Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Cohune oil
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Quizzes
Slices of lemon pie topped with meringue.
Baking and Baked Goods Quiz
Quick Facts
Also called:
cohune-nut oil
Cohune also spelled:
cohoun
Related Topics:
vegetable oil
See all related content
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites

Cohune oil

vegetable oil
Also known as: cohoun oil, cohune-nut oil
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
Last updated
•History

Cohune oil, oil obtained from the kernels of the fruits, or nuts, of the cohune palm tree, Attalea cohune. The tree grows in western Central America from the Yucatán Peninsula to Honduras. The oil’s properties, similar to those of coconut oil, have given it increasing importance. Because the nuts are unusually hard and difficult to crack and their collection and transportation present problems, commercial oil recovery has been relatively undeveloped.

The kernels are 65 to 70 percent oil, but they amount to only about 10 percent of the weight of the nut.