How Is Hemp Oil Made?

We don’t often think about where our food comes from; the condiments sitting in our cupboards or lining the fridge door. Or indeed, how a leafy plant like hemp could produce any hemp oil at all. So, how is hemp oil made?

We have a long background in hemp seed oil production being the pioneers of hemp seed cultivation and hemp food production since licences to grow hemp were legalised in New Zealand. This gives us more than 20 proud years of experience growing our own hemp seeds on our own hemp farms across our own Canterbury region of New Zealand. And, we also have our own purpose-built processing plant for hemp oil extraction.

Where does the oil come from? This leafy plant has an abundance of seed pods which, despite the plant looking predominantly ‘leafy’, give the plant a knotted and balled appearance. Its within these pods that the delicious seeds are found that provide the very special oil full of Omega fatty acids. We collect these seeds and cold-press the hemp oil from them to produce our healthy range of hemp seed food products.

The extraction process of hemp seed oil involves several steps to get the oil out from these small seeds.

And this is how we do it:

HARVESTING

We cultivate hemp plants across the Canturbury region. The seeds are harvested from these plants when mature using specially designed harvesting machines that to ensure the seeds are protected during harvesting.

QUALITY ASSESSMENT

The cleaned seeds are then checked for their quality before we accept them into our factory for processing. If they don’t meet our rigorous standards we don’t accept them.

DRYING

After harvesting, the seeds are dried to reduce their moisture content. This step is important to prevent the growth of mold and ensure better extraction efficiency.

PRESSING

The extraction process uses a mechanical cold press machine that applies pressure to the seeds and squeezes out the oil. The extracted oil is collected and the remaining solid material of the seed, known as the seed cake, is left behind (more on this below).

CLEANING

Once dried, the seeds go through a cleaning process to remove any impurities such as dirt, stems, leaves, or other plant debris. This is done using mechanical separators.

FILTRATION

After pressing, we then triple filter the oil using filter pads to remove any remaining solid particles or impurities we then leave it to settle. Upon the oil settling, we then further clarify the oil to remove any remaining smaller impurities or sediments.

PACKAGING & STORAGE

Once the oil has been extracted, filtered and clarified, it is ready for packaging. We store ours in dark, airtight bottles and containers to protect it from light and air which can cause the oil to spoil. We also further protect the oil by nitrogen flushing it during packaging. We then seal the bottles and containers to ensure purity remains and air is kept out.

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