Cold pressed means extracting oil or juice using mechanical pressure instead of heat or chemicals. The process crushes raw ingredients (fruits, seeds, nuts) at low temperatures, typically below 122°F (50°C), to squeeze out their liquid while preserving nutrients, flavor, and aroma that heat would destroy. You’ll see the term on olive oil, cooking oils, fruit juices, and skincare products, and while the basic principle is the same across all of them, the details vary by product.
How Cold Pressing Works
The process is straightforward: raw material goes into a press, and mechanical force pushes the liquid out. For oils, this usually involves a hydraulic press or a slow-turning screw that crushes seeds or nuts against a surface, separating the oil from the solid matter. For juices, a machine first grinds the fruit or vegetables into a pulp, then presses that pulp between plates to extract every drop of liquid. No solvents, no added steam, no chemical treatments.
The “cold” part is the key distinction. During extraction, temperatures stay low. For olive oil, the international standard caps the process at about 27°C (80.6°F). For seed and nut oils, the threshold is generally around 50°C (122°F). Staying under these limits prevents the breakdown of vitamins, antioxidants, and the delicate flavor compounds that make cold pressed products taste noticeably different from their conventionally processed counterparts.
Cold Pressed vs. Other Extraction Methods
Expeller pressing looks similar on the surface, since it also uses mechanical force rather than chemical solvents. But an expeller press (or screw press) generates significant friction as it forces ingredients through a narrow cavity, and that friction creates temperatures between 140°F and 210°F. That’s enough heat to degrade antioxidants and vitamins, even though no external heat source was added. Cold pressing keeps temperatures well below that range.
Solvent extraction, used for many cheap cooking oils, is at the other end of the spectrum. It bathes the raw material in a chemical solvent to dissolve the oil out, then uses high heat to evaporate the solvent. The resulting oil is then refined, bleached, and deodorized. This process is efficient and produces a neutral-tasting oil, but it strips out nearly all the beneficial compounds that were in the original seed or nut.
For juices, the comparison is between cold press machines and centrifugal juicers. A centrifugal juicer spins a metal blade at very high speed against a mesh filter. That speed generates heat at the blade, which can break down some of the juice’s bioactive compounds. Cold press juicers operate slowly, creating almost no heat during extraction. That said, a study published in the journal Heliyon found no significant difference in vitamin C, total antioxidant content, or carotenoid levels between fresh cold pressed and fresh centrifugal juice right after pressing. The bigger factor turns out to be what happens after extraction: how the juice is stored and how quickly you drink it.
Nutritional Differences in Oils
Cold pressed oils retain a range of beneficial compounds that refined oils lose during processing. The most important are tocopherols (forms of vitamin E), polyphenols, and squalene. These act as natural antioxidants, both in your body and in the oil itself, helping it resist going rancid. A large analysis of 33 different cold pressed seed oils found that tocopherols were the dominant antioxidant in nearly all of them, with rosehip oil containing the highest total amount at over 1,000 mg per kilogram.
Cold pressed oils also preserve their natural fatty acid profiles intact. Rosehip oil, for example, contains roughly 75% polyunsaturated fatty acids, including significant alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3). Pumpkin seed oil retains high levels of both flavonoids and squalene. These compounds would be partially or fully destroyed during high-heat refining. The tradeoff is that cold pressed oils have stronger, more distinctive flavors, which is a feature for cooking but means they may not suit every recipe the way a neutral refined oil would.
One thing worth knowing: cold pressed oils can actually start with slightly higher levels of oxidation byproducts compared to refined oils, simply because refining strips those out. But research published in Scientific Reports found that cold pressed oils are more resistant to further oxidation over time, likely because their retained antioxidants act as a built-in defense system.
Cold Pressed Juice Shelf Life
Raw cold pressed juice is unpasteurized, which means it contains no preservatives and hasn’t been heat-treated. This gives it a short shelf life: typically 3 to 5 days refrigerated, with most health departments capping it at 7 days maximum. After that window, color, flavor, and nutritional quality begin to decline. Left at room temperature, the degradation happens much faster. One study found that vitamin C, phenolic compounds, and carotenoids in cold pressed juice all dropped measurably within just 48 hours at room temperature. Under refrigeration, those same compounds remained stable for about 5 days.
Many commercial cold pressed juice brands use a technology called high pressure processing, or HPP, to extend shelf life without heat. After the juice is bottled, the sealed plastic bottles are placed in a chamber filled with water and subjected to pressures up to 85,000 PSI for one to several minutes. This kills 99.999% of microorganisms, extending shelf life to roughly 30 to 45 days while preserving taste, color, and nutrients far better than heat pasteurization would. If you see a cold pressed juice at the grocery store with a sell-by date more than a week out, it has almost certainly been HPP treated. If the expiration is months away, it was heat pasteurized and is no longer truly raw, regardless of what the label says.
Cold Pressed Oils in Skincare
The same logic that makes cold pressing valuable for cooking oils applies to skincare. Cold pressed carrier oils (like rosehip, jojoba, argan, and pumpkin seed) retain their full complement of fatty acids, vitamin E, polyphenols, and plant sterols. These compounds contribute to skin barrier support, moisture retention, and antioxidant protection. Rosehip oil’s high polyunsaturated fat content and abundant tocopherols make it one of the most popular cold pressed oils in skincare, while pumpkin seed oil stands out for its flavonoid and squalene content.
Refined versions of these same oils lose much of their bioactive content during processing. They may feel similar on the skin and absorb at a comparable rate, but they deliver fewer of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits that make plant oils useful in skincare beyond basic moisturizing.
What “Cold Pressed” Doesn’t Tell You
There is no single universal standard governing the term “cold pressed” across all product categories. For olive oil, the European Union and the International Olive Council set a clear temperature ceiling of 27°C, and the term is well regulated. For other oils and for juices, the definition is looser. Some products labeled cold pressed may have been exposed to temperatures that, while lower than conventional processing, still exceed what a strict interpretation of the term would allow.
Cold pressed also doesn’t automatically mean organic, unfiltered, or free of additives. It describes the extraction method only. A cold pressed oil can still be made from conventionally grown crops, and a cold pressed juice can still contain added sugars or flavors. Reading the full ingredient list matters more than relying on any single label claim.