Cold pressing is one of the few food processing terms that means exactly what it says. The seed or nut is pressed mechanically, and the temperature is kept below a specified threshold — typically 50°C, sometimes lower. That's it. No chemical extraction, no refining, no deodorising.
The question worth asking is: what does that actually preserve, and what does it mean for the oil you cook with?
What Heat Destroys in Oil
When oil is extracted at high temperature — or when crude oil is later refined with heat — several things happen:
Tocopherols (Vitamin E) begin to degrade above 70°C. Vitamin E acts as a natural antioxidant in oil; its loss accelerates rancidity and removes a nutritional benefit.
Volatile aromatic compounds — the compounds responsible for the characteristic smell of good sesame oil, fresh coconut, or roasted groundnut — are heat-sensitive. High-temperature extraction drives them off or converts them into off-notes.
Polyphenols, present in varying concentrations depending on the seed, are partly destroyed by heat. These are the compounds linked to anti-inflammatory effects in studies of extra virgin olive oil, and they exist in Indian cold-pressed oils too.
Free fatty acid profile doesn't change with cold pressing, but oxidation — which begins when oil is heated during extraction — does create byproducts (aldehydes, peroxides) that aren't in fresh cold-pressed oil.
What Cold Pressing Doesn't Do
Cold pressing is not magic. It doesn't make a nutritionally neutral oil nutritionally rich. Refined sunflower oil and cold-pressed sunflower oil have similar fatty acid profiles — the difference is in the micronutrients, aromatics, and whether oxidation has occurred during processing.
It also doesn't extend shelf life. The same compounds that make cold-pressed oil nutritionally superior are also the ones that react with oxygen over time. A well-stored cold-pressed oil has a shelf life of 6–18 months depending on the seed. Refined oil can sit for years.
The Temperature Question
"Cold pressed" legally means different things in different markets. The EU caps it at 27°C for extra virgin olive oil. For other oils, there's no universal standard — 50°C is common, but some products labelled cold-pressed may have seen slightly higher temperatures during pressing.
The heat generated isn't from an external source — it's friction from the press itself. A well-maintained screw press running at low speed generates minimal heat. A faster press running at higher throughput generates more. Batch size, press speed, and press design all affect the actual temperature of the extracted oil.
When we say cold-pressed at Göttlich, we mean mechanically extracted without external heat, with temperature monitored during pressing. That's what determines whether the oil's natural properties survive intact.
Practical Implications
For cooking: cold-pressed oils generally have lower smoke points than their refined equivalents because they still contain the compounds that break down first at heat. Cold-pressed coconut oil, however, is an exception — its high saturated fat content gives it a smoke point around 177°C even unrefined.
For flavour: the difference is immediate and obvious. Cold-pressed groundnut oil tastes of groundnuts. Cold-pressed sesame oil smells of sesame. Refined versions of both are largely neutral.
For nutrition: the difference is real but not dramatic. You're not transforming your diet by switching to cold-pressed. You're preserving what was there before refining removed it.
