Which oil is best for cooking?

Which oil is best for cooking?

"WhichWhat makes a cooking oil healthy or unhealthy are based on its nutritional profile,smoke point and flavor of the oil. Basically there are two types of fats :-

  1.  Saturated:- These fats remain solid at room temperature. These fats are found in animal based products( butter, cheese, ghee, paneer),coconut and palm oil. Saturated fats can raise total blood cholesterol and LDL cholesterol(The bad cholesterol). A healthy diet has less than 10% of daily calories from saturated fat.
  2.  Unsaturated:- These fats remain liquid at room temperature except coconut oil. They are further divided into 3 categories :-
  •   Mono unsaturated fats:- These are called good fats which lowers total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol)   and increase the HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). They are heart friendly fats which are found in peanuts, olives, avocados and almonds.

 

  •   Poly unsaturated fats:- These fats also have heart protecting values that lowers total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. Omega-3 and Omega-6 are the two types of polyunsatureted fats. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in walnuts, flax seeds and fatty fish. Omega-6 are found in soybean oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil and corn oil.Both of these fats are considered essential for humans because our bodies don't make them, so we have to eat them. We should take an ideal ratio of Omega-6:Omega-3 which should be less than 4:1.

 

  •  Trans fats:- Trans fats raise LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) and lower HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol).These fats are made by converting unsaturated fats into saturated fats by the process of hydrogenation. This process increases the shelf life of fat and makes the fat harder at room temperature. These rae found in processed food, store bought cakes ,biscuits, pizzas, burgers and fries.


Therefore, the best cooking oil should have high smoke point( temperature at which cooking oil begins to break down into unhealthy chemicals and produce bluish smoke),perfect flavor and high nutritinal profile.
Each oil can offer various benefits and can be better than other in different cooking process. Choosing the right oil with the right cooking method is important.

You can learn more about smoke point of various oil over here:- Wikipedia

For high-heat cooking, such as frying, searing, grilling, stir-frying, or roasting light or refined olive oil, avocado oil, refined palm, peanut oil, coconut oil are good.


For medium-heat cooking, such as gentle sauté, stewing, baking, or braising clarified butter (also known as ghee),canola oil or any of the above would work fine.


Choose an unfiltered extra virgin olive oil, unrefined or toasted nut and seed oils for salad dressing or in recipes which doesnot involve cooking .

 

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