What Is the Difference Between Virgin Coconut Oil and Refined Coconut Oil?

Coconut flesh contains oil which can be extracted with a fairly easy process. There are two types of oil produced from coconut extraction, they are: virgin coconut oil and refined coconut oil.

So what is the difference between these two coconut oil?

Contents difference

Basically, both VCO and refined coconut oil contains medium chain triglycerides and fatty acids with similar percentages. But due to the short extraction process, VCO has more compounds such as polyphenols, vitamin E, minerals, etc. which is not present in refined coconut oil.

Some sources claim that the percentage of fatty acid content in VCO is higher than in refined coconut oil. This is high likely to be true because some types of fatty acid is prone to the heat used in extraction process of refined coconut oil.

Because of its content is considered to be more healthy, VCO is generally used for skin and beauty care as well as for health (consumed directly or as a dressing).

While refined coconut oil is more commonly used for cooking purposes (frying/baking/grilling) because it has a higher smoke point than VCO.

Differences in the extraction method

This is actually the main difference between VCO and refined coconut oil (which also makes the names of these two oils).

Virgin coconut oil is obtained from a short process of squeezing the flesh of the coconut fruit and then separating the oil from other substances. There are 2 extraction methods to get VCO, those are:

• Dry Process. In this method, the dried copra or coconut flesh is then squeezed using a machine.

• Wet Process. It is done by grinding fresh coconut meat into coconut milk, then separating pure coconut oil from the coconut milk.

Usually VCO on the market is produced using the wet processing method because it is more economical.

Unlike VCO, ordinary coconut oil is extracted through a complicated and lengthy process. Often this extraction process is abbreviated as RBD (refined, bleached and deodorized).

This RBD process produces coconut oil that is resistant to high temperatures.

Aroma and taste difference

Because of the short extraction process, VCO still has coconut aroma and taste. While in RBD coconut oil, the taste and aroma of coconut is totally gone.