What Is a Wooden Ghani? How Traditional Oil Pressing Works

Before electric expellers and refineries, every village in India had a ghani – a large wooden mortar and pestle that pressed oil slowly from seeds. In Tamil it is called marachekku, in Kannada gana, in Hindi kolhu or kachi ghani. Wood-pressed oil is made the same way today.

The parts of a ghani

• The mortar (ural): a deep wooden vessel, often made of seasoned hardwood, that holds the seeds.
• The pestle (ulakkai): a heavy wooden beam that turns inside the mortar, crushing the seeds against its walls.
• The drive: traditionally a bullock walked in circles to turn the pestle. Today a slow motor does the same job at the same low speed.

How the oil is pressed

1. Cleaned, sun-dried seeds are fed into the mortar.
2. The pestle turns slowly – around 12–15 rotations a minute – crushing the seeds.
3. A little jaggery or water is sometimes added, as per tradition, to help the oil separate from the seed cake.
4. Oil collects at the bottom and is drained out, then left to settle and filtered through cloth.

Why slow matters

Fast steel machines generate friction and heat. A wooden ghani turns slowly and wood does not conduct heat like metal, so the oil stays cool. That helps the oil keep its natural aroma, colour, vitamin E and antioxidants.

What you get – and what you don’t

Wood-pressed oil is not bleached, deodorised or treated with solvents. It smells of the seed, has natural colour and may have a little sediment at the bottom. The seed cake that remains (khali / pinnakku) is a valued cattle feed and natural fertiliser, so nothing is wasted.

Is it more expensive?

Yes, a little. A ghani extracts less oil from the same seeds than a chemical process, and it is slower. But you get oil the way it was meant to be. Explore Hampi Pure® wood-pressed cooking oils.