[Fwd: small-scale extraction of oils]

[Permacltur at aol.com]

There is a book called Tools  or else Tools for Agriculture, but anyway  you 
can find it using keyword Tools.   It is published by Intermediate Technology 
Development which has a home office in London and another office in New York, 
and I suspect worldwide outlet arrangements.   The Tools book is constantly 
updated and has gone through a number of editions.   It lists appropriate 
tools that are AVAILABLE.  From memory, it seems to me that the most likely 
oil presses are located in India.

If one has a reasonably important use for the rest of the seed material, 
efficiency of extraction (percent of total oil usefully extracted) is not so 
much of an issue.   Oil rich seeds can be ground and placed in boiling water, 
much as you would make lard from fatback.  Obviously the oil floats to the 
top and can be decanted.  

I should caution folks on grinding oilseeds.   Some kinds of metal plate 
grinders gum up with oil rich seeds.  At least that is my experience with 
soybeans and various nuts of Juglans spp. and Carya spp. For use in cooking, 
as in making pancakes, I grind the oilseed, preferably Juglans or Carya, 
mixed with the grain.   Since I don't need a lot of corn for only my private 
use, I use sweet corn instead of flint or dent as a grain.  (It is higher in 
protein but lower in yields.)   this avoids pollination issues.  In any case, 
 the grit like quality of corn is excellent for scouring out the gum or 
whatever it is deposited when grinding the oilseed, so I just mix everything 
to go into the batter together and run it through.   Sometimes, when making a 
pumpkin bread or something that may be 1/2 nut flour (if you got it, use it), 
I'll hold back a portion of the corn till everything else is ground.  

It is unnecessary to grease cast iron cookware if you use enough oilseed in 
the flour.   By leaving the seed live untill used, storage spoilage is not an 
issue, assuming you store y our seeds correctly. 

If you weant to run a diesel or something, get a small oil press.  

Extraction of essential oils is another matter entirely and there are small 
scale oil presses and fussy but relatively precise little distilation units.  
 

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since 
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses, 
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and annual correspondence 
courses via email.  Copyright, 1998, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, 
Sparr FL 32192 USA  Internships. YankeePerm at aol.com  

We don't have time to rush.

A list by topic of all Yankee Permaculture titles may be found at 
http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalog.html
Elfin Permaculture programs are listed at the Eastern Permaculture Teachers 
assn home page: http://home.ptd.net/~artrod/epta/eptahmp.html