I live in Kerala. Here coconut oil(velichenna) is the most commonly used for cooking. But some so-called experts say that coconut oil has some problems involving high levels of fat. But I personally do not trust them because coconut oil has been used in Kerala for generations and the people of the older generation did not have as much problems with heart attacks as the new generation(35 to 45 year olds) have. I am of the opinion that the higher level of heart ailments and other problems lie with changes in eating habits like eating more meat, fast food items, soft drinks, smoking cigarettes and so on.
There have been some reports of adulteration of coconut oil with liquid paraffin and other low cost oils like mineral oil which are harmful to humans. So when there is a surplus of coconuts(in some seasons) the nuts are dried in the sun for 1 or 2 weeks(depending on the season) to get copra(dried coconut). This is then taken to some small oil mills to extract the oil. It is always good to stay in the mill when they extract the oil from your copra since there are some unscrupulous mill owners also.
The residual solid(pinnaku) after the oil has been extracted is used as feed for livestock like cows. Usually the mill owners will buy the pinnaku from you for some price close to the market price.(It is in such mills that you have to be careful to see that they extract all the oil possible from the copra.)
In the olden days old women(grandmothers usually)used to make some type of oil(urukkena?) by heating coconut milk for a long time.This was said to be beneficial for rubbing on small babies. I am not very sure of this.
Even people who do not use coconut oil for cooking use coconut oil for cosmetic purposes like rubbing it on their hair and body before taking bath and so on. Some concoction with red shoeflower(hibiscus or chembaruthi) was also used by girls in the olden days.
Here Gingelly oil(nallena) is usually used for making lime and mango pickles in homes. But the newer generation usually buys bottles of readymade pickles from shops.
In the late 1980’s a oil made from rice bran was available in some shops. But the brand did not stay in the market for long.
Sunflower oil is also used in some households. Some of the bengali families who have settled here use mustard oil. The tamil families who have settled here usually use groundnut oil. Groundnut oil is also used in some of the tamil vegetarian hotels here. Palmolein(palm oil) is also used in most hotels for frying. In some of the smaller hotels the oil is reused many many times.
Thank you for reading.
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