Why unrefined oil clouds, settles and smells strongly

Short answer: cloudiness, sediment, solidifying and a strong seed smell are all normal in unrefined oil. A sour, sharp or crayon-like smell is not — that one means the oil has turned and should be thrown away.

Almost every worried message we get is about one of the four normal ones. Here is what each is.

Sediment at the bottom

Fine particles of the seed the oil came from. Refining filters and bleaches these out; we do not, so they settle over a few weeks into a soft layer at the base of the bottle.

It is edible and it is evidence the oil was left alone. Shake before use, or let it sit if you would rather pour clear.

Haze or cloudiness

Natural waxes and trace moisture from the seed, which drop out of suspension when the temperature falls. You will notice it most in winter and least in a warm kitchen.

A clear oil is not a purer oil. It is usually a filtered one.

Coconut oil gone solid

Coconut oil is mostly saturated fat, and it sets below roughly 24°C. In a Mumbai December it will be solid white; in May it will be liquid and clear. Same oil.

Stand the bottle in warm water for a few minutes, or scoop what you need. Do not microwave it in a sealed bottle.

The smell

Refined oils are deodorised — a processing step whose entire purpose is to remove smell. Unrefined oils never had it removed, so mustard is pungent, groundnut is roasted, sesame is nutty, coconut is sweet.

If you have cooked with refined oil for years, the first bottle of unrefined will smell like a lot. That fades as you get used to it, and it is the thing you are paying for.

The one that is not normal

Rancidity smells wrong rather than strong. People describe it as sour, like old paint, like crayons, or sharply bitter at the back of the throat. The taste is unmistakably off.

Unrefined oil goes rancid faster than refined because the compounds that would have been stripped out are still in there. Heat, light and air all speed it up. If yours smells like that, do not cook with it — and if it is within its date, tell us and we will replace it.

How to make a bottle last its six months

  • Cupboard, not counter. The shelf beside the stove is the warmest place in the kitchen and the worst place for oil.
  • Keep the cap on. Oxygen does most of the damage. Do not decant into a wide open jar or a dispenser that stays uncovered.
  • Buy the size you will finish. A five-litre can is better value only if you use it inside a few months. For one or two people, the litre is usually the smarter buy.
  • Do not top up an old bottle with new oil. The old oil accelerates the new.
  • Refrigerate flaxseed oil. It is the most fragile of the lot.

Why we sell something with a six-month life

Refined oil keeps for two years because refining removes what would otherwise turn. We could do the same and give you a longer date. The trade is that you would also lose the colour, the smell and the character of the seed — which is the entire reason to buy oil like this.

So the six months is not a shortcoming we are apologising for. It is the same fact as the smell and the sediment, seen from a different angle.

Written by the team at Purealth, who press on a wooden ghani in Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai. FSSAI Central Licence 11524998001133. Published 17 September 2026.

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