Marachekku Oil is a mill, not a factory

Marachekku Oil — Marachekku ennai — is the Tamil name for oil crushed in a wooden press. Mara is wood. Chekku is the mill. The mill sits in south India, not in a city shop: Vaagai timber, a slow stone, oil that never sees hexane or a bleach tank.

This website is a guide to that oil — Groundnut Oil, Gingelly Oil, Coconut Oil and the rest of the pantry — not a copy of any one retailer. When you are ready to buy, we send you to trusted shops. In Chennai that includes DM Traders, which stocks cold pressed and wood pressed oils from these mills.

Wood pressed oil is cold pressed oil made the long way. The seed stays whole until wood meets it. What leaves the trough is what Tamil kitchens have cooked with for generations.