Marachekku Yennai – Cold Pressed Oil

Cold Pressed Oil – Family History

My parents got married in 1968. My maternal grandfather would send 20 Litres of cold pressed sesame oil from Tirunelveli to Dehu Road, near Pune, every few months. He would send this oil tin through the railways. He stopped doing it after dad and my paternal grandfather assured him that his daughter will not want for Sesame oil ever. 😂

This family history tid-bit is essential background info for this blogpost. My mother cannot eat idlis without Sesame oil. She makes her trademark dosas using Sesame oil and even with rice, she uses Sesame oil instead of Ghee. I cannot eat Molaha Podi (Spice Powder) without Sesame oil.

In my growing up years, I woke up to the aroma of Sesame oil. My father kept his promise to his father-in-law. And now, I am keeping up the same promise. My mother is never without Sesame oil.

Cold Pressed Oil to “Refined” Oil

As India progressed, we started hearing the term “refined” oil. First it was the groundnut oil that became refined. Then of course we had the wave of Sunflower oil, Palm Oil etc etc. The cold pressed Sesame Oil got branded, refined and put into bottles and pouches.

The aroma went away, our health suffered as newer and newer versions of “refined” oil made their way to our plates and stomachs. Packaged food of course went towards the cheapest available oil – Palm Oil. At home, Idhayam brand Sesame oil replaced the tins of Marachekku Yennai (Wood Pressed oil).

I saw a series of tweets that spoke of this change –

The last tweet about Palm Oil was in 2019, but I hadn’t seen it then.

In the last couple of months, I have been introduced to several organic farmers and cold pressed oil manufacturers through the FB page titled “Living Without Medicine”. I found a Marachekku Oil manufacturer in Coimbatore and ordered Sesame Oil from him.

Just see the difference in colour –

The aroma of Marachekku Nallennai (Wood Pressed Sesame Oil) is back at home after 30+ years !!!!

Its darker, more viscous and has that amazing nutty aroma that I associate with both my grandmothers and particularly with Amma. Krishnan who doesn’t like any oil drizzled on idlis, now wants this cold pressed sesame oil to be drizzled some more. I have been using it as a salad dressing too. For the first time I understand my mother’s fixation for this oil.

The bigger question though is what Kiran Kumar has asked in his tweet – why does India import edible oil ? Somebody got paid off to promote the dead cheap (pun intended) palm oil :(. Maybe this is another MEGA CONgress SCAM that’s getting unearthed.

Cold Pressed oil is NOT expensive

The Marachekku Yennai that I got from Coimbatore is Rs. 500/- per litre. The Idhayam Sesame oil sells for Rs. 300 to 340/-, but it doesn’t have the same health benefits as the cold pressed oil.

The cold press coconut oil that you get on Amazon is super expensive, but its not expensive from the small vendors. By supporting these small vendors/manufacturers, the pricing will automatically adjust itself.

Also cold pressed oils are coming back as a “fad”… but we need to remember that we always had cold pressed oils – groundnut, sesame, coconut and mustard as part of our lives till recently. We just need to make the conscious choice of buying locally and oils made in India.

Do buy Navagraha Cold Pressed Oil. You can contact Mr. Sathish @ +91 97420 00688.

#VocalForLocal #ColdPressedOil