The Traditional Method of Extracting Coconut: the Ibibio way.

The indigenous people of AkwaIbom state long knew the value of coconut oil using it for cosmetics and for treatment. So they developed a unique technique for extracting this essential oil from the coconut.

Selecting the nuts

The whole process starts with the selection of the nuts to be used. And every other processes makes use of simple hand tools. Very fresh and young nuts are not good for the process. If the not is not so dry and hard, it makes a clear or misty white oil that lightens the skin tone. While a Very dry nuts results in a clear yellow oil that darkens the skin. The selected nuts were not very dry.

The preparation process

The nut is cracked open with a large knife and this should be skill fully done to avoid spilling the coconut water.
There are a lot of health benefits of coconut water, it taste very good, and good enough, it's not needed for the coconut oil so it will be consumed.

The nut is then broken in to large chunks and a small kitchen knife is used to separate the coconut flesh from its shell. The shell is kept aside as it will be needed latter in the process.
The flesh is washed and ready for the nest process.

Grinding the coconut flesh

A grader is used to convert the coconut's flesh into a fine pulp.

This is a device made of a perforated tin laid on a wooden frame, the perforation is done using a nail and a hammer, This grading process requires plenty of skill and carefulness else you may loose a large portion of your nails.

The next process involves washing and straining out the coconut milk from its chafe. This process needs a sieve. The pulp is washed in warm water and squeezed to extract the coconut milk. Once all the milk is extracted, a sieve is used to remove all chafe from the coconut milk.

At this point, the coconut milk is allowed to settle for four to eight hours un-disturbed.

More Separation Technique

A scummy substance gathers and floats on top with water and some heavier particles settling at the base.
Using a spoon, the oily scum is carefully collected into a pot and the remaining substance are disposed off.
The scum will have to be cooked to let the water evaporate.

Getting the fire started

This is when the coconut shell comes back as fuel for the fire, With a tripod to hold the pot, we make use of a traditional accelerant, the sap that comes out of the back of a pear tree. It's locally called 'Nduan-eben'

Curtion do not let the fire go wild, too much heat affects the quality and appearance of the coconut oil.
It takes a short amount of time to get rid of the water, and we locally don't have any timing so we keep constant watch as the heat converts the scrum into oil.

I will really love to know if your people have a similar or different method of extracting this oil.

Thanks for reading my post, and have a very lovely day.