1. What is virgin coconut oil?

Virgin coconut oil is defined as "oil obtained from the fresh mature kernel of the coconut, by mechanical or natural means, with or without the use of heat, without undergoing chemical refining, bleaching or deodorizing, and which does not lead to the alteration of the oil".

It is called "virgin" due to its pure, raw, pristine and unadulterated state.

2. What will virgin coconut oil do for me?

This is actually quite a hard question to answer on the website, simply because we are not allowed to make claims about the benefits of VCO, regardless of whether they are true or not.

The UK Food Labelling Regulation 40(1), Schedule 6, Part I (1) & (2) states; " A claim that a food has the property of preventing, treating or curing a human disease, or any reference to such a property, is prohibited". This claim is unacceptable........WHETHER IT IS TRUE OR NOT.

So what can we do? We can really only ask you to do a little research yourselves, apparently we are not even allowed to use quotes from books.

Let us just state a few facts that should not be breaking any laws.

Virgin coconut oil does not contain any trans fatty acids and does not break down at high temperatures.

Virgin coconut oil is known as a lauric oil, due to its high quantities of lauric acid. When synthesized in the body, lauric becomes monolaurin, which is found in abundance in mother's milk.

Millions of people around the world use coconut oil as a conditioner for their hair, invariably in countries where people have the most beautiful, strong and silky hair.

Virgin coconut oil does not contain any cholesterol.

I am really sorry for the lack of information in this section, but laws are laws, and we have to abide by them.

3. How do I know if your virgin coconut oil is organic?

The simple answer is, you don't. The same as you don't know about any other product either. Companies that are certified organic can change their GMP the day after they get the certification, or change the supplier of their ingredients. I am afraid you have to take our word for it.

Let me explain that over 80% of the coconuts grown in The Philippines are grown organically. The farmers can't afford fertilizers and pesticides, even if they were needed, which they are not.

The reason small companies in poor countries are not certified organic, is purely down to money.....Isn't that always the case......Big companies can afford to buy organic certification, small companies in poor countries can't. For us to get certification from US, European, or Australian organic certifiers, would cost well in excess of $5000. We would have to pay for them to send a representative to the Philippines. (Other countries do not accept organic certification by organic certifiers based in The Philippines, so there is absolutely no point in taking the cheap option.)

The big factory producers can afford to pay for any certification they want. Our oil is far superior to theirs, purer, more natural, produced using better coconuts, but they buy the organic certification which we can't afford........Even though, we, like the vast majority of VCO producers in the Philippines, use organic coconuts.

4. Is your oil 100% pure?

It is honestly the most natural oil you can find. It is cold-processed, ( ANH Absolutely No Heat ), filtered by hand up to 8 times, using 8 and 5 microns filter paper. We are happy to show analysis reports, to prove how good this oil is. (It is definitely NOT refined, bleached and deodorized oil, passed off as VCO).

5. What does ANH stand for?

Having read the previous question, you now know the answer to this one, however, it deserves explanation.

Most people recognize that cold-processed VCO is the best, most natural and most potent VCO. As producers who use the cold-process method of production, we are extremely proud of the final product. We are delighted to inform customers that it is cold-processed oil, hoping they will know that it is by far the finest VCO available.

Unfortunately, other companies are quite happy to confuse the public, by labelling their oil "cold-pressed".....and believe me it works.......Cold-processed, cold-pressed, you go to any of the forums on coconut oil and people genuinely do not know the difference. Let me just tell you that cold-pressed oil is invariably heated after the pressing, of course the companies will not tell you that.

So the producers who do not heat their oil had to come up with something to counter the confusion, and ANH is the outcome. Absolutely No Heat is used during production of our oil, so that is what we put on the label, and that is how the finest virgin coconut oil will become known...........ANH.

6. Why don't you produce "Extra virgin"?

Simply because there is no such thing. It is just a marketing strategy, (used to great effect by companies in the Philippines and the US), to try and convince the buyer that their oil offers something other oils don't.

"Extra virgin" is a term borrowed from the olive oil industry, where there are distinct differences between virgin olive oil and extra virgin olive oil; this is definitely not the situation with VCO.

Maybe we should call our oil, Cocovida Extra Virgin Coconut Oil.......would it be honest and ethical?

7. How do I take the oil?

In the Philippines it is commonly taken by the spoonful, researchers recommend 2 to 3 tablespoons a day.

Use it for cooking, simply replace your other cooking oil with VCO.....Your food will taste so much better.

Since VCO solidifies when the temperature drops below 76f, it can be used to replace butter or margarine. Try it on crackers or crispbread.

Our CEO pours it on her breakfast cereal, rice and pancakes. In fact she pours it on just about everything......but she doesn't have to pay for hers.

Obviously, in cooler climates, it will need to be heated. A bowl of hot water is the preferred method. (PLEASE DO NOT MICROWAVE).

Of course you could also use it on your skin and hair; we also manufacture massage oils and hair oil, using our own ANH virgin coconut oil as the base oil.

8. Why is your oil the best?

Okay, so we don't really get asked this much, but I have a great answer, so I asked myself.

Patience, passion and pride........We genuinely care about the quality of our oil. That should come through in the text on this site. If it doesn't, I have failed miserably.

We make our oil in the most natural way. We don't cheat, we don't take shortcuts, we don't accept second best......and we only use the finest coconuts, which just happen to be found in the Philippines.

9 Why don't you sell flavoured VCO?

Flavoured VCO is very popular in the Philippines, but nowhere else in the world. There are a couple of really good reasons we don't sell it.

1) Once the oil is flavoured, it is no longer virgin coconut oil, it is flavoured coconut oil. In fact, in many cases, it never was virgin coconut oil to start off with.

2) We happen to think VCO should taste like coconut, not sweetcorn or banana. We have no doubt that most of the flavoured oils in The Philippines, were altered because they tasted awful.

10) Why don't you sell VCO in capsule form?

Are there people that actually buy these?........Obviously there are!!!

Let's do the maths.

1 tablespoon = 14 grams
1 capsule = half a gram

Therefore 1 tablespoon = 28 capsules.

Daily usage of two tablespoons = 56 capsules.

Enough said I think.

If you have any questions which have not been answered here, please feel free to contact us through the website. We will always take time to reply, although it may take a day or two.