From time to time this column has carried offerings on common foods which consumers use but of which they know very little.  Today, we will have a short discourse on coconut oil, the oil of Guyana, just as olive oil is the oil of Spain, Italy, Israel and several other Mediterranean countries.

In the early years of the 19th century, cooking oil was imported.  When indentured Indian immigrants began to permanently settle in Guyana, they began to grow coconuts to produce oil, first for familial,  then for limited commercial usage.  Their folk method of production could never be able to satisfy the market and some cooking oil always had to be imported to supplement the local production.  In the last quarter of the 19th century, the firm of Wieting and Richter, began to industrially produce refined coconut oil and in a short time, they captured the entire cooking oil market.  At the beginning of the 1940s, the Maharaja Oil Mills which owned coconut plantations began to produce oil and shared the market with Wieting and Richter.  Guyana had become fully self-sufficient in the product and during the World War II years when there were shortages of all foodstuffs, there was never a shortage of cooking oil.

Until very recently, coconut oil was used almost solely for culinary purposes.  It was used to produce coconut milk widely employed in cooking;  to produce bread and pastries such as coconut biscuits and in various food preparations such as “cookup” and “metemgee”.  It is a ubiquitous food-mix in Guyana.  It was also widely used in making confections such as conkie, barfi, sugar-cakes and a variety of other sweets.  It was even exported to sweet makers abroad who would use it to produce toffees.  It should be mentioned that the water of the unripe coconuts is used as a refreshing drink and as a convalescent food.

In passing, it should be mentioned that there was an old custom of anointing babies and small children with coconut oil before going to bed.  Parents followed the custom mechanistically, but it saved children from bites of the malaria mosquito at a time when malaria was endemic in Guyana and was responsible for much of its mortality.
Coconut oil was in general use in Guyana until the 1970s when data, later suspected as emanating from foreign Oil Industry sources, convinced the consumer market that coconut oil contained “bad” cholesterol and was dangerous to health.  This campaign against coconut oil was highly successful and consumers now used only foreign oils such as olive, corn, soya or canola.  Then, just over a decade ago, the worldwide narrative radically changed and coconut oil was regarded as the wonder oil of the world, even better than olive oil.

Coconut oil is liberally endowed with lauric acid which has great antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties and this allows it to be used medicinally.  We mention below several non-culinary uses of it:

It is a healthy skin moisturiser and is very easily absorbed.  Rubbing it into the cuticles results in stronger nails.  It could be used as a hair conditioner or hairdressing since it could fight off dandruff if massaged into the scalp.

It is an excellent make-up remover.  If one suffers from acne, a small amount of coconut oil rubbed on the face would relieve the inflammation and redness.  It soothes sunburn.  It is used for body massaging since it has a lubricant quality and is easily absorbed.  It helps to eliminate body odours and a few drops in the armpit would kill the bacteria.  It is an effective treatment for scrapes, scratches and superficial cuts and provides a barrier against dust and bacteria.  It relieves bug bites and bee stings.
It has many household uses: It could silence squeaking hinges;  could treat leather and prevent dry rot;   rubbing wooden utensils and furniture with the oil would both preserve and brighten them;  it removes rust by rubbing the oil on the rust-affected surface and leaving it for a few hours before wiping off;  could clean off grease from small motors.

Good quality Pomeroon coconut oil could be obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture’s outlet in Brickdam and the Guyana Marketing Corporation in addition to the supermarkets.