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Kapua Kaizi Gutchen
is the man behind the oil. Kapua, being his Indigenous Torres Strait Island given name and Kaizi being his nickname. Kaizi has been passed the knowledge of making Coconut Oil the traditional way by his Mother. She had in turn been taught by her Grandmother, a native woman from Murray Island in the Torres Straits. Kaizi appreciates and embraces much of his traditional ways. Sharing knowledge of traditional foods is a passion and believes that these foods have given him a strong physical constitution towards his 'way of being'. Coconut and all it's uses are strongly featured in Torres Strait Island cooking and through its use, Islanders understand why they consider it precious. Kaizi initially started selling coconuts in a local market. With enquiries regarding oil distribution, he decided to increase & build on the oil production which would later become a small family business. The products were successfully launched through the beautiful beach side market of Port Douglas and the Original Kuranda Markets nestled in the rainforest behind Cairns. Kaizi recognises the invaluable advice and assistance given through the Regional Indigenous Development Program during the early inception of the business. He also acknowledges the support offered by family, friends and customers which continue the sharing of knowledge coconut oil has to offer to our health & wellbeing. His visions continue to fuel self governance & reliance for himself and his family. |
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- OUR PROCESS -
our tree of life
There are different ways of making Virgin/Raw Coconut Oil especially as there is water naturally found within the nut and methods cannot compare to the processing of Olive Oil or other nut oil extraction, such as Almond Oil or Macadamia Nut Oil for examples. In these products “cold pressed” methods of production imply no use of heat at all.
However, we incorporate time honoured traditional methods which aid us in our processing to extract the moisture, naturally found within Coconuts. So, in a controlled environment of small batches, we wet mill and allow a degree of fermentation. Doing this enables natural enzymes to feed off the sugar found in Coconut, preserving it’s nutrients and enhancing its' probiotic qualities. We then use minimal heat, as Coconut Oil is extremely heat sensitive, to completely extract any residual moisture. It is this process that evenly distributes the maximum amount of anti-oxidants possible, which in turn regulate and control free radicals. Fermentation of foods has also been found to increase levels of probiotics which would account for the oils stability and resilience to rancidity. Much care is taken in the processes leading up to fermentation as Coconut is very sensitive to rancidity. But after the oil is extracted we hand filter into 5ltr glass bottles and leave to stand. It has now become very stable and resilient to bad microbes. This is why when applied to the skin or consumed within a balanced diet, it can aid in improving digestion, bowel health & general immunity. It also goes a long way at creating a healthy microbial environment on our biggest organ, the skin.
No added enzymes, yeast, anti-oxidants, additives, chemicals or solvents are used within our processing.
We have held Environmental Health Licencing for our 10 years in business and to qualify for this we have to adhere to regulations set to standard. This includes utensils and saucepans being stainless steel, separate work areas, hot water, cleanable floors in production and storage areas and appropriate hygiene practices with handling.
Coconuts are collected from wild growing trees bordering the beach areas of the Daintree Rainforest and taken up onto the Atherton Tablelands to Mareeba. Processing takes place over a period of days and Oil is finally filtered into 5ltr glass bottles and left to stand for a matter of weeks. After a period weeks, we bottle, make our soaps & balms & then start the process all over again.
Au Esauo and thank you for supporting our 100% Pure Unrefined Coconut Oil made from the nutrient rich, wild growing Australian coconuts here in Far North Queensland.
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