Watermelon Seed Oil

Watermelon seed oil is extracted by pressing the seeds of the watermelon, Citrullus lanatus, and is particularly common in West Africa, where it is also known as ootanga oil. The watermelon is believed to have originated roughly five thousand years ago in the Kalahari Desert, where its wild ancestor still grows and its seeds are pressed for oil; the fruit later spread north through Egypt and became valued in the Roman period. Traditionally the seeds are removed from their casings and sun dried before pressing, and the resulting oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, with linoleic acid making up about sixty three percent and oleic acid about fifteen percent.