What is the difference between regular oil and extra virgin/virgin?

Question

Take for example: Olive oil or extra virgin olive oil.

Coconut oil or virgin coconut oil

I think I might have a clue because of the word virgin but I'm not sure...

Answer 1

Virgin means the oil was produced by the use of physical means and no chemical treatment. The term virgin oil referring to production is different from Virgin Oil on a retail label (see next section).

Refined means that the oil has been chemically treated to neutralize strong tastes (characterized as defects) and neutralize the acid content (free fatty acids). Refined oil is commonly regarded as lower quality than virgin oil; the retail labels extra-virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil cannot contain any refined oil.

Unrefined coconut oil (Virgin Coconut Oil VCO)
This is coconut oil that is derived from fresh coconuts, not copra, and has not undergone the RBD (refined, bleached, deodorized) process that refined coconut oil derived from copra goes through.

Almost all of the "unrefined" coconut oils on the market being marketed as "Virgin" are produced one of two ways:

1. Quick drying
2. Wet-milling.

Refined coconut oil is referred to in the coconut industry as RBD (refined, bleached, and deodorized) coconut oil. The starting point is "copra", the dried coconut meat. Copra can be made by smoke drying, sun drying, or kiln drying. The unrefined coconut oil extracted from copra (called "crude coconut oil") is not suitable for consumption and must be refined.

Answer 2

I think your thought is right. The virgin before the oil means that it is the first press. So Virgin olive oil is the first press from the olives, olive oil is the press after.

Answer 3

wow...that answer was almost too long to read...

For the oil to be termed virgin or extra virgin means the oil was extracted by physical means such as a press, not chemical means. Extra virgin is from the first press, and virgin is from the second press.