59 Making the oil (1/2)

When we arrive at home, we directly go to the kitchen to start making the oil from the camellia seeds. Actually, for the better quality oil, the cold extraction ways by using some pressing machinery will give camellia oil in better quality, but that kind of machinery is impossible to find here. So the only option I have is using heat extraction although the quality is slightly under the cold extraction process.

After piling the fruits in the kitchen, we begin our oil extraction process from these camellia fruits.

”Ikki, how to make the oil from these fruits?”

”Oh, let's open the fruits first and take the seeds inside”

We start to open the fruit together and collecting the seed inside the fruits. I put aside some seeds that look good to plant it later. After we finish taking the seed from the fruit, the next step is to break the seed into pieces using a grinder. Since this quite tiresome works, we take a turn to break the seed. While we breaking the seed, I prepare boiled water on the pot. When we have enough seeds pieces, I put them on the boiled water pot.

”Silvie, after we boil this seed pieces in the pot, the golden colored oil layer will be formed on the top of the pot. We scoop that oil layer and move it to other pot. Can you do that?”

”Um, I can do that”

I keep making the seed into pieces while Silvie taking the oil layer from the pot. We keep doing this until there's no more oil layer on the pot.

”Ikki, there's no more oil layer in the pot”

”Um, okay. Let heating the other pot to remove the water content in that pot and get pure oil”

We're heating the oil container pot to evaporate the water content in the pot. When there's no more steam come from the pot and the pot make blubbing sounds, that indicating there's no more water in that pot and we move the pot from fire.

”Ikki, what this oil can do?”

”This oil has many usages, Silvie. For body treatment, for hair treatment, can be used for cooking too”

”That many? Wow, this oil is amazing”

”Um, look at the oil, smell the aroma too”

I show Silvie the result from our oil extraction from the Camellia fruits. It's a golden colored oil with herbs aroma, actually this oil more suitable for cosmetically usage than for cooking oil. This oil also contains a small amount of SPF that can be used for sunblock, which I want to carry when we go to the beach again.

”The aroma is good, not like oil from fats…..it's like herbal aroma”