There are bad cooking oils such as trans fat and saturated fat and there are good cooking oils such as olive oil, canola oil and nut oils that contribute to your good health. Below are the basic oils used in cooking.
Canola Oil
This type of oil has little to no flavor due to that it processed from grape seeds. Canola has a high smoke point that makes it a good oil for basic cooking, baking and frying.
Nut Oil
Using a variety of nuts, oils are extracted and processed to result in a strong nutty flavor and aroma. The main nuts used for oils are walnuts and hazelnuts. These nut oils are popular and used in salad dressing and marinades. These oils are not good for baking or frying.
Olive Oil
Olive oil has gained in popularity over the last few years due to exceptional health benefits and also popular televisions chefs using it in their cooking.
Olive oil is the only type of cooking oil that is from fruit instead of seeds or nuts. Similar to wine, olive oil varies in flavor and color due to the variety of trees and ripeness of olives, types of climate and soils. The colors can range from almost clear to a dark green.
Olive oil comes in pure, virgin and extra virgin, which refers to the amount of acid in the oil. Pure olive oil is made from pulp left after the first press, Virgin is made of 100% olive oil, with no chemical processing and unheated with up to 3% free acid. Extra virgin is similar to Virgin with not more than 1% free acid.
Pure and virgin olive oils can be used for cooking. Extra virgin olive is best used in salad dressings and drizzled on prepared foods.
Vegetable Oil
Vegetable oil is the main oil that a lot of people use. The oils can be extracted from soybeans, cottonseed, corn, peanuts and sesame seeds. Since these oils do not contain animal products, they are cholesterol free.
Flavored Oils
Below are some easy recipes for infused flavored oils. Put ingredients in clean, dry bottle and close tightly, shake to mix. Store in refrigerator for 2 or 3 days before using to allow flavors to blend. Shake bottle before using and use within 2 weeks.
- Dill Infused– Fresh or dried dill, thyme and lemon peel.
- Garlic Infused - Whole mixed peppercorns, garlic cloves, basil leaves, rosemary sprigs.
- Pepper Infused- Hot peppers, garlic cloves and onions.
- Rosemary Infused- Rosemary, thyme and garlic cloves.
- Tomato Infused- Sun-dried tomatoes, garlic cloves, onions and basil.
For a large selection of cooking oils check out Whole Foods Market, where they have a variety of high quality oils to meet your cooking needs.
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