A small mill pressing mustard seed into kachi ghani (cold-pressed) oil for Kolkata kitchens, grocers and eateries. Bengali cooking uses mustard oil every day, and NABARD's plan for the city calls for small oil-press mills.
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This is a small oil mill. You buy mustard seed, clean it, and crush it slowly in expellers (oil-press machines) to make kachi ghani oil: cold-pressed oil with its strong natural smell. Then you filter, bottle and sell it. The leftover mustard cake is sold as cattle feed, fish feed or manure.
Mustard oil is the everyday cooking oil in most Bengali homes. NABARD's 2023-24 credit plan for Kolkata notes the district has no farm land, and says small dairy, flour, dal and oil-press mills should be encouraged to grow its farm-linked lending. As eastern India's trade hub, the city makes it easy to buy seed and sell oil across the region.
You need an FSSAI food licence, a trade licence, a fire licence, and a shed with a strong power supply for the machines. City space is costly, so look for a shed on the city's edge. Learn to judge seed quality and oil purity; buyers here know the taste and smell well. The hard parts are seed prices, which swing through the year, and competition from big packaged brands. Regular purity testing and a trusted local label are your answer.
Sell to restaurants, snack shops, housing societies and neighbourhood grocers. Sell the cake to feed dealers and to fish farmers on the city's eastern edge.
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