How do they make peanut oil?

[woodstockbirdybird]

Sure, this is a stupid question, but then, most of my questions in this forum are. Anyway, I don’t get it. Peanut oil? How on earth do you possibly bleed oil from a peanut? It seems like it would be akin to marketing “gravel oil”. So, what is it? Some kind of vegetable oil with microscopic peanut particles infused in it to give it flavor? I just can’t figure it.

[Guy_Incognito]

Try this: press the edge of your fingernail against a shelled peanut for a few seconds. Don’t press so hard that the peanut breaks up. Move your fingernail and look where you pressed. The peanut is most likely a bit darker in color and you may even see a trace of oil on your fingernail. Peanuts (actually a legume) contain quite a bit of oil. Put 'em in a press of some type and I’m sure you’d be surprised how much oil actually comes out of them.

What’s really fun is to get a shelled brazil nut and light the end of it with a match or lighter. It burns like a candle because of all the oil contained in the meat.

[Mangetout]

from here:

Oil Extraction

Peanut Oils

Peanut oil is obtained by one of three methods, including hydraulic, expeller and solvent extraction methods. The hydraulic method of extraction consists of pressing the shelled peanuts under 14,000 psi, while adding steam and heat.

Expeller pressing is the most popular method of peanut oil extraction. Expeller pressing resembles a modern day meat grinder. Peanuts are fed into a grinder, and pressure is added as the screw turns. This forces the mass out through a perforated screen. The screen separates the oil from the proteinaceous material.

The solvent method is the most expensive of the three methods. It involves using hexane to extract oil from a peanut meal. This method is frequently combined with the expeller methods.

[Lsura]

Here you go:

In extracting the oil in the U.S., the cleaned nuts are passed through hullers or shellers to separate the kernels. The kernels, which contain 48 to 56 percent of oil, are then crushed, heated and pressed hot in hydraulic presses. The oil is used in the manufacture of margarines and shortenings, and as a salad and cooking oil. The press cake is used for cattle food.

[Mangetout]

Oops, I forgot to make my link work.

[woodstockbirdybird]

Thanks, guys.

[Rico]

So, how do they make baby oil?

:: d&r ::

[Zsofia]

You know when you open your half-used jar of peanut butter that you haven’t opened for a while and you have to mix it up because there’s oil settled out of it? What did you think that was, peanut tears?

[Joe_Random]

@Rico

So, how do they make baby oil?

Obviously, it’s extracted from soylent baby.

[clairobscur]

I sometimes considered asking the following question, and this thread seems a perfect oportunity.

How comes nuts (peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc…) are so hard despite containing so much oil? What is the rest of the nut made of, besides oil? In what exactly is contained the oil? Are there “oil cells” in the nuts?

[Cheesesteak]

@woodstockbirdybird

So, what is it? Some kind of vegetable oil with microscopic peanut particles infused in it to give it flavor?

For the record, peanut oil does not taste like peanuts. It is prized for its high smoke point (does not scorch easily) and lack of flavor, so it is excellent for high temperature frying.

[bouv]

Now, to me, it seems obvious that we have peanut oil…eat a lot of peanut and your hands will be a little greasy, no? But how in the Hell do we get vegetable oil? I have yet to encounter a vegetable that seems like it could provide oil.

[chaoticbear]

Seeds. Don’t know what kind, though, but I think it comes from the seeds.

[Oat1957]

@chaoticdonkey

Seeds. Don’t know what kind, though, but I think it comes from the seeds.

Oilseeds.

Info

[TellMeI_mNotCrazy]

The one that’s always stumped me, and I was going to do a GQ thread about, is olive oil. How do they get oil out of something so juicy? Do they press, and separate the oil from the liquid later?

Color me baffled.

[Rick]

@woodstockbirdybird

Sure, this is a stupid question, but then, most of my questions in this forum are. Anyway, I don’t get it. Peanut oil? How on earth do you possibly bleed oil from a peanut?

It’s done with very small oil derricks

[Hunter_Hawk]

@Cheesesteak

For the record, peanut oil does not taste like peanuts. It is prized for its high smoke point (does not scorch easily) and lack of flavor, so it is excellent for high temperature frying.

For the record, it actually depends on the peanut oil. I have a bottle of “Spectrum Naturals” brand unrefined (n.b.) peanut oil that imparts a pronounced peanut taste. And trust me when I say that peanut-flavored pancakes don’t go too well with maple syrup.

[Peanuthead]

This thread is giving me a headache.

[kniz]

They squeeze their nuts! :eek:

[woodstockbirdybird]

@Zsofia

You know when you open your half-used jar of peanut butter that you haven’t opened for a while and you have to mix it up because there’s oil settled out of it? What did you think that was, peanut tears?

I assumed it was my drool. I loves me some PB.