# DIY cooking oil & oil press



## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

I tried the search, but found no thread on this subject.
Anyone ever used or know anyone who made their on oil from seeds or grain?
Anyone know about cold press oils or hot press oils.
This is from Mother Earth News(MEN).


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If you pride yourself on doing most of your grocery shopping in your backyard (“Tomatoes? Check. Eggs? Check. Berries? Check.”), you may be interested in learning how to make cooking oils and render your own cooking fats. Making creamy butter, rendering lard and tallow from pork and beef fat, or coaxing nuts or seeds to give up their liquid riches is worth your time.

How to Make Butter

Butter is simple to make. Step 1: Milk your cow. No cow? Find a local source of heavy cream. Add the cream to a quart canning jar until the jar is one-third full. Screw on the lid and shake the jar until you see the butter bits separate from the liquid, which is now buttermilk. You can also make butter much faster using a blender or food processor.

Strain the butter bits out of the buttermilk and place the fresh butter in a bowl. Use a paddle or spatula to press the butter under cold, running water until the water runs clear. Some sources recommend salting at this stage to remove the last of the buttermilk. One quart of heavy cream can yield up to 1 pound of butter. To make even better-tasting cultured butter, read How to Make Butter That Is Really Flavorful.

Rendering Lard

Fat rendered from pigs, called lard, has been used for centuries for cooking, lighting, lubrication and soap. Lard is particularly good for frying, because it can be heated to a high temperature without burning. Lard contains less saturated fat than butter, and lard rendered from humanely raised pigs with access to fresh air and pasture is better for you than the bleached, deodorized and hydrogenated lard commonly produced from pigs raised in industrial confinement and fed antibiotics and growth stimulants.

There was a time when hog farmers actually earned more money from rendering pig fat than they earned from the pork, says Oscar H. Will III, Editor-in-Chief of Grit magazine. But for most hog farmers today, the opposite is true.

For a collection of lard lore and recipes — including a lard pie crust recipe — read a review of Grit’s book Lard at The Lost Art of Cooking With Lard.

(The book is available on our shopping site. — MOTHER EARTH NEWS)

Rendering Tallow

In Sutherlin, Ore., Wardee Harmon and family recently raised a beef cow and had it butchered locally. Half-Jersey and half-Angus, the cow was raised on Jersey milk and high-quality hay and pasture.

“She turned out well; her meat had no comparison and the fat was really luscious. When I rendered it down, we had an exceptionally large amount of tallow,” says Harmon, who writes a blog that focuses on real foods and traditional food preparation.

“Tallow is fantastic for frying vegetables or onion rings dipped in sourdough batter,” she says. “You can use it anywhere you use butter, in casseroles and for sautéing.” Harmon also uses tallow to make skin-care ointments and soap.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

Part 2, there is more, but you get the ideal.

If you’re vegetarian or vegan, or you don’t have livestock to use for the production of lard, tallow or butter, many different kinds of nuts and seeds — including almonds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds and walnuts — can be pressed into vegetable oil. (See “Start the Presses,” later in this article.) Different types of nuts and seeds produce varying amounts of oil depending on their oil-to-seed ratio. To produce 1 quart of oil, you will need to press 2.9 pounds of walnuts, 3.6 pounds of hazelnuts, 4.6 pounds of peanuts, or 5.3 pounds of canola, pumpkin or sunflower seeds.

When growing pumpkins for their oil-rich seed, make sure you grow oilseed varieties, such as ‘Williams Naked Seeded Pumpkin.’ If you’re interested in pressing grape seed oil, check with a local winery for grape seeds, which are often discarded. All of these raw ingredients used to make high-quality homemade cooking oils contain vitamins, minerals and micronutrients we need for optimum health.

Homemade oils also add flavor. “Toasted pumpkin seed oil is so delicious that it turns bread into cake,” says Lyle Estill, an oil-press expert and author of Small Is Possible, a book about community-powered responses to resource depletion.

Homesteader Cindy Conner praises the taste, but also values home-pressed oil for its freshness. Conner has pressed oil from black walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts and sunflowers, and says, “At the very least, pressing your own oils and fats will make you more aware of where your food comes from.” (Learn more about Conner’s oil-pressing adventures on her blog posts.)

Soppin’ Up Sunflower Seed Oil

All sunflower seeds will produce oil, but the black oilseed types will yield the most. Plus, because these sunflower seeds are smaller than the striped, snack-type seeds, they’re easier to press.

If you’re looking for sunflower seeds you can save and replant each year, try ‘Peredovik,’ a Russian oilseed variety available in small quantities through Southern Exposure Seed Exchange or in 50-pound bags from Hancock Seed Company. For a nutritionally superior hybrid variety, try ‘NuSun,’ which has been developed by traditional plant-breeding methods to have higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E. For more information about ‘NuSun,’ visit the National Sunflower Association. (Find ‘Peredovik’ and other sunflower varieties with our Seed and Plant Finder.)


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

I got the Piteba oil press a couple years ago. I have not had the occasion to use it yet. I guess I should plant me a bunch of sunflowers this year. Here is a link to it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004H2SDTM/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=3481295032&ref=pd_sl_5ks5sqrvyi_e


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

lehman's hardware in Kidron, OH is selling the piteba oil press in their current catalog. Looks interesting....


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

I would love to see pictures of it taken apart!!!!

I always wanted to make one of my own. I wish I could see the guts.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

TerritorialSeed.com has a great European style press that's made in Holland. We've been thinking of getting one for making nut and seed oil.


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

LincTex said:


> I would love to see pictures of it taken apart!!!!
> 
> I always wanted to make one of my own. I wish I could see the guts.


It is really pretty simple. The only special part is the screw auger. If I had it right here I would put up a pic. maybe Tuesday or so when I get to the place it's stored.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

I have looked at this oil press and raising sunflowers as a possibility for oil in the future.

When I was a child, my grandparents rendered lard from slaughtered hogs and rendered tallow from slaughtered beef. I am familiar with the process. It is a long process.

There is also schmaltz. This is chicken fat and more common in the Jewish community.

Oils and fats are one of those things that do not have a long shelf life and I have often researched the options. This oil press looks to be the most affordable of all the options. I saw one article that showed that it takes lots of sunflower seeds to produce much oil.

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/oilpress.html

This articles shows how you can make your own oil press and how to do the processing.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

weedygarden said:


> I saw one article that showed that it takes lots of sunflower seeds to produce much oil.


Well, it depends.
I have raised 50% oil black sunseeds back in the 90's. With a small hand-cranked oil press it would be nice to have some cooking oil.


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

Here are the photo's of the press disassembled. 







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## siletz (Aug 23, 2011)

We bought a Piteba last fall and have used it to press some camelina seed. It worked quite well but it is quite a workout. We got some Peredovik sunflower seeds and Kakai pumpkin seeds to grow this year and see how they do. Oil definitely becomes more valuable to you when you have to press it yourself though!


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

JustCliff said:


> Here are the photo's of the press disassembled.


Thanks, but I can't view them because they aren't publicly accessible


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

LincTex said:


> Thanks, but I can't view them because they aren't publicly accessible


The setting is for public. I don't know if anyone else is having problems seeing them. I have not had that problem in the past.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

JustCliff said:


> Here are the photo's of the press disassembled.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I can see the pic's.
Thank you for the break down!
I would like to make a bigger model, but would have to tie a horse to it, to turn it, with no grid power.
A bigger model would make more oil in less time, but it is better to store the oil in the seeds. It would last longer, by about a month to a year.
Anyone know if seeds can be to old to press or how long pressed oil will last at 65F( the temp for most root cellars, the coolest place off the grid)?


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

LincTex said:


> Thanks, but I can't view them because they aren't publicly accessible


I can see them as well - and I have all my privacy-settings set to maxium on this computer. You might want to peak at the settings on your computer to see if you have some sites completely blocked from showing information.


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

I like this set up. Looks pretty simple to pound together.


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## gam46 (Jan 24, 2011)

Even though we have an abundance of hickory nuts, they are small and not worth my bothering to pick out to use. Have read that I might crack them then simmer in water until oil is released. Chill to skim from top of container.

Have rendered the fat from a bag of chicken quarters along with a bit of onion. Used the rendered schmalz to bake the most delicious bread.


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