Natural Health September 2017

HEALTH & Wellness
Some time ago, "cooking oil" in the
ears of the average American chef
meant vegetable oil. Or just a clot of
melted lard to keep the undertakers and
cardiologists in caviar or just some olive
oil of undefined quality used for the
preparation of salad dressing.
Later on, say a few decades later the
variety available at our regular grocery
store became somewhat intimidating
if not engaging and that's minus the
stock pile of cooking oils we can see
in most grocery stores. Nowadays,
we have a whole lot of choices and
recommendations from coconut oil to
avocado oil, etc. Each one of these
oils also has their unique features and
characteristics, and these characteristics
at times match what you have heard
about them from top chefs or experienced
people like my mum.
Coconut Oil
Perfect for:
• Baking
• Sautéing
• Low heat roasting
• Smoke Point: 359°F
Coconut oil has of late gathered some
reputation as a result of some hipster
approval and dubious health claims. And
sincerely speaking it deserves some of it.
When coagulated at room temperature
it serves as a perfect substitute for butter
in some cakes, cookies and other baking
recipes either for the creation of nondiary
option or only just because it tastes
great with banana, chocolate, and other
tropical flavours. When it comes to low
heat recipes, you want to use it with
sautéing vegetables or chicken.
Fun Facts:
Coconut oil is also excellent and
positively effective for your skin and hair,
any beauty product that has coconut oil
as one of their ingredients can be trusted
to do an excellent job. Coconut oil could
save the day if you eventually run out of
massage oil on a date.
Peanut Oil
Perfect For:
• Dishes that have a lot of nuts in them,
especially with intense heat like in a
stir fry
• Smoke point: 440°F
The advantage and also disadvantage
of the peanut oil is that it tastes exactly
like peanuts. Well, it's entirely idle if
you are coating your wok for... say Thai
cooking, but it isn't that great for coating
your skillet to boil a steak. Its smoke point
is exceptionally high, which makes it
ideal for deep frying as well as regular
frying. Utilise it for dishes that already
are amenable to peanut taste for instance
moles, fried chicken and South East
Asian dishes.
Fun Facts:
Peanut oil goes foul quickly and even
faster than other oils. Purchase little
quantity and store in places with low
temperatures like a dark cabinet far off
from the cooking stove.
EVOO aka Extra virgin
olive oil
Perfect For:
• Sprinkling over delicious dishes, dips,
salad dressing, etc. (in that other)
• Smoke Point: 320°F (do not use EVOO
for high-temperature cooking as it
destroys its excellent flavor and quality.
Cold pressing prepares EVOO, thus
means that it have at a temperature
not higher than 80.5°. More extreme
temperatures will produce some more
oil effortlessly, and this is what makes
this oil more expensive. This retains
more antioxidants, flavours, and
monounsaturated fats and offers a far
more complex and robust flavour profile.
Dependant on the region, flavours
could be buttery, grassy, fruity, or bitter.
Utilising it for those flavours ain't a bad
idea, but not as a lubrication or texture
agent... and obviously not as a means
of deep frying.
Fun Facts
EVOO is most times counterfeited,
buying from a trusted supplier is a way to
confirm authenticity, and you could also
research on that effect.
Sesame Oil
Perfect For:
• Frying and Sautéing
• Smoke Point: 410°F
Though it most times has a nutty aroma,
the sesame oil still has a neutral flavour.
It also has a mid high smoke point; this
makes it a fantastic choice for coating
your wok or fry pan before plunking down
veggies or meat. It incorporates a lot of
minerals, fatty acids, and vitamins before
cooking so that it will work perfectly for
salad dressing, mostly with an Asian
flavour like orange or ginger. The heat
releases more of the Sesame so smoked
sesame oils might taste very nutty. Utilise it
for recipes where you require the sesame
flavour to carry through.
Fun Fact:
There's a saying that originated from
Urdu that goes "there isn't any oil left
in this Sesame" this means a person is
very cranky.
18 Natural Health * September 2017 VOL 83