**3. Processing of crude palm oil**

Crude palm oil, which is acquired by pressing the fleshy fruit, and palm kernel oil, which is obtained by crushing the kernel that is in the middle of the fruit, are the two types of oil that are produced in general. A cross section of the palm oil fruit is shown in **Figure 1**.

According to research, crude palm oil requires several procedures to be refined prior to consumption in most cases, and this involves bleaching and deodorizing methods, which are basically used to refine edible palm oil in order to improve its smell, appearance, taste, and stability [14]. These procedures may change their original form in terms of color, odor, and stability. The differences between palm oil and crude palm kernel oil are shown in **Table 3**, whereas the differences in the fatty acid composition of palm oil and palm kernel oil are shown in **Table 4**.

*Introductory Chapter: An Overview of Palm Oil DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109987*

#### **Figure 1.**

*Cross section of palm oil fruit.*


#### **Table 3.**

*Several differences between palm oil and crude palm kernel oil.*


#### **Table 4.**

*Fatty acid composition in palm oil and palm kernel oil.*
