Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil Review And ~~Giveaway~~

"When I first read about the wonderful benefits of coconut oil, I asked my wife Marianita, who grew up on a coconut plantation in the Philippines, if there was a more natural way to extract the oil from the coconut, so that we didn’t have to buy the refined coconut oils found in all the stores in the Philippines. She said there was a method the older generation used to extract the oil by grating the fresh coconut, extracting the coconut milk, and then letting the coconut milk stand in a covered container for about 24 hours. After about 24 hours, the oil naturally separates from the water producing a crystal clear oil that retains the full scent and taste of coconuts. So we started making our coconut oil that way and using it for our cooking needs with our three children. We couldn’t believe how wonderful it tasted, and how great we felt. We had been living on Mt. Banahaw in the Philippines for almost two years by that time, and in the year 2000 telephone service was provided to our rural farming community, allowing me to put up a website about our Philippine Herbs. I decided to also put our Virgin Coconut Oil up on the website, not really expecting people to order it because it was a bit expensive since we had to hire people to make the oil, and shipping cost a lot because of the weight. We were so surprised when people started ordering, and then re-ordering it because they felt so great after using it! They told us there was no other coconut oil like it on the market.

Before long we had businesses contacting us asking how to order it in bulk. So we discussed how we could mass produce this kind of oil, and almost abandoned the product because we didn’t want to lose the traditional way of making it. In the end, we decided to just keep making it the same way, by having others in our coconut community also make the oil the traditional way. Many of our producers are in areas so remote, that if they did not use their coconuts to produce Virgin Coconut oil for us, no one would buy their coconuts because it would cost too much to transport them to manufacturing plants. In these areas, the coconuts generally just fell to the ground unused until we started training people to make our Virgin Coconut Oil. We were the first ones to export Virgin Coconut Oil from the Philippines to the US market. The success overwhelmed us.

Today, more than 7 years later, there are other companies now selling coconut oil again in the US, most of them mass-produced by machines from dried coconut. But we are committed to time-honored traditional practices that have produced healthy coconut oil for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Our Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is still produced by hand, using the wet-milling process of extracting the oil from fresh coconuts. Our producers have learned a lot of things over the years, since most of them have been producing this oil for over 7 years now. They have learned how to pick out the best coconuts from each harvest that produce the best quality oil, for example. Independent laboratory analysis shows this to be one of the highest quality coconut oils on the market, having the highest levels of antioxidants. This enhanced Virgin Coconut Oil is now in the US market under the Tropical Traditions Gold Label brand. It meets our strictest standards to earn this designation. Today when you buy Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil, you are buying the highest quality coconut oil we have to offer, and it is still made by hand and benefiting families in the rural areas of the Philippines where the coconuts grow.

Is Virgin Coconut Oil the healthiest oil on earth?

Characteristics of Our Gold StandardTM Label Virgin Coconut Oil This Tropical Traditions Gold Label Standard Virgin Coconut Oil is a truly unrefined coconut oil. This coconut oil is made on Mt. Banahaw and surrounding areas from organic coconuts. Coconuts are used fresh (within 24-48 hours of harvest) from small family farms on Mt. Banahaw and other rural places in Quezon Province, the coconut capital of the Philippines. Only the highest quality coconuts are hand-picked from each harvest. The volcanic soil of Mt. Banahaw makes these organic coconuts some of the most nutritionally rich coconuts in the world! Testing done in independent laboratories reveals higher levels of phenolic antioxidants than other coconut oils. The fresh coconut meat is shredded (wet milled), and then cold-pressed using the water from inside the coconuts to make coconut milk. The milk is then allowed to sit for about half a day, while the oil naturally separates from the heavier water. The oil is then filtered from the curds (coconut solids). No chemical or high-heat treatment is used, and this oil contains no trans fatty acids. We do NOT mass produce this oil. It is made by families who are coconut farmers using old-fashioned traditional methods that have been used in the Philippines for hundreds of years. Our coconut trees and family producers are certified organic according to strict USDA standards. The families who produce the oil are also trained according to GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards and re-certified each year. This high-grade Virgin Coconut Oil has a long shelf life due to the high antioxidant properties. The Gold Label Standard is our highest standard for Virgin Coconut Oil."

I have to be completely honest. Until I started my Blog, I had never even heard of Virgin Coconut Oil.

Obviously I have heard of coconuts (I love them!!) but I assumed that there was vegetable oil, and olive oil and that was pretty much it for cooking.

When I was given the chance to try Coconut Oil, I had to take it!!!

I was unsure what to use it for, but I decided that the best thing to try at first was cookies!!

I made macaroons and used the coconut oil instead of veggie oil.

Wow it made the cookies taste a lot more like coconut, and they were all gone in two hours!!!

I then decided to be daring and I tried the oil with chicken.

I make a great sweet and sour Mediterranean chicken, and the coconut oil made the flavors pop more.

I really like using the coconut oil, and I am going to try it with even more recipes!!



I am very happy to be able to give one of you a 32oz bottle of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil to try for yourself!!

I would love to hear what recipes you use the oil for!!

Entering the giveaway is really easy-

1. Become an email subscriber of Tropical Traditions.

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Giveaway ends on April 18, 2011 at 11:59pm. Open to US and Canada Readers Only. A valid email address MUST be in ALL comments. Winner has 48 hrs to respond or new winner will be drawn. This giveaway was made possible by Tropical Traditions.

* All opinions expressed are 100% my own. I was not compensated for this post. I was given a jar of coconut oil to try for this review*