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I just received this question on another forum : I have seen people just heat the whole bottle under warm water until enough liquifies for the immediate use, then keep the rest in a cabinet. Is this okay, or should it be refrigerated between uses?

This was my answer:

Hi Ramona,

As with any oil (especially without preservatives and unpasteurized), coconut oil becomes rancid when exposed to oxygen at room temperature. If you have a sealed bottle with very little air, then it will certainly be a much slower process. But after you have an open bottle, oil becomes rancid more quickly. According to research I have read by Mary Enig and others, rancid oil is carcinogenic (as is burnt oil cooked at too high a temperature).

My wife and I keep our coconut oil in the fridge usually but sometimes we leave it out for a few days and consider it no big deal. But I would definitely not want to leave any opened oil out for more than a week, and certainly not more than a month.

We also buy bulk sunflower oil with no preservatives and keep the large container in the fridge or freezer, and a small container out to use for frying sometimes (sometimes we mix 50/50 with coconut oil also).

If you have never learned to tell the difference between rancid and good oil, you should sometime specifically smell some oil without preservatives that has been out on the counter for 3 months. Compare to a new unopened bottle when you first open it. Rancid oils are ok for coating your tools or bike chain but they are not for human consumption.

Peter