Here’s how to make gorgeous, golden oil from moringa seeds:
Step 1: Get your buddies together and start cracking and partially shelling your moringa seeds.
Step 2: Leaving about half of the cracked shells in with the bare seed kernels, add seeds and shells to the hopper of your manual oil press. Here, we’re using a Piteba Nut and Seed Oil Expeller.
Step 3: Let resulting oil sit and separate, then pour it through a coffee filter into a clean container.
Step 4: Enjoy using this beautiful, healthy oil for cooking, skin and hair care, lamp oil or as a light machine oil.
In these photos you can see the oil-pressing practice session held by SHI founder, Rick Kemmer, and three of our Master Peer Educators, Rick, Riley, and Ralph. They are preparing to train families in Nicaragua, Togo, and Burkina Faso how to press oil, not only for their own use, but also to sell in their local markets for additional income – income that can be used to pay for school fees, doctor visits and other essentials! Household oil production can make a significant impact on the well-being of families by providing a sustainable source of income from their own moringa trees.
Ralph will be traveling to Togo and Burkina Faso to provide peer educator training in basic nutrition and the cultivation and uses of moringa, including oil production. He’ll be taking two Piteba oil presses with him and we’re looking forward to hearing what his local friends in Togo and Burkina think about the possibilities of family-level oil pressing. Ralph’s been communicating regularly with them and we already know that they are excited to try it!
Rick Hooks will be taking an oil press to Cristo Rey, Nicaragua, to work with Pastor Gamaliel to see if the church will be able to press their own oil from the seeds of the hundreds of moringa trees already growing in the community. The church’s daily feeding program for 150 children in this impoverished village uses nearly $400 in cooking oil per year. Providing some of their own oil will reduce this expense and allow them to use their scarce funds for other essentials.
This is an exciting and important step toward providing a sustainable income source for people in need!
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