PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION OF FATS AND OILS 9 
COCONUT OIL 
Coconut oil is prepared from the fruit of the coconut palm after it 
has been dried to form copra. Large quantities of coconut oil and of 
copra are imported annually into the United States from the tropical 
countries where the coconut palm grows. 
Copra is prepared by breaking the coconut kernels and exposing 
the pieces to the sun or drying them in a kiln. The rotary drier, 
which gives a very uniform product, has been found to give the best 
results. When properly made and stored copra keeps well. Fresh 
coconut meat contains from 30 to 40 per cent of oil. Copra contains 
from 60 to 74 per cent, depending upon the method of manufacture. 
Preparation 
For many centuries the natives of the tropical countries where 
coconuts grow have boiled the kernels with water and skimmed off 
the oil as it floats to the surface. The modern method is to express 
the oil. 
Because of its high oil content copra is generally pressed twice, 
neither pressing being made cold. Some mills press the copra once 
in an expeller press, regrind the cake, heat it, and press it a second 
time in a hydraulic press. The oils from the two pressings are com- 
bined and refined by methods about the same as those used for 
refining cottonseed oil (p. 6). Owing to the presence in coconut 
oil of glycerides of the lower fatty acids, which are more readily 
decomposed than those of the seed oils, greater care is necessary in 
refining to prevent an abnormally high loss from the conversion of 
neutral oil into soap. 
Some coconut-oil refiners separate the portion of the oil which 
melts at a low temperature from that which is solid at higher tem- 
peratures. The low-melting portion is called coconut olein and the 
high-melting portion, coconut stearin. 
Grades 
The following well-defined grades of coconut oil have been estab- 
lished by the Interstate Cotton Seed Crushers' Association : 3 
CRUDE OIL 
Choice crude coconut oil. — Choice crude coconut oil must be pressed and 
not extracted, and shall not contain more than 3 per cent free fatty acid cal- 
culated as oleic acid, shall be free from moisture and impurities, and shall 
have a color not greater than 12 yellow and 2 red. 
Prime crude coconut oil. — Prime crude coconut oil shall be pressed and 
not extracted, and shall be free from moisture and impurities, and shall not 
contain more than 5 per cent of free fatty acid calculated as oleic acid, and 
shall have color no deeper than 30 yellow and 5 red on Lovibond's equivalent 
color scale ; provided, that any oil that tests in excess of 5 per cent free fatty 
acid and less than 6 per cent free fatty acid, and has a color darker than 30 
yellow, 5 red, and not darker than 30 yellow, 6 red, shall not be rejected, but 
shall be reduced in price one-half of 1 per cent of the contract price for each 1 
per cent excess acid. 
Off crude coconut oil. — Off crude coconut oil, neither choice nor prime, must 
be pressed and not extracted, and shall be called " off coconut oil." When " off 
8 Interstate Cotton Seed Crushers' Association. Op. cit. p. 12-14. 
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