Ask three Maharashtrian households which oil they cook with and you can get three different answers. Shengdana (groundnut) in one, kardai (safflower) in another, khobrel (coconut) in a Konkan kitchen, with a small bottle of til (sesame) kept aside for winter. Add the wood-pressed versions sold by women's groups, plus sunflower, mustard and jawas, and the oil shelf gets confusing quickly.
The short answer: choose the oil by the food you cook most, not by the label. For everyday bhaji, amti and faral frying, groundnut or safflower. For a lighter, quieter taste, sunflower. For Konkan and Kolhapur-style cooking, coconut. Sesame and mustard are strong-flavoured oils for specific dishes and pickles, and jawas (flaxseed) is an oil you use raw, not one you heat. If you're switching from refined oil, buy a 500 ml or 1 litre bottle first, because the flavour is stronger than you may expect.
What "wood-pressed" changes, in one paragraph
A ghana is an oil press. In a lakdi ghana (wooden press) the seed is crushed slowly, so it doesn't get very hot, and the oil is usually filtered but not refined. That's why wood-pressed groundnut oil actually smells of groundnut, why it's a little darker, and why you may see a fine layer of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. None of that is a defect. Slow pressing also gets less oil out of each kilo of seed, which is the honest reason it costs more than refined oil. Listings use "wood-pressed", "wooden pressed", "cold-pressed" and "ghana" for broadly the same idea. Our guide to what SHG food labels actually mean covers the label words in more detail.
You'll see a lot of health language on oil packaging. We aren't repeating any of it here. Every oil is fat, and what matters for most kitchens is taste, the food you cook and how much you use.
Shengdana (groundnut): the everyday all-rounder
If you only buy one wood-pressed oil, this is the safest choice. It has a clear, nutty smell and taste that suits Maharashtrian food well: tadka for varan and amti, bhaji, poha, thalipeeth, and shallow-frying. In many homes it's also the oil Diwali faral is fried in, so it's the one to stock up on before chakli season.
- SARASWATI Groundnut (Shengdana) Oil, 1000 g, ₹430, Saraswati Mahila SHG, Bhandara. The best value per litre on this page.
- ORGANIC ORIGINS Groundnut Oil, 910 g, ₹447, Sakhi SHG, Kolhapur.
- RAGHAVI Groundnut Oil, Raghavi SHG, Yavatmal: 500 ml at ₹315 or 1000 ml at ₹535.
One caution: if anyone at home has a peanut allergy, unrefined groundnut oil isn't the oil to experiment with. The same applies to sesame and mustard oils for people allergic to those seeds.
Kardai (safflower): Marathwada's oil
Kardai is grown widely across Marathwada and the Solapur side of the state, and in a lot of homes there kardai tel is simply "the oil". It's milder than groundnut, with a slightly earthy taste and a lighter feel, so it works well when you want the masala to lead. Use it exactly as you'd use groundnut oil, for tadka, bhaji and frying.
- KALIKA Safflower Oil, 500 ml, ₹268, from Ahilyanagar. A sensible first bottle if you've never cooked with kardai.
- ORGANIC ORIGINS Safflower Oil, 910 g, ₹471, Sakhi SHG, Kolhapur.
Surajmukhi (sunflower): the quietest of the lot
Wood-pressed sunflower oil still has some flavour, but it's the most neutral oil here. That makes it a good bridge if your family is used to refined sunflower oil and finds groundnut too strong, and it suits baking and dishes where you don't want the oil to taste of anything in particular.
- ORGANIC ORIGINS Sunflower Oil, 910 g, ₹471, Sakhi SHG, Kolhapur.
- SAKSHAM Sunflower Oil, Saksham SHG, Palghar: 200 ml at ₹238, 500 ml at ₹358 or 1000 ml at ₹598.
- DURGA Sunflower Oil, 500 ml, ₹396, Durgadevi SHG, Pune.
Khobrel tel (coconut): Konkan cooking, and it sets in winter
In many Konkan homes coconut oil is the cooking oil, especially for fish curry and coconut-based masalas. It has a clear coconut smell, so it suits those dishes and can feel out of place in a Desh-style amti.
The thing that surprises first-time buyers: coconut oil turns solid and white below roughly 24°C. On a cold Pune or Nashik morning the bottle may look like it has gone off. It hasn't. Stand the closed bottle in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes and it melts back. The wide-mouth jars are easier to scoop from in winter.
- ORGANIC ORIGINS Coconut Oil, Sakhi SHG, Kolhapur: 200 g at ₹219, 500 g at ₹375 or 1000 g at ₹662.
- DURGA Coconut Oil, 500 ml, ₹274, Durgadevi SHG, Pune.
Til (sesame): a strong oil for particular dishes
Indian til oil is pressed from raw sesame, so it's golden and nutty. It is not the same as the dark, toasted sesame oil used in Chinese and Korean cooking, which tastes much stronger and is used a few drops at a time. Til oil has a distinct flavour, so most families use it for particular things rather than every dish: some chutneys and pickles, winter cooking around Sankranti, and South Indian dishes such as podi with idli.
Black sesame oil is pressed from black til and is usually darker and stronger than the white. If you're not sure which you want, start with white.
- ORGANIC ORIGINS White Sesame Oil, Sakhi SHG, Kolhapur: 200 g at ₹255, 500 g at ₹495 or 1000 g at ₹902.
- RAGHAVI Sesame Oil, 500 ml, ₹508, Raghavi SHG, Yavatmal.
- ORGANIC ORIGINS Black Sesame Oil, Sakhi SHG, Kolhapur: 200 g at ₹303, 500 g at ₹519 or 1000 g at ₹986.
Mohari (mustard): sharp, pungent, and a pickle oil
Wood-pressed mustard oil has a sharp, nose-tingling pungency. It's the everyday cooking oil in much of north and east India, but in Maharashtrian kitchens it mostly turns up in pickles and the odd north Indian dish. Many cooks who use it heat it until it just begins to smoke, then let it cool a little before adding spices, which softens the raw edge. If you make your own lonche, a small bottle is worth having. Our mango pickle guide covers the pickles themselves.
- SARASWATI Mustard (Mohari) Oil, Saraswati Mahila SHG, Bhandara: 100 g at ₹178 or 200 g at ₹250.
- ORGANIC ORIGINS Mustard Oil, Sakhi SHG, Kolhapur: 200 g at ₹231, 500 g at ₹375 or 1000 g at ₹567.
Jawas (flaxseed): use it raw, buy it small
Jawas is well known in Maharashtra as the seed behind jawas chutney. The oil is a different thing to handle from every other oil on this page: it goes stale quickly once opened, and it isn't meant for heating. People who buy it generally use it raw, a spoonful over chutney, dahi or a salad. So buy the smallest bottle, keep it in the fridge after opening, and finish it within a few weeks. If it starts to smell like old paint or fish, it has gone rancid; throw it out.
- SARASWATI Flaxseed (Jawas) Oil, Saraswati Mahila SHG, Bhandara: 100 g at ₹178 or 200 g at ₹250.
- ORGANIC ORIGINS Flaxseed (Jawas) Oil, Sakhi SHG, Kolhapur: 200 g at ₹279, with 500 g (₹495) and 1000 g (₹902) packs on the same range if you get through it quickly.
Grams or millilitres? Comparing prices properly
Some of these oils are sold by weight (910 g, 1000 g) and some by volume (500 ml, 1000 ml), which makes side-by-side comparison awkward. A litre of cooking oil weighs roughly 910–930 g. So a 910 g bottle is about one litre, and a 1000 g bottle is a little more than a litre, about 1.08 litres.
Converted on that basis, here's roughly what each oil costs per litre at its best-value size:
| Oil | Pack | Price | ≈ Per litre |
|---|---|---|---|
| SARASWATI Groundnut | 1000 g | ₹430 | ≈ ₹395 |
| ORGANIC ORIGINS Groundnut | 910 g | ₹447 | ≈ ₹450 |
| ORGANIC ORIGINS Safflower / Sunflower | 910 g | ₹471 | ≈ ₹475 |
| ORGANIC ORIGINS Mustard | 1000 g | ₹567 | ≈ ₹520 |
| RAGHAVI Groundnut | 1000 ml | ₹535 | ₹535 |
| KALIKA Safflower | 500 ml | ₹268 | ≈ ₹536 |
| DURGA Coconut | 500 ml | ₹274 | ≈ ₹548 |
| SAKSHAM Sunflower | 1000 ml | ₹598 | ₹598 |
| ORGANIC ORIGINS Coconut | 1000 g | ₹662 | ≈ ₹610 |
| ORGANIC ORIGINS White Sesame | 1000 g | ₹902 | ≈ ₹830 |
| RAGHAVI Sesame | 500 ml | ₹508 | ≈ ₹1,015 |
Treat these as a rough guide: the exact weight per litre varies a little from oil to oil.
Cooking with wood-pressed oil: four practical things
- Use medium heat. Unrefined oil starts to smoke at a lower temperature than refined oil. If the oil is smoking before the mustard seeds go in (mustard oil aside, see above), the pan is too hot.
- Expect the oil to taste of something. Groundnut oil in a sheera or sweet will be noticeable. Many families keep ghee for sweets and use oil for savoury food. See our cow vs buffalo ghee guide if you're choosing one.
- Don't keep reusing frying oil. After a big batch of faral, strain it once and use it up in everyday cooking rather than frying in it again and again.
- Cloudiness and sediment are normal. Unfiltered and lightly filtered oil can look hazy in cold weather and leave a thin layer at the bottom. Let the bottle stand and pour from the top if it bothers you.
Storing it so it stays fresh
- Away from the stove and the window. Heat and light are what make oil go stale. A closed cupboard is better than the shelf above the gas.
- Cap on tight after every use.
- Buy what you'll finish in a month or two. Unrefined oil doesn't keep as long as refined oil once opened. For a small household, two 500 ml bottles can be a better buy than one big one, even at a slightly higher price per litre.
- Smell it. Fresh oil smells of its seed. Oil that smells sharp, bitter or like old crayons has gone rancid and will spoil the food.
A note on names: "ORGANIC ORIGINS" is a brand name. The listings don't show an organic certification, so read it as a name rather than a claim. Our labels guide explains why that distinction matters.
Quick questions
What is kardai oil in English?
Kardai (करडई, also written kardi or karadi) is safflower. Kardai tel is safflower oil.
Is wood-pressed oil the same as cold-pressed oil?
Broadly, yes, in how they're sold. Both mean the oil is pressed without added heat and not chemically refined. "Wood-pressed" or "lakdi ghana" says the press itself is wooden; "cold-pressed" is the wider term and can include steel presses.
Why has my coconut oil gone white and solid?
Coconut oil sets below roughly 24°C. It's normal and it hasn't spoiled. Warm the closed bottle in water and it melts again.
Which oil should I use for Diwali faral?
Groundnut is the usual choice in Maharashtrian homes, and safflower works too. Both handle frying well at medium heat. Avoid jawas (flaxseed) oil for frying entirely.
Can I use til oil for everyday cooking?
You can, but its flavour is strong enough that most families keep it for particular dishes. Indian til oil is not the dark toasted sesame oil used in Chinese cooking.
Why is wood-pressed oil more expensive than refined oil?
Slow pressing gets less oil from each kilo of seed, and small groups press in small batches. You're paying for less processing and more seed per litre, not for a health benefit.
Prices and availability above were checked on 3 October 2026 and can change. Browse more in the Edible Oils & Desi Ghee collection.
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