Cooking oil

Cooking oil is purified fat of plant or animal origin, which is liquid at room temperature.

Some of the many different kinds of vegetable oils include; olive oil, soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, grape seed oil, safflower oil, cashew oil, sesame oil, argan oil and rice bran oil.

The generic term "vegetable oil" when used to label a cooking oil product refers to a blend of a variety of oils often based on corn, soybean or sunflower oils.

Oil can be flavoured by immersing aromatic food stuffs such as fresh herbs, peppers and so forth in the oil for an extended period of time. However, care must be taken when using garlic and onions to prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum (the bacterium which causes botulism) in this medium.

Health and nutrition

Fats are an essential nutrient in the human diet, but an unbalanced diet is not healthful. For most individuals, it is appropriate to get 30% of one's daily food energy from fats and oils, evenly divided between monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated fats.

Cooking oil is a special problem, as hydrogenation of oils makes them more stable, but also creates trans fats, only found in hydrogenated oils, which are increasingly thought to be unhealthful.

Many cooking oils are known sources of various vitamins (A and E), minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, and antioxidants.

Peanut and cashew oils and nut-based oils may present a hazard to persons with a nut allergy. A severe allergic reaction may anaphylactic shock and result in death.

Storing and keeping oil

Whether refined or not, all oils are sensitive to heat, light and exposure to oxygen. Rancid oil has an unpleasant aroma and acrid taste, and its nutrient value is greatly diminished.

It is best to store all oils in the refrigerator or a cool, dry place. Oils may thicken, but if you let them stand at room temperature they will soon return to liquid. To prevent negative effects of heat and light, take oils out of cold storage just long enough to use them. Refined oils high in monounsaturated fats keep up to a year, while those high in polyunsaturated fats keep about six months. Extra-virgin and virgin olive oils keep about a year after opening. Olive and other monounsaturated oils keep well up to eight months; unrefined polyunsaturated oils only about half as long.

Types of oils and their characteristics

Saturated fats are unhealthful in excess, but the consumption of small amounts of these oils is essential. Unsaturated fats (monounsaturated, polyunsaturated) are more generally more healthful for those consuming Western-style diets. Nutrition experts recommend that no more than 30% of a Western-style diet be composed of fats. In extremely cold environments, a diet that is up to two-thirds fat is acceptable and can, in fact, be critical to survival in that type of environment.

Type of Oil or Fat	Saturated	Mono unsaturated	Poly unsaturated	Smoke Point	Uses
Butter	66%	30%	4%	150 °C	cooking, baking, condiment, sauces, flavoring
Ghee, clarified butter	65%	32%	3%	190 °C	deep frying, cooking, sauteing, condiment, flavoring
Canola oil	6%	62%	32%	238 °C	frying, baking, salad dressings
Coconut oil	92%	6%	2%	177 °C	commercial baked goods, candy and sweets, whipped toppings, nondairy coffee creamers, shortening
Corn oil	13%	25%	62%	236 °C	frying, baking, salad dressings, margarine, shortening
Cottonseed oil	24%	26%	50%	216 °C	margarine, shortening, salad dressings, commercially fried products
Grape seed oil	12%	17%	71%	204 °C	cooking, salad dressings, margarine
Lard	41%	47%	12%	138-201 °C	baking, frying
Margarine, hard	80%	14%	16%	150-160 °C	cooking, baking, condiment
Margarine, soft	20%	47%	33%	150-160 °C	cooking, baking, condiment
Olive oil	14%	77%	9%	190 °C	frying, cooking, salad dressings, condiment
Palm oil	52%	38%	10%	230 °C	cooking, flavoring, vegetable oil
Peanut oil	18%	49%	33%	231 °C	frying, cooking, salad oils, margarine
Safflower oil	10%	13%	77%	265 °C	cooking, salad dressings, margarine
Soybean oil	15%	24%	61%	241 °C	cooking, salad dressings, vegetable oil, margarine, shortening
Sunflower oil	11%	20%	69%	246 °C	cooking, salad dressings, margarine, shortening

The smoke point of oils depends primarily on their free fatty acid content (FFA) and molecular weight. Through repeated use, as in a deep fryer, food residues or by-products of the cooking process will accumulate within the oil and lower its smoke point. The values shown in the above table must therefore be taken as approximate, and are not suitable for accurate or scientific use.

The smoke point of margarine varies depending on the types of oils used in its formulation, but can be generally assumed to be similar to that of butter.

Using cooking oil as a cleaning agent

Cooking oil may be used as a solvent to remove the residue left behind by adhesive tape on glass and plastic. Do not use this technique on a porous surface.

To remove the adhesive residue using cooking oil:

apply the oil to a cloth or paper towel.
rub the oil on the tape residue using the cloth or paper towel
clean the surface of any excess oil using soap and water, if required

Disposal

To dispose of used cleaning oil let oil cool then put into containers such as old coffee containers or plastic tubs and put in garbage. Large amounts should be taken directly to a landfill. If you can, recycle cooking oil. It can then be reprocessed into biodiesel. Ask your local authorities about recycling cooking oils.

Of all things, do not pour it down the drain. By far the largest input of oil into the world’s oceans is from disposal of waste oil down the drain (1.63 billion litres). That’s 3 times more than from routine maintenance, 10 times more than from major oil spills and 25 times more than from offshore drilling activities. (Smithsonian Institute). Only 4% of world's oil pollution is caused through spills at sea.(Source: Nottinghamshire County Council website,UK)

Cooking oils

روغن | Huile alimentaire | Matolja | น้ำมัน (อาหาร)

External Links