In Search of Cold Pressed Edible Oil

Here is some good news on Dussehra. We have finally managed to extract oil out of the organic groundnuts produced on our farm!! Our farm being a small one of just 1 acre, in which we produce over 27 varieties of crops during the Kharif season, produces only about 15 kgs of groundnuts. Normally, we just eat these in various forms but last year we decided to see what quality of oil comes out from these indigenous groundnuts. These days there are very few oil mills in rural areas as the production of groundnuts in western Madhya Pradesh has gone down considerably and most of what is produced is sold in the market by the farmers and thereafter they go to the big corporate mills. The ones that are there are mostly milling the nuts of Mahua seeds for the Adivasis and flatly refuse to switch to milling just 15 kgs of groundnuts. So, Subhadra Khaperde tried contacting some of the people in Indore who run oil mills to supply fresh milled oil to customers. However, most of these are not functioning regularly because there are not enough customers. So only when they get a large milling order do they run their mills. Consequently, they too were not prepared to run their mills just for 15 kgs. Even though more expensive cold pressed oils are better because the corporate oils sold in the market use chemicals for extracting oil which are carcinogenic.

However, finally yesterday she was able to get in touch with Madhav Ram Ji Patidar who runs an oil mill in Indore and produces and markets filtered groundnut, coconut, sesame and mustard oil under the brandname GURU Sampoorna Taaja . Madhav is the son of a farmer in Shajapur district and launched this brand five years ago. He chose to build his mill and retail outlet in Indore as it offered a better market. He sources his crops from his own farm and that of other farmers in Shajapur and then processes them in his mill in Indore. He sells the flour of jowar, bajra and other millets, aonla candy and local snacks all attractively packaged. He has been able to develop a customer base who like his products and so are prepared to pay a premium over the cheaper products of corporate food companies to buy his farm fresh products. Consequently, his direct farm to consumer business is running profitably by catering to a niche market that is able to pay more for his farm fresh products. The store in Indore which is shown in the picture below is at this location - https://www.google.com/maps/place/GURU+Sampoorna+Taaja+Cold+Wood+pressed+oil+indore,+and+other+organic+and+natural+products/@22.7196278,75.9068855,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x3962e33e860c9193:0x36450e1bff4e27b7!8m2!3d22.7196229!4d75.9094604!16s%2Fg%2F11f5tv28d_?entry=ttu