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How can I make coconut oil without having access to any food processors? I do not own any blenders, juicers, coffee grinders or anything like that and I am not looking to buy one, so I want to know if that's possible.

I would also like to know how efficient the methods you will mention are? Would I get around 66g of coconut oil per 100g of fresh coconut meat (as is the approximate content of fats in fresh coconut meat)? And if not, how much would I get approximately and how to improve the amount that I can get (again, without food processors)?

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    Since you have added in a comment that you also don't have a mortar and pestle, perhaps it would be helpful if you gave an idea of what kitchen/diy resources you do have available for this project.
    – Spagirl
    Feb 23, 2018 at 12:07
  • @Spagirl Well, I have plates, a pot, spoons, forks, knives, spatula, rolling pin, cutting board, and a bowl. I think that's about it, really.
    – Jack
    Feb 23, 2018 at 21:55
  • Can you say for what use the oil is needed?
    – Aster
    Feb 24, 2018 at 7:33
  • @Aster For cooking on low heat and using instead of butter to add to for example mashed potatoes.
    – Jack
    Feb 24, 2018 at 7:48
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    Any home-produced coconut oil is likely to be quite heavily flavored of coconut, more than commercially produced oils--something better suited to using in baked goods. As stated, the efficiency with regard to ratio of oil to meat will be relatively low, and that's even with a good food processor. If your goal is to save money, I think you'd be disappointed. If you wish to make use of a supply of coconuts and do not care about the substantial waste and will not purchase even a hand-cranked food meal, I guess your best bet would be hand-chopping and mashing. Are you game?
    – Aster
    Feb 24, 2018 at 8:06

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This is not something I have done, so I don't have all the answers you're looking for. This is, however, something my mother in law (Sri Lankan) does with old coconuts. It's something that's been done in Sri Lanka and other tropical countries for hundreds if not thousands of years.

She'll split the coconuts open and pry out the flesh, then leave the flesh out in the sun until it dries out. Then she takes it to a mill to grind, but at this point, you could grind it yourself. You could use a mortar & pestle or anything like that to grind it as finely as you can. Then squeeze the flesh until you get oil out of it.

I don't know how much oil will be produced, though.

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  • Thank you for your answer, however I do not have mortar and pestle either, and I would imagine quite some oil is wasted if I was to use that (if I did have it). I am looking for a way that wouldn't waste more than say 5-10% of the fat tops due to my budget, and 10% is the upper limit with which I would be hesitant and would just choose to eat coconut meat instead. Mill would of course work, hah.
    – Jack
    Feb 23, 2018 at 11:14
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    @jack I don't know what the exact extraction numbers will be with what LMAshton describes, but it is highly unlikely that you can extract 90% of the oil with mechanic extraction or other home methods. Not even if you had a good food processor, etc. - you would need an industrial process for such high yields.
    – rumtscho
    Feb 23, 2018 at 11:33
  • @rumtscho How much do you reckon I'd extra if I had food processor and all the fancy costly things? For sake of curiosity, of course, I'm not going to buy anything like that.
    – Jack
    Feb 23, 2018 at 21:56
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If instead of using a food processor or blender, you hand-chop and mash the finely chopped coconut meat in cheesecloth, you can still follow most of the many recipes online. For a very small investment, you could purchase a grater to make it a little easier.

Here are some instructions including a grater approach which seems adaptable to a knife-and-elbow-grease approach. Here's another, similar set of instructions for comparison.

You said in a comment that you were concerned with yield and waste. She says she gets about 200mL oil from three coconuts. But I suspect that's using her electric gadgets and that you may not see quite that yield using a knife and/or grater.

You'll be left with mashed coconut pulp. This can be dried and used to cook with. Get it pretty fine and it’s basically coconut flour. A lot of people (esp. those who are restricted to low-carbohydrate intake and have to avoid grains and many other starches) use coconut flour in breads and pastries and as a thickener. (I believe it's considered low-FODMAP in moderate quantities.)

This site shows one cup (80 grams) of shredded coconut has 12.2g of total carbohydrates, 7.2g of which are indigestible fiber. The sugar content is quite low at 5g, less than a third of which is fructose. I do not think that can be reduced, but I consider that a good fiber-to-sugar ratio.

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