The soybean is an excellent source of protein which makes it an incredibly valuable food crop; soybean oil is an important derivative from soybeans as its uses go beyond the edible and move into the industrial applications too. You may be wondering how to extract oil from soybeans on a commercial level, read on to find out more.

The Selection Of Soybeans

The process of extracting oil from soybeans starts by selecting the highest quality beans that are a light yellow color. Once soybeans have been extracted of their oil, the remaining material is used to make high quality soy flour. If soybeans that are not a high quality pale yellow are used then the resulting soy flour will have colored particles in the flour; while these particles are not at all harmful, and are in fact a natural edible part of the soybean, this flour ultimately becomes a poor choice for commercial applications.

The Process


  • - Once the best soybeans have been sorted, the beans are cracked open.
  • - The actual “meat” part of the soybeans is added to a large cooking vat with water in it; the soybeans are allowed to soak for several hours while the mixture is slowly heated to around 300F.
  • - The soybeans are then drained of the water solution; fresh water is then added to the soybeans to repeat the above process one more time.
  • - After the soybeans have cooked for a predetermined amount of time, they are removed from the water mixture and set out on a conveyor belt.
  • - The cooked soybeans are pressed by heavy machinery to form a sort of flaked paste mixture; the continual pressure and force of the machinery releases the soybean oil.

Once the oil has been extracted from the soybeans, the soybean oil undergoes a refining process that both cleans the oil and allows it to be mixed with other vegetable oils to create an inexpensive hybrid cooking oil that is used both commercially and in homes.

The parts of the soybean left over once the oil extraction process is over are then made into a highly marketable soy flour. It should be noted that pure unrefined soybean oil is available on the market; however, it is a more expensive option than the hybrid vegetable blends.

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Filed under: Food and Cooking

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