Oils and Fats. 



352 



[June 1907. 



different parts of Africa. Pechuel Loesche states that each bunch weighs 30 kilo- 

 grammes, from which 2'94 kg. oil and 3'84 kg. kernels can be got. Its yearly output is 

 120 kg. fruit or 11-76 kg. oil, and 15'36 kg. kernels. 



Warburg says a planter can reckon on 50 kg. fruit a year. In the Kew Bul- 

 letin it is stated that 3,276,000 gallons of palm-oil are the product of 1,638,000 trees 

 which gives 2 gallons of oil to each tree. Molony says each tree gives 40 pounds 

 weight of fruit, and it takes 30 to 35 pounds of fruit to make a gallon of oil. 



The tree in good ground here (Singapore) certainly fruits well, but no record 

 has been kept of the weight of fruit produced. Dr. Preuss, when on a visit to the 

 Gardens, expressed surprise at its fertility and was still more surprised that it was 

 not cultivated largely in a country so well suited for it. 



Preparation op the Oil. 

 The native method of obtaining the oil is to throw the sprays of fruit which 

 contain as many as 4,000 nuts into a pit till they become somewhat decayed. The 

 fruit is then pounded in a mortar till the husky fibre covering the nut is loosened. 

 Then they are placed in large clay vats filled with water and trampled on till the 

 oil comes to the surface, when it is collected and boiled to get rid of the water 

 Simmons Tropical Agriculture), In Togo the fruit is trodden out in a wooden 

 trough (Tropenpflanzer 1899, p. 125). 



On the Gold Coast when the nuts are ripe they are cut and thrown into pits till 

 a sufficient quantity is obtained to make oil. During this time they undergo a small 

 amount of fermentation and the produce is known as "hard" oil, the fresh nuts 

 giving a "soft" oil which is more highly valued in European markets. The nuts are 

 then boiled to soften the fibre, heaped up in stone troughs and beaten with sticks 

 till the fibre is loose. The heap of nuts is then covered with plantain leaves and left 

 for twelve hours when great heat is developed and a quantity of oil runs off. The 

 nuts are then washed in hot water and the fibre separated and squeezed by hand. 

 The oil is then boiled to separate the water. (W. F. Hutchinson in Kew Bulletin 

 1891, p. 190). 



As is pointed out in the above article, the process is defective in every stage ; the 

 nuts should be treated fresh and when just ripe, and should not be allowed to ferment 

 as this darkens the colour of the oil and causes it to harden. The separation of the 

 fibre by beating and hand squeezing is slow and imperfect, and machinery and 

 hydraulic presses should be used. A quantity of the oil, 25 per cent., is lost by the 

 imperfections of the method and the final boiling of the oil darkens it. 



Owing to the great export of the oil from Africa, however, machines have 

 been invented for decorticating the kernels and pressing out the oil ; one of which 

 invented by the firm Haake of Berlin, won a prize offered by the Kolonial Wirts- 

 chafticher Committee, of 1,500 marks, which seems to do its work very well (Revue 

 Cult. Coloniales 1904, p. 56). 



Palm-kernels. The seeds of the oil-palm also produce an oil of value, and it 

 can be obtained from the fruit of which the palm oil of the fleshy covering has been 

 removed and from seeds picked up, fallen beneath the trees. The kernels are hard 

 and woody, and require to be dried thoroughly in the sun, and shipped home as 

 palm-kernels. 



To make oil from them locally the native pounds and grinds the kernels very 

 fine. They are then put in cold water and stirred by hand, the oil rises in white 

 lumps to the surface, is collected and boiled. It is of a light straw colour, but exposed 

 to sun and dew becomes white. This gives white kernel oil. Brown or black kernel 

 oil is made by frying the kernels in a pan and pounding them in a wooden mortar 

 and then they are finely ground, then thrown into boiling water when the oil floats 

 an the surface aud is skimmed off. The remains of the pounded uuta are removed 



