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Cold-Pressed Oil
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Cold-Pressed Oils
Wood-pressed oils that never cross 40°C.
4 products
Products
The method
How the oils are pressed
Wood-pressed in small batches at a speed that keeps the seed below 40°C. Commercial oil is expelled under heat and then refined, bleached and deodorised — which is what takes the smell and colour out of it.
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Step 1 of 4
The seed is cleaned and dried
Sorted by hand, then sun-dried to the right moisture. Press a seed too wet and the oil clouds; too dry and the yield collapses.
Single origin
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Step 2 of 4
It is pressed slowly, in wood
A wooden kolhu turns slowly enough that the seed never crosses 40°C. Industrial expellers run hot and fast because heat raises the yield — and costs the oil its aroma.
Below 40°C
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Step 3 of 4
It settles rather than being refined
Left to stand so the sediment drops out on its own, then passed through cloth. Nothing is bleached, deodorised or degummed, which is why it still smells of the seed.
Unrefined
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Step 4 of 4
It is bottled and tested
Filled into dark glass, because light is what turns an unrefined oil rancid. Every batch is tested for peroxide value, free fatty acid and solvent residue before it ships.
Dark glass, always
Before you order
Questions about this
Why does this oil smell so strong?
Because it has not been deodorised. Refining strips the smell, the colour and the flavour out of an oil so that one bottle tastes like any other. An unrefined oil smells of the seed it came from — that is the point of it.
How should I store it?
In the dark, at room temperature, with the cap on. Light is what turns an unrefined oil rancid, which is why it ships in dark glass. Use it within six months of opening.
Can I fry with it?
Mustard and sesame yes, at normal Indian cooking temperatures. Almond and walnut oil are better used raw or at low heat — they have a low smoke point and the flavour is what you are paying for.
Something else on your mind? Ask us directly
Also from Himdhara
The rest of the pantry
Everything Himdhara makes comes from the same Uttarakhand valleys and is held to the same batch testing, whichever category it belongs to.
