Is Palm Oil a Seed Oil?

No, palm oil is not a seed oil. It is pressed from the fleshy pulp of the oil palm fruit, so it is a fruit oil. Palm kernel oil is a different oil: it comes from the seed, called the kernel, inside the same fruit. Baraka sells both: Red Palm Oil is the fruit oil and Palm Kernel Oil is the seed oil.

One tree gives two oils with very similar names, and the words seed oil are used loosely online. The sections below take each question in turn. They stick to plain facts about where the oils come from, and they leave diet advice to your doctor.

Is palm oil a seed oil?

No, palm oil is not a seed oil: it is a fruit oil made from the pulp of the oil palm fruit, and Baraka's Red Palm Oil, from Ghana, is an example of it.

The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is native to West Africa. Its fruit grows in large, heavy bunches. Each fruit has the same basic layers as a small plum: a thin skin, soft pulp under the skin, and a hard shell around a seed at the centre. The pulp is orange-red and full of oil. Pressing the pulp gives palm oil. Olive oil and avocado oil follow the same pattern, because both come from the flesh of the fruit, not from the stone or seed.

The parts of the oil palm fruit

• Skin: the thin outer layer of the fruit.
• Pulp (mesocarp): the fleshy layer that gives palm oil, also called palm fruit oil.
• Shell: the hard layer that surrounds the seed.
• Kernel: the seed inside the shell, which gives palm kernel oil.

Because the two oils come from different parts of the fruit, they are separate ingredients. They are listed separately on labels, and soap makers treat them as two different oils with their own properties.

Where Baraka's Red Palm Oil fits

Red palm oil is palm fruit oil that keeps its natural colour. That red-orange colour comes from natural carotenoids. Baraka's Red Palm Oil comes from Ghana. Baraka sells it for cosmetic use, including soapmaking and skin and hair care. It is not sold as a food. In Ghana, red palm oil has also long been a traditional cooking oil, but that is history, not a claim about any Baraka product.

Red palm oil stains clothing and towels. Keep it away from fabric you want to stay clean, and work on a surface you can wipe down. If you want ideas for using it, Red Palm Oil: The Ultimate DIY Guide covers it in detail.

Is palm kernel oil a seed oil?

Yes, in the botanical sense: palm kernel oil comes from the kernel, which is the seed inside the oil palm fruit, so it is a seed oil.

There is a catch. Palm kernel oil is rarely included in the popular lists of seed oils that people share online. Those lists usually name oils such as sunflower, soybean and canola. So palm kernel oil sits in a grey area. A botanist would call it a seed oil. Someone using the everyday meaning of the term may not have it in mind at all. When you read a claim about seed oils, it helps to check which sense the writer means.

Palm kernel oil is a separate oil from palm oil, not just another name for it. It is usually pale in colour, not the red-orange of unrefined palm fruit oil. It is widely used in soapmaking and in cosmetics. Baraka's Palm Kernel Oil is RSPO certified and comes from Ghana, and it is sold for cosmetic use, including soapmaking and skin and hair care. For more on working with it, see Palm Kernel Oil: The Ultimate DIY Guide.

Palm oil and palm kernel oil side by side

Both Baraka oils are RSPO certified and come from Ghana.

What are seed oils?

Seed oils are oils that come from the seeds of plants, usually by pressing the seeds or by extracting the oil with a solvent.

In everyday use, the term most often points to a short list of oils. Many popular lists name the same eight: canola (rapeseed), corn, cottonseed, grapeseed, rice bran, safflower, soybean and sunflower. These are the oils people usually mean when they talk about seed oils in the news or on social media.

The lists are loose. Rice bran oil, for example, comes from the layer around the rice grain, yet it appears on them. Palm kernel oil is botanically a seed oil, yet it rarely appears. So there are two meanings in play: the botanical one, which is about what part of the plant the oil comes from, and the everyday one, which is about a particular group of oils. Most confusion comes from mixing the two.

A quick way to tell fruit oils from seed oils

Ask what part of the plant the oil comes from. If it comes from the flesh of a fruit, it is a fruit oil. If it comes from a seed, it is a seed oil.

• Fruit oils: olive oil, avocado oil and palm oil.
• Seed oils: sunflower oil, safflower oil, grapeseed oil and, in the botanical sense, palm kernel oil.

Shea works the same way as the oil palm. The shea fruit has a fleshy pulp around a seed, and shea butter comes from the seed. It is solid at room temperature, which is why we call it a butter. To read more, see What Is Shea Butter? and the guide to the shea fruit.

The debate about seed oils

There is a lot of debate online about seed oils and health. People disagree, and this page does not take a side. Whether any oil suits you is a question for your doctor. The wider palm oil questions, including why palm oil is controversial, whether it is sustainable, how it relates to health and what it is used for, are covered in What Is Palm Oil Used For?

What is palm fruit oil?

Palm fruit oil is another name for palm oil made from the pulp of the oil palm fruit, as opposed to palm kernel oil, which comes from the seed.

The name is a helpful clarifier. Because palm oil and palm kernel oil sound so alike, palm fruit oil makes it clear that the oil comes from the pulp. You may see it used for both unrefined and refined versions.

The difference between the two is colour and processing. Unrefined palm fruit oil is red palm oil. Its red-orange colour comes from natural carotenoids in the pulp. Refined palm oil is pale. If you want the colour of the fruit, look for red palm oil. If you see a pale oil labelled palm oil, it is likely refined.

How to read a label

• Palm oil or palm fruit oil: oil from the pulp. It may be refined and pale.
• Red palm oil: unrefined oil from the pulp, red-orange in colour.
• Palm kernel oil: oil from the seed inside the fruit.

On cosmetic ingredient lists, palm oil appears as Elaeis Guineensis Oil, and palm kernel oil appears as Elaeis Guineensis Kernel Oil. The words Kernel Oil are the clue that the oil comes from the seed.

Baraka's Red Palm Oil is a palm fruit oil. Remember that it stains clothing and towels, so protect fabric and surfaces when you use it. Product documentation for Baraka's oils is on the product documentation page.

Quick answers

Is palm oil a seed oil?

No. Palm oil is pressed from the fleshy pulp of the oil palm fruit, so it is a fruit oil, like olive oil and avocado oil. Baraka's Red Palm Oil is a palm fruit oil from Ghana.

Is palm kernel oil a seed oil?

Yes, botanically. Baraka's Palm Kernel Oil comes from the kernel, which is the seed inside the oil palm fruit, so it is a seed oil, although it is rarely on popular lists of seed oils.

What are seed oils?

As Baraka's guide explains, seed oils are oils pressed or solvent-extracted from seeds. In everyday use the term usually points to canola (rapeseed), corn, cottonseed, grapeseed, rice bran, safflower, soybean and sunflower oils.

What is palm fruit oil?

Palm fruit oil, like Baraka's Red Palm Oil, is another name for palm oil from the pulp of the oil palm fruit. Unrefined, it is red palm oil, coloured by natural carotenoids, while refined palm oil is pale.

Baraka Impact is a Canadian company based in Duncan, British Columbia, founded by Wayne Dunn. Baraka is Community Certified Fair Trade. You can read more about its work in the Impact Report. If you have a question about the oils, contact us, or see the bulk and wholesale page for larger orders.