Monday, November 5, 2007

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is one of the good guys. Its had a bad rep in the past but its making a comeback. But. Coconut oil is NOT all created equal. Most of the stuff you can get in your health food store is refined, bleached, deodorized and just plain useless. You have to buy from a reputable company who preserves the integrity of the oil to get the health benefits.

We buy ours from TropicalTraditions.com. The best choice is their organic but we get the expeller pressed since I dont like the tast of coconut. They refine theirs in a gentle way, using no solvents or bleach, etc. so it retains its healthy benefits.

*For one more day its on sale, Buy one Get one Free! SALE

Since we have dairy allergies we use it ALL time in place of butter - to cook eggs, on toast, to sautee, etc.

There is a ton of information on their site that will explain it better than I can! This is a great oil for kids' developing brains!!!! (and their Organic Whole Wheat pasta is the best Ive ever had!!)

From WestonAPrice.org:
Coconut Oil 1
Coconut Oil 2
Coconut Oil 3

6 comments:

mamashine said...

The expeller pressed kind doesn't taste like coconut? I'll have to check it out. I bought some one time and I couldn't stand it- I could taste the coconut in EVERYTHING.

Rachel said...

nope - it tastes like nothing at all. Its so great. The key is to get a high quality expeller pressed/refined otherwise its useless. Its kind of the best of both worlds for me to get it from TT.

Anonymous said...

I have enjoyed reading your blog. I found it through my friend Hilary Fiskeaux's blog. I too am interested in natural living. I wanted to ask if you knew about Shaklee products & if so what's your opinion on them? www.shaklee.net/krista_brown I know in one of your blogs you were looking for a natural laundry detergent that was effective & I didn't know if you had ever heard of Shaklee's detergent? (I haven't tried theirs yet so I don't know their effectivenss)
Thanks
Cheryl Sadler sadlercl@yahoo.com

Rachel said...

Ive heard of Shaklee. I checked out their site and it seems good - no phosphates, no chlorine, "natural" (that can mean a lot of things). Even though they post the product labels I never found any actual ingredient lists????? thats the only thing that made me a little suspicious.

Wendy said...

Hi! I've been reading your blog for awhile now. I really enjoy it. I just wanted to let you know that coconut oil is also good in your hair :) put a tiny amount in your hand and rub it together, just enough to make your palms shiny and then put on the ends of damp hair, it seals in the moisture and makes it smooth and shiny!

Green Republican said...

It also makes yummy candy! I don't do it very often (like once or twice a year), but it's really easy. Melt the coconut oil in a sauce pan on low (not cooking at all, just melting, so vey low heat). Add shade grown cocoa powder, pure vanilla extract and stevia (or the natural sweetener of your choice). Pour into a mini-muffin pan (or candy molds if you have them) and let them cool. Transfer to the fridge and when hard enough, pop out and put in a storage container (store them in the fridge). I break mine into smaller pieces. I have an exact recipe somewhere... I'll post it on my blog when I find it. :)

One of my favorite ways to use coconut oil is to saute vegetables in it with a little sea salt. It's wonderful with zucchini and yellow squash. I've also sauteed collard greens (deribbed and cut into ribbons) and my little ones devour it. It is my absolute FAVORITE oil for carmelizing onions - and I'm not a big fan of onions to begin with. Mmmmmm!