Every village in Kashmir once had ox-driven oil presses made of wood and stone until machine extraction came. But one man clings on. Ghulam Mohammad Wani’s mill is the last of its kind in Kashmir.
Inside an old single-room cottage made of mud and timber with a roof of tin sheets patched together, Ghulam Mohammad Wani guides a rotating log beam. The oil-daubed beam crushes several kilos of mustard grains to wring out an oily amber liquid.
At 82, Wani is the sole custodian of a dying Kashmiri craft and trade. And his home in Namblabal village of Pampore town in southern Kashmir’s Pulwama district is the last surviving ox-driven rotary press oil mill, locally known as Teli Waen Waan.
Not so long ago every village in the region had such mills. But one-by-one they died out as people got hooked to an array of machine-pressed bottled cooking oil.
But Wani plods on.
“I’m continuing because of my passion for it, my love of it. It’s enough for me even if I earn only Rs 50 a day,” said the cheerful man, who betrays no signs of fatigue and hums Kashmiri folk songs, a huge part of his personality.
Wani’s dimly-lit mill has been around for more than 80 years. For the last 63 of those years Wani follows the same laborious routine each day – beginning at 9 am on a mezzanine up a flight of careworn wooden stairs, he sets up the mill and ties an ox to the wooden crank.
It’s a family trade and those associated with it are called Teli Waen.
“I learnt to extract oil in this traditional way from my father,” Wani said, sitting cross-legged to use the weight of his frail frame to press down on the mortar. “This is a painstaking process. It demands patience and time.”
But said he will continue to do it until his health fails him.
The press is made of wood with a circular mortar made of stone or wood at the centre. An angled wood beam that acts as a crusher is placed at the centre of mortar, while a crack affixed to it is yoked to an ox.
The beast moves in a circle and rotates the beam pestle, exerting lateral pressure on the upper chest of the pit, first pulverizing the oilseeds and then crushing out the oil. The beam is weighted down with either heavy stones or the miller sitting on it.
The ox is replaced every three hours.
“I have three oxen. They are well trained,” said Wani. “It takes at least 15 days to train an ox.”
The mill can be used to extract oil from groundnut, coconut, sesame, sunflower and such-like seeds. But Wani’s forte is mustard and he extracts up to five litres a day.
“I buy mustard seeds, extract oil from them and sell it at Rs 300 a litre. Some customers bring their own mustard seeds,” he said.
Wani recalled how oil mills existed in every village of Kashmir when he was in his 40s.
He said traditionally extracted oil was in demand till a few years ago.
“I made good money back then. I married off my children and built a small house. But today, I hardly earn between Rs 100 and Rs 150 a day.”
Yet, he is happy to be keeping alive a tradition, “in spite of all odds and adversities”.
Good old mustard oil appears in Kashmiri cooking in amounts large and small, making the region’s flavourful cuisine pop open in exciting ways. Mustard oil extracted in village mills had been adding heat, brightness, jest and dimension to all kinds of Kashmiri dishes for centuries.
There was a time when people queued up in front of Wani’s mill to extract oil out of the black or beige mustard that farmers grow in their farms.
Flanked by snowy high mountains, the picturesque landscape of Pampore gets more attractive as it baths in dazzling colours from a rich glowing violet of saffron flowers, the stigma of which produces the world’s costliest condiment, to a bright yellow of mustard blooms during summer and autumn. People living in this valley benefit from the services nature provides.
The mustard plant is a member of the brassica family, which includes broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. Its leaves are edible, usually cooked, as are its flowers. But it’s the seeds that are the base of the condiment and oil Kashmiris love.
Wani said the oil from his mill is healthier because he “extracts it without using heat or chemicals”.
It not only tastes great but also is said to have healing properties. Wani said the oil is often used for body massage, especially on babies and those who are suffering from joint pains.
The lead image at the top shows Ghulam Mohammad Wani intermittently pouring water onto mustard seeds to easily squeeze out oil from them (Photo by Aamir Ali Bhat)
Aamir Ali Bhat is a journalist and independent researcher based in Kashmir. He writes on human rights violations, politics and the environment.
