From the press
Oils
One seed or one fruit, pressed and named. Not a refined blend in a pleasant bottle.
Oil should taste like what it was. Mustard like mustard. Coconut like the grove. If a bottle needs a blend to hide itself, it does not belong on this shelf.
We look for presses and groves we would cook from. The method stays in the name when it matters: kachi ghani, cold-pressed, the seed itself.
An illustrative photograph. Not a True North field or pack.
Seeds, pressed
Mustard, groundnut, sesame. The press should leave the seed recognizable. We would rather a true oil than a smooth one.
Mustard oil, kachi ghani
Mustard, pressed the slow way, sharp and plainly mustard.
Enquire about Mustard oil, kachi ghaniGroundnut oil
Peanut oil, from the nut, for the everyday kadhai.
Enquire about Groundnut oilSesame oil
Til oil for the pot, named for the seed and the press.
Enquire about Sesame oilBlack sesame oil
Oil from black sesame, darker in the seed and in the name.
Enquire about Black sesame oil
Fruit, and the quieter seeds
Coconut remembers a grove. The others remember a flower or a small brown seed. Each bottle carries one of them, not a committee.
Coconut oil
Oil from the coconut, for the pot, with the grove still imaginable.
Enquire about Coconut oilSunflower oil, cold-pressed
Sunflower, cold-pressed, one seed and a method.
Enquire about Sunflower oil, cold-pressedSafflower oil
Oil from the safflower seed, kept singular.
Enquire about Safflower oilFlaxseed oil
Flax, pressed, a kitchen oil with the seed in the name.
Enquire about Flaxseed oil
These are cooking oils. Hair and skin oils live in their own doorway. A question about either one is only a question.