Patent ID: 7288278

Claim:
A process for preparing a vegetable oil fraction rich in non-tocolic, high-melting, unsaponifiable matter which comprises the following steps: a) hydrogenating a starting vegetable oil having a slip melting point of less than about 30° C. and a content of unsaponifiable matter of at least about 0.5% by weight, to fully saturate fatty acids of glycerides in the oil and to reach a slip melting point of at least about 57° C.; b) adding from about 1 to about 75% by weight of an oil having a slip melting point of less than about 30° C. to act as a carrier and vehicle for the unsaponifiable matter; c) adding a solvent to the oil mixture from b) in a ratio from 1:2 to 1:20, and heating the resulting mixture to transparency; d) cooling the mixture from c) to a final temperature in the range from about −35 to about +30° C., to precipitate high-melting fractions; e) filtering the high melting fractions to obtain a liquid filtrate; and f) removing solvent from the filtrate to obtain a desolventized fraction rich in unsaponifiable matter.