PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION OF FATS AND OILS 11 
weeks or longer. The fleshy parts, softened by fermentation, are 
then placed in a hole lined with stones and beaten with long stout 
poles. The crushed fruit is transferred to another hole, the sides of 
which are lined with a mixture of palm oil and wood ashes, and left 
for about a week. Some of the oil drains from the pulp to the lower 
part of the hole. The kernels are removed, and a further yield of 
oil is obtained by boiling the pulp with water. Another method is 
to place the fermented pulp in a bag and squeeze out the oil. These 
crude methods of extraction account in great measure for the large 
quantity of free fatty acids present in the palm oil received in this 
country. 
The consistence of commercial palm oil varies from that of a soft 
butter to that of tallow. Its color ranges from orange yellow to dark 
red. In trade the following grades of palm oil are recognized: 
Soft oils — Lagos, Calabar, Opobo, Bonny; hard oils — Congo, Niger, 
Oil River. Liberia, Gold Coast; mixed oils — Gold Coast and Niger. 
The hard oils contain very large quantities of free fatty acids. 
Palm oil is employed principally in the soap -making and tin-plate 
industries. 
COHUNE OIL 
Cohune oil is obtained from the nuts of a palm (Attalea cohime) 
growing from the southern side of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, 
through the coast region of British Honduras, Guatemala, and Hon- 
duras. Like most varieties of palm, cohunes are found only in the 
rich tropical lowlands which are well drained. The cohune fruits 
are on an average about the size of a hen r s egg. The nut, which fre- 
quently contains two kernels, is inclosed in a thick fibrous husk. 
The expansion of the cohune-oil industry has been retarded by the 
difficulty of gathering and cracking the nuts. Few of the many ma- 
chines devised for this purpose have proved satisfactory. About 10 
tons of the nuts are required to give 1 ton of kernels. 
The kernels contain 40 per cent or more of an oil which resembles 
coconut oil and can be used for the same purposes (p. 10). The oil 
of the husk of the cohune nut differs from that of the kernels. It 
constitutes about 10 per cent of the husk and can be extracted with 
volatile solvents. Cohime shells can be used for fuel or they can be 
converted into a special charcoal (p. 10), preferably in retorts which 
permit the recovery of the volatile products, such as methanol (wood 
alcohol) and acetic acid. 
COQUITO OIL 
Small shipments of coquito nuts from a palm which grows on the 
west coast of Mexico are occasionally received in the United States. 
The shells of coquito nuts are thinner than those of the cohune and 
contain only* one kernel. It is reported that by boiling the coquito 
nuts for about five hours in water the shells can be readily cracked. 
The oil expressed from the kernels, which is similar to cohune oil, 
is used for the same purposes as coconut oil (p. 10). 
BABASSU OIL 
Babassu oil is obtained from the kernels of the nuts borne on a palm 
(Orbiginia speciosa) closely related to the cohune and growing 
abundantly in some parts of Brazil. Twice a year this palm bears 
