Orggu
From Small Farmers
Marachekku ennai is what Tamil households call oil from the wooden chekku. Ours are pressed in a marachekku turned by bullocks and filled without refining: kadalai ennai (groundnut), thengai ennai (coconut) and nallennai (gingelly), or all three in the trio.
Maram is wood and chekku is the oil press, so marachekku (மரச்செக்கு) is simply "wooden press". Before electric mills, many Tamil villages had a chekku: a tall wooden mortar sunk into the ground, a pestle turning inside it, and bullocks walking round to drive it. Families took their own groundnut, sesame or copra to be pressed and carried the oil home in vessels. Searching for "marachekku oil in English"? It is wood-pressed oil, and when bullocks turn the press, bull driven oil.
Marachekku is the Tamil word, and "chekku ennai" or "chekku oil" means oil from the press. The same press is the ganuga in Telugu and the gaana in Kannada; in English it is a bull driven or bullock-driven press. Our bull driven oils page explains the press in detail.
| Oil | Packs and today’s price | Per litre |
|---|---|---|
| Nallennai (gingelly) | 500 ml bottle — ₹300 1 litre bottle — ₹599 1 litre steel vessel — ₹599 | ₹599 per litre |
| Kadalai ennai (groundnut) | 500 ml bottle — ₹220 1 litre bottle — ₹440 1 litre steel vessel (returnable) — ₹440 | ₹440 per litre |
| Thengai ennai (coconut) | 500 ml bottle — ₹300 1 litre bottle — ₹599 1 litre steel vessel — ₹599 | ₹599 per litre |
Marachekku oil costs more than machine-pressed oil because the bullock-turned press is slow and makes little oil in a day.
We ship from Bangalore to Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and the rest of India; delivery is calculated at checkout for your pincode. Free delivery in Bangalore · Ships across India in 2–10 business days (charges at checkout). Cash on delivery in Bangalore; prepaid elsewhere in India.
Marachekku (மரச்செக்கு) means "wooden press" in Tamil — maram is wood and chekku is the oil press.
Wood-pressed oil; when the press is turned by bullocks, as ours is, it is also called bull driven oil.
Nallennai (gingelly oil) for kuzhambu, podi and pickles, kadalai ennai (groundnut oil) for frying, and thengai ennai (coconut oil) for Kongu and coastal dishes.
It is a kind of cold pressed oil — no outside heat, no solvent — pressed in a wooden chekku.
Yes, we ship to Chennai and across India; delivery charges are shown at checkout for your pincode.
Free delivery in Bangalore · Ships across India in 2–10 business days (charges at checkout)
See the three oils
