Agni or Fire has always been held in high regard in this ancient land. We cannot perhaps conceive how much we owe to the first people who found out that fire can be controlled and to the Someone who somewhere in time began the tradition of extracting the oil within the milk through fire, that gives the ‘ventha velichenna’ its definitive aroma and flavour, that heals indigestion and weak hair alike is one that the skin absorbs readily.

HEAT EXTRACTION – (Not by machines)

While it can perhaps be done by machines, we do it old school.

The Technique of Heat Extraction has been explored in present-day Kerala for many centuries. For the last 5 years, The House of Prakruthi has been piecing together the knowledge that has shown itself to different people engaged in the same purpose; we have seen the different schools that exist in the tharavads (ancestral houses of Kerala) where for many generations, the ancestors have experimented with different coconuts and different materials in which to extract the oil, to even the ways of stirring the coconut milk to get the best of what mother nature has offered us. We see the responsibility that comes with it, and we are grateful for all the stories of healing that has kept coming, ever since we started walking this path.

Another way of saying ‘Extraction of the virgin coconut oil from coconut milk”, for us, is this:

Our Philosophy. Why we do it.

We’re the constant witnesses to change. In whatever change we find beauty we seek our salvation.

‘Witnessing the play of nature: One becoming many, and many becoming one.”

At the time of Heat Extraction, Coconut Milk transforms into the solid Kalkan and the liquid oil. We believe that at the time of extraction, all that is around that change contributes to the oil and Kalkan that comes out of it.

COMPONENTS OF HEAT EXTRACTION:

Ingredients.

• Coconut Milk
• The Fire
• The Vessel –Important: The elements that the vessel contains where the milk is poured
• The Heat generated at different stages of the extraction
• The ways of stirring the oil
• The thoughts around the extraction process (We often sing while making the oil)

“We bow to the healing power that is present in Nature, that heals whatever it comes into contact with.”

“Lokaha Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu| May all beings be at peace.”