Copra milling by traditional
methods
The extraction of oil from copra
is one of the oldest seed crushing
operations. In India and Sri Lanka
copra is still crushed for oil
extraction in the primitive chekkus
as well as in rotary ghanis, expellers
and hydraulic presses.
The chekku is a fixed wooden or
stone mortar inside which revolves
on a hard wooden pestle. The pestle
is attached to a long pole which is
moved round via bullocks, donkey
or by human labor. About 20 – 40
kg of copra can be handled by a
chekku