The fresh rhizomes of Curcuma longa Linn. (Turmeric or Holud) collected from three different places of Bangladesh were investigated to extract oil, its fatty acid composition and its physico-chemical properties. The rhizomes contained 8.76 - 10.92% oil. The percentage compositions of fatty acids were identified and quantified by GLC. The saturated and unsaturated fatty acid contents of three places were found to vary within 22.25 - 23.44% and 76.11 - 77.59%, respectively. Among identified six fatty acids, oleic acid contributed the highest proportion (56.24 - 58.88%), followed by myristic acid (16.25 - 17.71%); whilst, palmitic (5.59 - 6.00%), linoleic (10.90 - 12.82%), linolenic (4.15 - 5.46%) and ecosenoic acid (2.72 - 3.25%) together contributed the rest. Physico - chemical properties of the extracted oil were also investigated. The specific gravity, refractive index, optical rotation were recorded as 0.892 to 0.919 at 30°C, 1.431 to 1.465 at 30°C and +11.54° to +13.56° at 26°C, respectively. The chemical properties like saponification value (195.23 - 205.33), iodine value (75.53 - 90.47), peroxide value (23.25 - 36.16), acid value (11.08 - 11.32), ester value (56.30 - 64.13) and percentage of unsaponifiable matter (8.31 - 15.04%) were determined. Overall fresh Turmeric oil can be considered as a good source of oleic acid. Keywords: Curcuma longa; Fresh turmeric oil; Fatty acid composition; Oleic acid; Gas liquid chromatography. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v46i1.8116 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 46(1), 127-132, 2011