Guest Post by Kit: Volcanic Earth coconut oil factory

I'm pleased to help mother out as a guest blogger today. The morning of the day we went to the outdoor art gallery, we took a tour of the coconut oil factory for Volcanic Earth, a local wellness and cosmetics company.  They use a number of locally sourced ingredients including coconuts, tamanu nuts, and ash from one of the nations active volcanos. There is also a spa located on the grounds of the art foundation mentioned in mother's May 5 post. Although Volcanic Earth is owned by two Australians, they have helped locals to start their own businesses to manufacture the ingredients used.  VE is committed to supporting local micro-buisinesses and a diverse Vanuatu economy. On the tour of the coconut oil factory, we saw how the coconuts produce fine oil in less than an hour after they are opened.

 First, the coconut meat is grated out of the opened shells using the traditional bench scraper or a more modern spinning head.

Then the grated coconut is dehydrated on a large hot table. This is so that there will be no water contamination when the oil is extracted.  The heating fire underneath is fueled with the coconut shells and the plugs of coconut after oil extraction. Nothing is wasted here and no fuel must be bought; both economically and environmentally sound.

The grated meat is continually stirred and flipped to  help even drying and to prevent it from burning.  After it has dried, it is packed into steel sheaths with small slits along their lengths that allow the oil to flow out during pressing.

The shredded coconut may seem dry, but when pressed, almost a liter of oil comes running out of two kilograms of meat. The fresh oil has some contaminates in it that settle out in a few days, after which it can be bottled and sold directly or used in Volcanic Earth's fun soaps, lotions and herbal remedies.