COCONUT OIL
Caye Caulker residents made a name for themselves with shipbuilding, forming the first Fishing cooperative, but the coconut has also featured prominently in the island’s history, long before coconut oil was promoted as a healthy substitute for cooking oil, Belizeans were making it themselves and using it to flavor their food. Coconut oil is part of all Belizean diet and one Caye Caulker’s income earner for several families be it collecting coconuts or actual processing the nut to make coconut oil.
 Virgin Cold Pressed Coconut Oil |
 shucking coconuts by hand |
Coconut oil is produced mostly by the women within this community, who are the teachers of the house hold and have pass on the skill to their children. Being productive and economic by utilizing these precious commodities on areas available in our environment. Caye Caulker women are on threshold of motivating it community on being an entrepreneur producing this great product.
Producing coconut oil is a time consuming process and requires two days to produce. The first process is extracting the milk, second is to set the crude and thirdly is the cooking process to make the oil and last is to bottle the oil.
Some of the women carrying on this tradition are Miss. Maria Vega along with her Staff Miss Levita Cho and always to be remembered Mrs. Petty Joesph, who sadly passed away this year. At sun rise the process would start with the husking and breaking of the coconuts, then the fleshy inside would be taken from its core and hand grated, approximately one hundred nuts to produce a batch of oil.
The grated nut would be placed in a bucket of hot water; which would assist in the extraction of the milk, the straining progression will start a few minutes later. With the assistance of a cheese cloth with a strainer place on a large container, the hot mixture would be place in the cloth, which will be folded close, with a person holding at each end, over the strainer and container, both will twist the cloth in opposite direction, at the same time the coconut milk will be collected in the container. After this development is finished the container will be covered with a cloth and left overnight for the milk to set, in the morning the milk will curdle and be separate from the water. The cooking method will take place with a huge wooden spoon and a large cooking pot on the fire hart, the curdled milk will be placed in the pot and constantly stirred as the heating process changes the milk to oil.
 fresh cracked coconut on the beach |
 coconuts ready to harvest |
Just on the news today, it has been proven that brushing your teeth with coconut oil prevent cavities, eliminate bad breath and reduces the risk of tooth decay and gum disease. Many people use coconut oil on the scalp to kill head lice bacteria and parasites, but coconut oil also works well at killing bad breath causing bacteria in the mouth. There is so many health benefits of coconut oil including hair care, skin care, massaging the body with coconut oil, maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes and more. These benefits of coconut oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric, capric, and caprylic acid and its properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial, soothing, etc.
At the moment there is only one person that is shipping pure virgin handmade coconut oil out of the country. Here is the link to get yours send to you. http://turneffecoconut.com
Or better yet, come to Caye Caulker and try Mrs Vega’s homemade coconut oil and enjoy the island for a week or two.
Which reminds me, I need to get some coconut oil. I just love this stuff and I cook with it all the time and use it on my hair and skin.
