower
seeds were roasted and beaten into a paste before being boiled in water; the oil that
rose to the surface was then skimmed off. Africans also grated and beat palm kernels
and coconut meat and then boiled the resulting pulp, skimming the hot oil off the water.
Some oils have become available only recently, as extraction technology has improved.
Corn oil first became available in the 1960s. Cotton oil, watermelon seed oil, grapeseed
oil, and others are now being considered as ways to make use of seeds that were, until
recently, considered waste.
The first efforts to increase output were undertaken independently in China, Egypt,
Greece, and Rome, among other places. Using a spherical or conical stone mortar and
pestle, vertical or horizontal millstones, or simply their feet, people began to crush
vegetable matter to increase its available surface area. The ground material would
subsequently be placed in sieves such as shallow, flat wicker baskets that were
stacked, sometimes as many as 50 high. The matter was then pressed using lever or
wedge presses. The Greeks and Romans improved this process by introducing edge
runners to grind and a winch or screw to operate a lever press. Their method was used
throughout the Middle Ages.
Refinements of this approach included a stamper press that was invented in Holland in
the 1600s and used until the 1800s to extract oil, a roll mill invented by English engineer
John Smeaton in 1750 to crush vegetable matter more efficiently, and the hydraulic
press, invented by Joseph Bramah in England. The first improved screw press was
invented by V. D. Anderson in the United States in 1876. His Expeller (a trade name)
continuously operated a cage press. When vegetable matter was placed in Anderson's
closed press, the resultant oil drained out of slots in the side. A screw increased the
pressure through the cage toward a restricted opening.
Enhancements in grinding and pressing plant matter were followed by improvements in
extracting the oil. In 1856, Deiss of England obtained the first patent for extraction of oil
using solvents, following experiments by Jesse Fisher in 1843. At first, solvents such as
benzene were pumped through the material and drained through false perforated
bottoms. Later, Bollman and Hildebrandt of Germany independently developed
continuous systems that sprayed the material with solvent. Both methods were
eventually improved, and today solvent extraction is standard in the vegetable oil
industry.

Cooking oil manufacture involves cleaning the seeds, grinding them, pressing, and extrading the oil from them.
In extracting, a volatile hydrocarbon such as hexane is used as a solvent.
After extracting, the oil is refined, mixed with an alkaline substance, and washed in a centrifuge. Further
washing and refining follows, and then the oil is filtered and/or distilled. It is then ready for packaging.

Over time extracting vegetable oils has become more and more efficient. The very
earliest methods of pressing the vegetable matter probably obtained, at best, 10 percent
of the oil available. On the other hand, more modern methods involving solvent
extraction can extract all but. 5 to 2 percent of the oil.

Raw Materials
The average bottle of cooking oil contains vegetable oil, with no additives,
preservatives, or special flavorings. The oil comes from various parts of plants, in most
cases from what are commonly called seeds (including sunflower, palm kernel,
safflower, cotton, sesame, and grapeseed oils) or nuts (including peanut, soybean,
almond, and walnut oils). A few special cases involve merely squeezing the oil from the
flesh of the fruit of the plant. For example, coconut oil comes from the coconut's white
meat, palm oil from the pulp of the palm fruit, and olive oil from the flesh of fresh olives.
Atypically, corn oil is derived from the germ (embryo) of the kernel.

The Manufacturing
Process
Some vegetable oils, such as olive, peanut, and some coconut and sunflower oils, are
cold-pressed. This method, which entails minimal processing, produces a light, flavorful
oil suitable for some cooking needs. Most oil sources, however, are not suitable for cold
pressing, because it would leave many undesirable trace elements in the oil, causing it
to be odiferous, bitter tasting, or dark. These oils undergo many steps beyond mere
extraction to produce a bland, clear, and consistent oil.

Cleaning and grinding

 1 Incoming oil seeds are passed over magnets to remove any trace metal before
being dehulled, deskinned, or otherwise stripped of all extraneous material. In the
case of cotton, the ginned seeds must be stripped of their lint as well as dehulled.
In the case of corn, the kernel must undergo milling to separate the germ.
 2 The stripped seeds or nuts are then ground into coarse meal to provide more
surface area to be pressed. Mechanized grooved rollers or hammer mills crush
the material to the proper consistency. The meal is then heated to facilitate the
extraction of the oil. While the procedure allows more oil to be pressed out, more
impurities are also pressed out with the oil, and these must be removed before
the oil can be deemed edible.

Pressing
 3 The heated meal is then fed continuously into a screw press, which increases
the pressure progressively as the meal passes through a slotted barrel. Pressure
generally increases from 68,950 to 20,6850 kilopascals as the oil is squeezed out
from the slots in the barrel, where it can be recovered.

Extracting additional oil with solvents

 4 Soybeans are usually not pressed at all before solvent extraction, because they
have relatively little oil, but most oil seeds with more oil are pressed and solvent-
treated. After the initial oil has been recovered from the screw press, the oil
cake remaining in the press is processed by solvent extraction to attain the
maximum yield. A volatile hydrocarbon (most commonly hexane) dissolves the oil
out of the oil cake, which is then recovered by distilling the light solvent out. The
Blaw-Knox Rotocell is used to meet the demands of the United States soybean
oil industry. In using this machine, flakes of meal are sent through wedge-shaped
cells of a cylindrical vessel. The solvent then passes through the matter to be
collected at the bottom. Also still in use by a significant number of manufacturers
is the Bollman or Hansa-Muhle unit, in which oilseed flakes are placed in
perforated baskets that circulate continuously. The solvent percolates through
the matter which is periodically dumped and replaced.

Removing solvent traces

 5 Ninety percent of the solvent remaining in the extracted oil simply evaporates,
and, as it does, it is collected for reuse. The rest is retrieved with the use of a
 stripping column. The oil is boiled by steam, and the lighter hexane floats
upward. As it condenses, it, too, is collected.

Refining the oil

 6 The oil is next refined to remove color, odor, and bitterness. Refining consists
of heating the oil to between 107 and 188 degrees Fahrenheit (40 and 85
degrees Celsius) and mixing an alkaline substance such as sodium hydroxide or
sodium carbonate with it. Soap forms from the undesired fatty acids and the
alkaline additive, and it is usually removed by centrifuge. The oil is further
washed to remove traces of soap and then dried.
 7 Oils are also degummed at this time by treating them with water heated to
between 188 and 206 degrees Fahrenheit (85 and 95 degrees Celsius), steam,
or water with acid. The gums, most of which are phosphatides, precipitate out,
and the dregs are removed by centrifuge.
 8 Oil that will be heated (for use in cooking) is then bleached by filtering it
through fuller's earth, activated carbon, or activated clays that absorb certain
pigmented material from the oil. By contrast, oil that will undergo refrigeration
(because it is intended for salad dressing, for example) is winterized—rapidly
chilled and filtered to remove waxes. This procedure ensures that the oil will not
partially solidify in the refrigerator.
 9 Finally, the oil is deodorized. In this process, steam is passed over hot oil in a
vacuum at between 440 and 485 degrees Fahrenheit (225 and 250 degrees
Celsius), thus allowing the volatile taste and odor components to distill from the
oil. Typically, citric acid at. 01 percent is also added to oil after deodorization to
inactivate trace metals that might promote oxidation within the oil and hence
shorten its shelf-life.

Packaging the oil

 10 The completely processed oil is then I V measured and poured into clean
containers, usually plastic bottles for domestic oils to be sold in supermarkets,
glass bottles for imports or domestic oils to be sold in specialty stores, or cans for
imports (usually olive oil).

By products/Waste
The most obvious byproduct of the oil making process is oil seed cake. Most kinds of
seed cake are used to make animal feed and low-grade fertilizer; others are simply
disposed of. In the case of cotton, the lint on the seed is used to make yarn and
cellulose that go into such products as mattresses, rayon, and lacquer. Coconut oil
generates several byproducts, with various uses: desiccated coconut meat (copra) is
used in the confectionery industry; coconut milk can be consumed; and coir, the fiber
from the outer coat, is used to make mats and rope. Since corn oil is derived from a
small portion of the entire kernel, it creates corn meal and hominy if it is dry milled, and
corn starch and corn syrup if it is wet milled.
Lecithin is a byproduct of the degumming process used in making soybean oil. This
industrially valuable product is used to make animal feed, chocolate, cosmetics,
soap, paint, and plastics—to name just a few of its diverse uses. Recent research has
focused on utilizing the residual oil seed cake. The cake is high in protein and other
nutrients, and researchers are working to develop methods of processing it into a
palatable food that can be distributed in areas where people lack sufficient protein in
their diets. This goal requires ridding (through additional processing) the oil seed cake
of various undesirable toxins (such as gossypol in cotton seed, or aflatoxin in peanut
meal). Initial results are promising.

Quality Control
The nuts and seeds used to make oil are inspected and graded after harvest by
licensed inspectors in accordance with the United States Grain Standards Act, and the
fat content of the incoming seeds is measured. For the best oil, the seeds should not be
stored at all, or for a only very short time, since storage increases the chance of
deterioration due to mold, loss of nutrients, and rancidity. The seeds should be stored in
well-ventilated warehouses with a constantly maintained low temperature and humidity.
Pests should be eradicated, and mold growth should be kept to a minimum. Seeds to be
stored must have a low moisture content (around 10 percent), or they should be dried
until it reaches this level (dryer seeds are less likely to encourage the growth of mold).
Processed oil should be consistent in all aspects such as color, taste, and viscosity.
Color is tested using the Lovibund Tintometer or a similar method in which an
experienced observer compares an oil's color against the shading of standard colored
glasses. Experienced tasters also check the flavor of the oil, and its viscosity is
measured using a viscometer. To use this device, oil is poured into a tube that has a
bulb at one end set off by two marks. The oil is then drained, and the time required for
the bulb to empty is measured and compared to a chart to determine viscosity.
In addition, the oil should be free of impurities and meet the demands placed upon it for
use in cooking. To ensure this, the product is tested under controlled conditions to see
at what temperature it begins to smoke (the smoke point), flash, and catch on fire;
warnings are issued appropriately. To allow its safe use in baking and frying, an oil
should have a smoke point of between 402 and 503 degrees Fahrenheit (204 and 260
degrees Celsius). The temperature is then lowered to test the oil's cloud point. This is
ascertained by chilling 120 milliliters of salad oil to a temperature of 35 degrees
Fahrenheit (zero degrees Celsius) for five and a half hours, during which period
acceptable salad oil will not cloud.
Before being filled, the bottles that hold the oil are cleaned and electronically inspected
for foreign material. To prevent oxidation of the oil (and therefore its tendency to go
rancid), the inert (nonreactive) gas nitrogen is used to fill up the space remaining at the
top of the bottle.
Hoffman, G. The Chemistry & Technology of Edible Oils & Fats & Their High Fat
Products. Academic Press, Inc., 1989.
Kirschenbauer, H. G. Fats and Oils. Reinhold Publishing, 1960.
Lawson, Harry W. Standards for Fats and Oils. Avi Publishing Company, 1985.
Salunkhe, D. K. World Oilseeds: Chemistry, Technology, and Utilization. Van Nostrand
Reinhold, 1992.
Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. A History of Food. Blackwell Publishers, 1992.