Palm oil is obtained from the flesh ("mesocarp") of the oil palmfruit. Like olive oil, palm oil is a fruit oil. Palm oil should not bemistaken for palm kernel oil which is extracted from the kernel or seedof the palm fruit.

Therefore, the oil palm fruit is unique. From the fruit two distincttypes of oils are produced - palm oil and palm kernel oil. Both areedible oils but with very different chemical composition, physicalproperties and applications. Each palm fruit produces about 90% palmoil and 10% palm kernel oil

Palm oil has a balanced composition of both saturated andunsaturated fatty acids. Coupled with nature's gift of high vitamin Econtent, the oil is naturally very stable.

Palm oil contains an equal proportion of saturated and unsaturatedfatty acids. It's particularly rich in the saturated palmitic acid, with substantial amounts of the monounsaturated oleic acid, and smaller amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Palm oil has had a history of food use of over 5,000 years, and thismajor oil in the world's oils and fats trade is currently consumed inover 130 countries worldwide.

Palm oil is semi-solid at room temperature (20°C). The liquid portioncould be physically separated from the solid portion of palm oil byfractionation. After fractionation the liquid portion is called "palmolein", which is commonly bottled and sold as cooking oils. The solidfat portion is called "palm stearin" and it is commonly used toformulate trans-free fats such as margarine, shortening and vegetableghee. Sometimes the palm olein is further fractionated to a more liquidfraction called "super palm olein". This oil fraction could withstandcolder temperature than palm olein before they cloud or solidify.