Did you ever look at the label of an oil that you were buying and see the term “expeller-pressed”? First things first, if you see that term, it means it’s a good oil to buy. But why?
Expeller-pressed is the way the oil is made. The way it is extracted from the nut or seed. Basically, it means that it gets literally squeezed out of the item in one single step through the use of an intense force.
This is what an expeller press looks like
Think of like…putting an almond in a vice and what squeezes out is the oil. You could never make it at home with tools like that, obviously, but that’s the general idea.
Basically it’s a mechanical process that uses a giant screw that continually squeezes the oil out of the nut or seed and in the process can create a lot of friction and heat.
Running the dry, cake-y material through the press a second or third time results in better capture of the oil from the material, but often with quality sacrifice.
The expeller pressing method generally captures around 65% of the oil. Not a great yield, admittedly. Creates a lot of waste.
When you see the term “first cold press” or something similar, it means that it was obtained on the first press of the material (olives, nuts, etc) and that it wasn’t warmed up too much, sometimes even cooled at the same time so that it doesn’t get warmed up on purpose.
Keeping it cold is supposed to be good for the oil because it doesn’t alter the product chemically with too high of a heat (flavor, etc).
However, the actual temperature isn’t regulated here in the US, so what you buy could still have been warmed a lot, possibly making this “cold press” distinction useless.
Expeller Press video on YouTube
This is a really weird video from China, I presume, with a completely weird choice of music that is totally distracting lol. But it does a good (albeit grainy, poor resolution) job of demonstrating how an expeller press works. I suggest watching it on mute and fast forward. Ha!
What If My Oil Doesn’t Say “Expeller-Pressed”?
The important thing to note is that if an oil doesn’t say “expeller pressed” it almost certainly means that the oil was extracted using a chemical method…most often using one called hexane.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website:
Hexane is used to extract edible oils from seeds and vegetables, as a special-use solvent, and as a cleaning agent. Acute (short-term) inhalation exposure of humans to high levels of hexane causes mild central nervous system (CNS) effects, including dizziness, giddiness, slight nausea, and headache. Chronic (long-term) exposure to hexane in air is associated with polyneuropathy in humans, with numbness in the extremities, muscular weakness, blurred vision, headache, and fatigue observed. Neurotoxic effects have also been exhibited in rats. No information is available on the carcinogenic effects of hexane in humans or animals.
I don’t write this information on this website in order to scare anyone about anything, and obviously expeller-pressed oil is more expensive than chemically-derived oil. Companies use hexane because it is a cheaper method of production and leads to much greater yields (99%!) and less waste. ($$ Cha-ching! $$)
In order to get rid of the hexane used for processing, the oil is then heated. This can definitely alter the makeup of the original oil, so it doesn’t seem like a great option overall, for production or quality of the finished product.
I buy regular oil occasionally but know that it’s probably better to buy expeller-pressed everything. I have no idea how much hexane is leftover or is harmful in that type of oil, so I can’t make definitive judgments on it, especially not publicly on my website. I’m no scientist!
BUT! If you’re anything like me, you know it’s important to at least know how the food we eat gets from nature or lab to our bellies. The more we know, the better choices we can make. Amirite or amirite??
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Want to stock up on some expeller pressed oil? Get a (high heat) sunflower oil and a cold press olive oil (low-medium heat) to start:
(These are Amazon affiliate links.)
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Your post is very well. You share the nice information about the expeller pressed.
I bought some Simple Truth Organic Coconut Oil. It says Refined Expeller Pressed on the label. I have read that in some cases hexane is used in conjunction with Expeller pressing to remove more of the oil and I wonder if Simple Truth uses that method also. Do you have any information about that?
I’m sorry Anita, I do not.
Many thanks for your info. I agree with you and want to be an informed consumer of at least what I fuel my body with. Doris D, NYC
So glad this was helpful Doris, thanks!
Hey Anita, the label said “Refined Expeller Pressed” Refined means they did something else to it. I buy coconut oil regurally, but I only buy “Raw Coconut” it says it on the label. The other container beside it says “Refined Coconut”, they did something extra to the later. Hope this helps anyone:)
very good info. As a chemistry major in college, hexane has a low volatility, so when heated, it will evaporate. So if you use standard oil that was manufactured with hexane, when you heat it for cooking the hexane will disappear. Doesn’t mean that the oil was changed during the process because most likely heating was also used
Interesting information, Brian — thanks for contributing to the discussion!
So, the question remains: although an oil maybe expeller pressed, does refining it alter any of it’s beneficial properties?
Hi Dipti,
Great question, we don’t have a definitive answer for you, although Nourish Your Lifestyle doesn’t include any added oils. Let us know if you find the answer :)
Nice article about expeller machine . Thanks for sharing this article .
The earlier poster may wish to recheck his chem text: hexane is highly volatile and is, in fact, one the components of gasoline which gives it its distinctive odor.
Hexane comes from crude oil, so depending upon your feelings about fossil fuels and the carbon footprint, you might want to avoid products processed with it if there is a reasonable alternative.
As if you needed another reason, the vapors that result from hexane’s high volatility can produce neurotoxic effects in workers who inhale too much.
Love to know about this Expeller Pressed machine.
Never heard about this Expeller Pressed . Its great to know about this new one and great uses
Thanks for sharing about Expeller Pressed , love to know about this .
Thanks for sharing about Expeller Pressed Mean, amazing one, love to know about this one.
Nice article about expeller machine. It was the first time when I get to know about this.
I think its a quite healthy process in expeller press machine. Its refining and extraction process may be more beneficial ?? . Btw Thanks for sharing this one with us.
I like that you suggested me to use this machine to extract oil at home. Now we can extract good and natural oil and use it even while staying at home.
I am surely gonna buy this expeller press machine !!! Thank you for sharing this one with us.