MARKETING PEANUTS 71 
farmers' stock Spanish will crush out about 560 pounds of prime 
crude oil and 1,300 pounds of cake of about 30 per cent protein 
content. About 525 to 560 pounds of crude oil and about 1,300 
pounds of cake of 28 per cent protein content can be obtained from a 
ton of Georgia or Alabama Kunners. No. 3 Virginias will yield 
about 560 pounds of oil and 1,340 pounds of peanut cake to the ton, 
allowing 100 pounds of manufacturing loss. 
"Oil stock," when composed chiefly of peanut stems and shriveled 
shelled Virginia peanuts, may yield only 50 pounds of oil to the ton. 
On the other hand, when consisting of slightly damaged shelled 
Spanish, it has yielded as high as 860 pounds of crude oil to the ton. 
The refining loss of crude peanut oil will range from 4 to 9 per 
cent, depending upon the quality of the peanuts crushed. Prime 
crude oil is usually sold on the basis of 5 per cent refining loss, and 
for each 1 per cent of loss above 5, 1 per cent of the contract price is 
customarily deducted. 
VIRGIN OIL 
The crushing ot oil from peanuts is an industry of long standing 
around Bordeaux and Marseille, France, and in certain other sections 
of Europe. There it is a major business, and not a by-product of the 
shelling industry, as in this country during recent years. 
Peanuts coming from Senegal and other countries in West Africa, 
and known as "Rufisque," from the chief port of shipment, arrive 
in the shell and are chiefly crushed at Marseille. Nearly al of the 
oil obtained from Rufisque nuts can be made edible. The shells 
and skins are removed before pressing, and the first crushing is done 
without heat. The resultant oil, called '• virgin oil," has a charac- 
teristic nutty flavor, and can be used for salad or cooking purposes 
without refining. 28 Virgin peanut oil is more extensively used in 
France than is olive oil. After the first cold pressing, the cakes are 
reground and heated and again pressed, sometimes the operation 
being repeated three times with profit. The first crushing after 
cold pressing produces a low-grade edible oil; succeeding pressings 
furnish inedible oil, used for industrial purposes. 
Shelled peanuts from India, known as "ordinary Coromandels," 
from the Coromandel coast, where many are grown, are often damp 
when shipped, because the hulls are soaked to facilitate shelling, and 
frequently arrive in a rancid condition. 29 About half of the oil 
crushed from Coromandel nuts is used for soap-making and other 
industrial purposes and the remainder is refined and made edible. 
REFINING ' 
Hot-pressed peanut oil does not require refining when the product 
is satisfactory in a crude state, as for oil in miners' lamps and lor soap 
stock. For most purposes, however, the deep coloring and the 
flavoring matter in the crude oil must be removed before the product 
can be used. In refining, the warm oil is treated with a solution of 
sodium hydroxide, which neutralizes the free fatty acids and pre- 
cipitates the undesirable coloring matter. The alkali combines with 
the free acids and part of the oil to form a soap stock called ' 'foots," 
which settles to the bottom of the refining kettle. 
2 ' Thompson, H. C, and H. S. Bailey. Peanut oil. In U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bui. 751, p. 5. 1920 
(Revised). 
29 Jones, C. L., and W. Frost. The vegetable oil industry of France. In U. S. Dept. Com. Bur. Foreign 
and Dom, Com., Trade Inform. Bui. 322, p. 6. 1925. 
