Cohune Oil

Cohune oil is extracted from the seeds of the cohune palm, Attalea cohune, a tree native to Central and South America. It has historical significance among Mesoamerican cultures, particularly the Maya, who used it as a lubricant, for cooking, in soapmaking, and as lamp oil, sometimes placing the oil in vessels and lighting it with a wick to serve both culinary and lighting purposes at once. Contemporary Maya communities in Belize, Guatemala and Honduras continue to use cohune oil, though it remains largely uncommercialized because the oil is difficult to extract from the palm's hard shell.