Product Review: Tropical Traditions Gold Label Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Several weeks ago I got the great news that Tropical Traditions wanted to send me a sample of their Gold Label Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil! I follow Tropical Traditions (@Troptraditions) on Twitter and I have referenced their recipes and related content many times here. Not to mention that their website is a great resource for many of the products I use besides coconut oil, like Rapunzel Sugar and the full line of Eden Organics products(they have GREAT apple cider Vinegar). Of course I would accept a gift of some high quality coconut oil!

I have been using coconut oil ever since last fall when I first learned about the dangers of polyunsaturated vegetable oils. Not only is it a great alternative, it contains healthy fatty acids like lauric acid, which is also found in human breastmilk. Read about Lauric Acid here. And although coconut oil is high in saturated fat (it is a solid at around 72 degrees), there is significant evidence that coconut oil does not have a significant effect on cholesterol levels.

Tropical Traditions Gold Label oil is in a class by itself. An unrefined product of the Phillipines, the oil is made with only certified organics coconuts. But it is the traditional processing techniques that really impressed me about this oil. Their website explains in detail,

This Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is a truly unrefined coconut oil. This coconut oil is made on Mt. Banahaw and surrounding areas from organic coconuts. Coconuts are used fresh (within 24-48 hours of harvest) from small family farms on Mt. Banahaw and other rural places in Quezon Province, the coconut capital of the Philippines. Only the highest quality coconuts are hand-picked from each harvest. The volcanic soil of Mt. Banahaw makes these organic coconuts some of the most nutritionally rich coconuts in the world! Testing done in independent labroratories reveals higher levels of phenolic antioxidants than other coconut oils. The fresh coconut meat is shredded (wet milled), and then cold-pressed using the water from inside the coconuts to make coconut milk. The milk is then allowed to sit for about half a day, while the oil naturally separates from the heavier water. The oil is then filtered from the curds (coconut solids). No chemical or high-heat treatment is used, and this oil contains no trans fatty acids. We do NOT mass produce this oil. It is made by families who are coconut farmers using old-fashioned traditional methods that have been used in the Philippines for hundreds of years. Our coconut trees and family producers are certified organic according to strict USDA standards. The families who produce the oil are also trained according to GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards and re-certified each year. This high-grade Virgin Coconut Oil has a long shelf life due to the high antioxidant properties. The Gold Label Standard is our highest standard for Virgin Coconut Oil.

The oil arrived promptly (packaged in glass unlike my other coconut oils) and I immediately began using it. I have used it in place of the other brands of coconut oil that I have previously used. I use it to pan fry super lean grass fed meats because of its high stability. I have used it in baked goods because it is perfect in muffins and the like, a much healthier replacement to vegetble oils. It is fabulous to use when I make my morning granola. I will even sneak in a spoonful onto our morning oatmeal. It's taste is subtle, but very fresh and coconutty.

But....I have hemmed and hawed over what recipe to include in my review of the product. Many of the applications in which I have used the oil have been basic. They don't really highlight the subtle flavor of the oil. Gold Label coconut oil is a fine product, much like a fine artisan olive oil. I wanted to blog about a recipe where the oil was raw and imperitive to the dish. I finally decided, mayonaise.

Mayo? Yup. Homemade lacto-fermented mayonaise has become one of the most important things I make. It is easy to find mayo that is made without soybean oil in the grocery store. But usually the alternative oils are still polyunsaturated, like canola. and sometimes even the good brands still mix soybean oil in the product. But in trying to avoid polyunsaturated fats in general, I kinda have to make my own. Normal homemade mayo only lasts for a few days, but with lacto-fermentation, by adding whey the mayonnaise is preserved for several months in the fridge.

Mayo made with olive oil or sunflower oil is strong! And it can be runny. But I have found that adding some coconut oil not only softens the flavors, but because coconut oil is a saturated fat it is solid at refrigerator temperatures and it gives your mayo a nice firmness. Using Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil in this recipe adds a wonderful flavor and lots of nutrition.

Lacto Fermented Mayonnaise (Original recipe from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon)
1 Whole Egg, at room temperature
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon whey
2/3 of a cup olive oil
1/3 cup Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil
Generous pinch of salt

In your food processor, place egg, egg yolk, mustard, salt, lemon juice and optional whey. Process until well blended, about 30 seconds. Using the attchment that allows you to add liquids drop by drop, add the olive oil first and then the coconut oil with the motor running. Taste and check seasoning. You may want to add more salt and lemon juice. If you have added whey, let the mayonnaise sit at room temperature well covered, for 7 hours before refrigerating. With whey added, mayonnaise will keep for several months. Without whey, mayonnaise will keep for about 2 weeks.

Enjoy!!

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.

This Post is shared with Food Renegade's Fight Back Fridays and Traditional Tuesdays and Healthy 2Day Wednesdays

Argan Oil and Why I am Going to Throw Out All My Shampoos

No doubt my recent trip to Morocco changed my thinking. I think every word of every post I put up last week suggested that. I have gone to far lengths to make sure that my food is clean, and pesticide and chemical free as I can, all while supporting local purveyors. Yet so much of what I slather onto my body or clean my house with has not fallen under the same watchful eye. I have changed my cleaning products to Seventh Generation products. Mostly because Diapers.com will deliver these items to me overnight FOR FREE!!

Let my diverge for one moment. I LOVE Diapers.com. If you have never ordered from the site and you have young children, you need to know about this. If you live in New York City and have a doorman, then even more reason why you need to know about this site. Diapers.com is located in NJ, and I believe they ship from Pennsylvania (forgive me if that is wrong). They ship every diaper (regular and cloth), wipe, cream, ointment, etc under the sun. But they also ship formula, baby food, sippy cups, bottles, breast pumps and all pump accessories, pacifiers, clothes, vitamins, toys, books and other various baby gear. You name it these guys have it! Recently they opened a sister site Soap.com that sells the same vast variety, but of soap items. From them I have gotten all my Seventh Generation dish soaps, dishwasher gels, laundry detergents, etc. But the BEST thing about them is that they offer free shipping on any purchase over $75, maybe even over $50 now. And when you are buying diapers, your orders are all more than $50. But it gets better-the free shipping always gets to me the very next day. So if I get close to running out of diapers, I can always count on Diapers.com to get me what I need before I am running to the pharmacy down the street with sleepy children in hand just to get some before the damn place closes. (Those of you who know me personally have heard my proclaim my love for this website. But for those of you who haven't, this is completely truthful, unsolicited, unpaid, etc. No one has given me any incentive to say any of this, though I am not opposed to Thank You presents....my contact info is right there on the right hand side bar *winkwink*). Yes, you might get a slightly better price on some items by shopping at Costco. But when I factor in the $10 worth of tolls, plus gas and membership fees, I am not saving a dime. Besides, I don't have to go anywhere to get these all important baby items from Diapers.com. I even do my Christmas shopping with them every year....sigh...True Love.

Anyway, back to my regularly scheduled post. I began to realize that my shampoo and facial moisturizers, the soap I use on my skin and the soaps I was using on the kids are all conventional and contain a bazillion ingredients-many of them I cannot pronounce. And they are expensive. What's up with that?

When I was in Morocco, my dear friend MS introduced me to Argan Oil. Perhaps you have heard of it? Or perhaps you have heard of the high end Moroccanoil products? Moroccanoil is a specific company that produces salon products that contain Argan Oil (among more conventional ingredients). Argan Oil is the oil that is extracted from the kernels of the Argan Tree. The Argan Tree grows in Morocco mainly and perhaps only a few other places in the world. The kernels contain a pit that when pressed, release an oil that is very high in good Fatty Acids. In Morocco, people have been cooking with the oil for hundreds of years. They also use a more refined version of the oil for use in soaps and hair treatments, and even directly on the skin itself. See the breakdown of the Fatty Acids by percentage (taken from Wikipedia)

Fatty acid
Percentage
Palmitic
12.0%
Stearic
6.0%
Oleic
42.8%
Linoleic
36.8%
Linolenic
<0.5%

I did pick up some Argan Oil while I was in Morocco (wouldn't you?). The stuff here in the States can go for as high as $25 an ounce, or more. So of course it was a coup to be able to get fresh Argan Oil for a fraction of that price. Since I returned, I have been using a drop of it on my face every morning and evening in place of facial moisturizer. My skins looks great. I also mixed some Argan Oil with Coconut Oil (probably one part Argan oil to 3 parts coconut oil) and poured that mix over some dried rosebuds that I also got on my trip (see picture above). That mix of oils smells coconutty and rosey, it is really lovely. I have been using that mix on the dry skin on me legs and well as directly on my hair before I go to bed.

I have really really curly hair. My curls did not manifest until I was about 13, before that my hair was just wavy and would get easily tangled. I had noticed that my hair was very frizzy and unkempt when I was about 11 or 12, but I never though anything of it. I thought I just had lousy hair. I did not know that one's hair could simply...change. But change it had. I realized when I was a freshman in high school that if I did not blow dry my hair but rather let it air dry, it would curl. But it took years to refine the process of washing and applying product until my hair was not a frizzy mess. Now my hair is much healthier. I am using sulfate free shampoos, conditioners and products. Curly hair is usually very dry. My hair is rarely ever shiny because it is so dry. The sulfate free shampoos (and only washing once a week) have helped, but I have mostly just accepted that my hair would be dry. But now it is all different! In using the oil in my hair, I will just dip my fingers into the jar and massage the oil into my locks. Not too much, I don't want greasy hair. But just that little bit at night before I wet and style my hair the next morning has helped immensely. In the span of one week, my hair has truly never looked healthier. It has never been so tame, and my curls have never been shinier. I have a ways to go. But I really recommend this. If you can't find Argan Oil, Coconut Oil by itself would work just fine.

But, that bring me back to my first thought...If I can use Argan Oil on my face, why do I need expensive facial moisturizers. And if I don't need expensive facial moisturizers, what about body lotion? And if my shampoo is full of chemicals and drying agents....maybe I don't need that either? Wow, I just saved myself over $100 a year by cutting all that junk out.

Tomorrow, I will expound on the soap issue. I found Castille Soap, and I believe it will change me even further....

Coconut Oil

I have been doing alot of research about fats recently. I have decided that my family can get everything that it needs from traditional, minimally processed fats like expeller pressed olive oil, butter, lard and now, coconut oil. Most people have some experience with the first three, but not the last. So I thought I would jot down some information about coconut oil for you.

Coconut Oil is a traditional oil of the tropics. It is over 80% saturated fat. But has the same levels of total fats as all the other oils I detailed a couple weeks ago in my article about Lard. Coconut oil will be solid at cooler temperatures, like the grocery store, but at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit it becomes liquid. Imagine my surprise when I purchased some as a solid, knowing it was such a saturated fat, and then the next morning went to use some and it was totally liquid! Because it is a saturated fat it is stable it will remain fresh even at warm temperature, whereas many other unsaturated vegetable oils can go rancid easily. Rancid oils are full of free radicals which can set the stage for cancer and many other degenerative diseases. There is a growing group of people out there that feel that all standard polyunsaturated vegetable oils like soybean, canola, safflower, corn and the like are all at some level of rancidity. Take a look at this site. The guy's picture is a little weird, but the site is worth a look. Part of the reason I am starting to think this bit about polyunsaturated fats might actually be true is that I first read this concept in Fallon's Nourishing Traditions (I know, I know..I can't shut up about that book!), but then I found it again while researching Coconut Oil and then I came across that last site when I google searched it. I am done with them all, corn, soybean, canola, sunflower, safflower, you name them I am done with them! When will our government stop subsidizing foods that are making us sick? NOTE: Olive Oil is a MONOunsaturated fat and does not fall prey to the same instability.

Coconut oil is also has known antibacterial and anti fungal properties from it's high lauric acid content. Lauric Acid is a a fatty acid that is a Medium Chain Triglyceride, or MCT for short. The only other significant source of MCT's in our diet is human breastmilk. And not many of us are really getting that in large quantities. I found some good articles at the website coconutoil.com (yeah, the internet is crazy amazing). Brian and Marianita Silhavy write in their article The Health Benefits of Virgin Coconut Oil,

"When Lauric Acid is consumed in the diet either in human breastmilk or in coconut oil, lauric acid forms a monoglyceride called monolaurin, which has been shown to destroy several bacteria and viruses, including listeria monocytogenes and heliocobacter pylori, and protoza such as giardia lamblia. Some of the viruses that have been destoyed by monolaurin include HIV, measles, herpes simplex virus-1, vesicular stomatitis virus, influenza and cytomegalovirus. There is also evidence now that the MCTs in coconut oil kill yeast infections, such as Candida."

The Silhavy's also writes that most long chain triglycerides (such as those found in soybean and safflower oil) are typically stored in the body as fat whereas MCTs are burned for energy, and that MCTs raise the body's metabolism leading to weight loss. In nature, you would never have consumed pure soybean oil. The small particles of fat in soybeans would have been tied up in the proteins and fiber of the bean. How many soybeans would you have to eat as a whole food to get one tablespoon of soybean oil? If someone knows please alert me. It reminds me of all those old cereal commercials with the ridiculous number of bowls of somebody else's cereal you would have to eat... Whereas coconuts are a natural fat source whether you eat them whole or chopped. I feel that the fat in coconut is meant to be eaten because there is so much there! But that is simply me extrapolating, which I am prone to doing.

I highly recommend that you click on the links and begin to read the varied places where I have found positive information about coconut oil. I don't believe things that I only hear in one place anymore. If I feel that an idea sounds compelling, I look into it. If I can find many varied sources that all say the same thing I begin to see that such an idea might have merit. Coconut Oil seems to also have a healthy industry around it and it properties. While I am not anti-supplement, I definitely think food sources are better than supplements. So rather than pay good money for a lauric acid supplement (yes, they exist), just eat some coconut oil. Oh yeah! I forgot to mention how delicious it is. The oil is mostly flavorless, but I do notice some coconutty overtones. I shamelessly stole a friend's idea and am now putting coconut oil into my oatmeal (and yes I feed this to my children). I have used it to make muffins and it would be great if you are making some Asian inspired dish. I would absolutely stir fry chicken with curry and veggies in coconut oil. Yum. What other uses do my faboo readers have?? I want to know. I would rather not just take one spoonful of this stuff every day, but I will get to that if I can't think of what to do with it. Granola? What do you think? Anybody?

Enjoy!

This article is part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday!