How to Extract Peanut Oil

Buy shelled peanuts to cut down on the time required to extract peanut oil.

Peanut oil, as the name suggests, is an oil extracted from peanuts. Peanut oil may be used in a wide variety of cooking applications, including frying, basting and marinating. Peanut oil is generally considered a very good oil to use for frying, as it has a high smoke point. For example, peanut oil is often used to fry turkeys. If you have extra peanuts at home, you may wish to extract your own peanut oil.

Things You'll Need

• Food processor
• 1 pound shelled, unsalted peanuts
• Water
• Glass bowl
• Plastic wrap

Instructions

1. Purchase shelled unsalted peanuts. Pour one pound of peanuts into a food processor.

2. Grind the peanuts in the food processor until they are the consistency of a coarse sand.

3. Pour the peanuts into a large glass bowl. Pour four cups of water on top of the peanuts. Add an additional two cups of water for each half-pound of peanuts. Cover the glass jar with plastic wrap and leave the bowl to sit overnight.

4. Remove the plastic wrap. The peanut oil will have floated to the top of the bowl and will be sitting right above the water. Tilt the bowl slowly to pour off the peanut oil into a separate container.

Tips & Warnings

• You can also extract peanut oil with heavy machinery such as a press, which exerts high force on the peanuts. However, such machinery is generally unavailable to the public.

References

• Miss Vickie's: All About Cooking Oils
• Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects; Karen Solomon; 2009
• Cooking Projects: A Kid's Guide to Crafts; Ron Riley; 1997