Re: How are corn and olive oil made?

How are corn and olive oil made? Well, to tell you the truth, I did not know until I did a little reserach into the subject myself and found the following.

Corn oil comes from only one part of the corn kernel, namely the germ. This is the only "living" part of the kernel, the other parts are used for food storage and life support of the emerging corn embryo. The germ contains the genetic materials for a corn plant to grow, some of which are proteins and organic substances. About 25% of the germ is oil. See the parts of a corn kernel at here.

To get oil from corn, first the corn is separated from the cob, sorted and cleaned. The corn is then soaked in warm water that softens up the kernel so it can be easily broken apart. The strachy part of the kernel is separated from the germ. The germ goes on for some spinning down and rinsing which is designed to remove excess starch. From there, the oil is extracted and refined by mechanical (press/centrifugation) and chemical (solvent) extractions. See more info about corn oil processing here or here.

It takes 1 bushel (56 lbs or 25.5 kg) of corn to make 1.6 lbs (720 g) of oil..

Olive oil, on the other hand, is very unique. It is the only oil made from a fresh fruit and the only oil that is consumable without refining. Spain is the world's largest maker of olive oil. Olive oil is obtained by cleaning the olives and then pressing them. That's it. What about those grades of olive oil that you see? Well, it has to do with the process used to make the oil as well as the acidity and the aroma/flavor.