Buy coconut oil online, direct from the mill

Which pack should you buy?

Work back from how much your kitchen gets through. Going by the 15–20 ml of cooking oil a day an adult is generally advised to use — about 500–600 ml per person a month. So one adult uses roughly half a litre a month, and a household of four gets through about two litres.

The tin is the cheapest way to buy the oil, at ₹359.80 a litre against ₹378 for the smallest bottle. It only makes sense if you will finish it inside the nine-month shelf life. A family of four usually will. Two people usually will not. Why the price per litre changes with the pack.

Storing coconut oil

It has gone solid and white

That is coconut oil behaving normally. It sets below about 24°C and melts again as the kitchen warms up. Nothing is wrong with it and nothing is lost.

Turning it back to liquid

Stand the bottle in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes. Do not put a capped PET bottle in a microwave, and do not put it on the stove.

Where to keep it

Capped, out of direct sunlight, and away from the heat of the stove. A shelf in the kitchen is fine. It does not need a refrigerator.

Keeping it clean

Use a dry spoon. Water carried in on a wet spoon is what shortens the life of any cooking oil.