In most form of cooking, you require some cooking oil in order to cook your food. It can be obtained from animal or plant and is in liquid form at room temperature. It is common to use vegetable cooking oil instead of animal fat unless specified by your cooking recipes. Edible vegetable oil can come from olive, soybeans, peanut, sesame seed, oil palm kennel, rice bran, pumpkin seed and many others. It is generally assumed that vegetable oil refers to a blend of oils based on soybean, palm, corn and also sunflower seed. Some cooking oil is flavored to enhance their aroma. It is done by immersing pepper, fresh herbs, garlic and other exotic ingredients. Certain cooking recipes require specific type of oil in order to get the best taste. Always refer to your cookbook when you are unsure which type to use.

Health Issues

There are certain controversies regarding the right amount of fat in our daily food intake. The FDA recommends less than 30% of calories which is consumed daily must come from fat. It is acceptable that in colder climate, the amount of fat consumed should be higher. If excessive amounts of saturated fats are consumed, it could lead to coronary heart disease. Cooking oils like coconut and palm oil have high amount of saturated fats. The desirable cooking oil should have high amounts of monounsaturated fats and lower amounts of saturated fats.

Some cooking oil may create a health hazard. If you are allergic to nuts, you have to avoid using nut-based cooking oil like peanut or cashew nut. It could lead to severe allergic reaction causing death.

Storage Of Cooking Oil

All types of cooking oil are sensitive to light and heat. Never leave your cooking oil uncovered because oxygen in the air will cause unpleasant taste and aroma. It is best to keep your cooking oil refrigerated after opening the cap. If your oil starts to solidify, place them back to room temperature and it will begin to turn back to liquid. Keeping your oil this way ensures that your home cooking will always taste good.

Conclusion

When choosing which cooking oil to use, always bear in mind the health issues involved. Your choice will also depend on what you are cooking. If you are going to do an outdoor cooking which requires high heat, you have to opt for oils that can withstand high heat like peanut or soybean but on the other hand if you are doing light frying that requires low heat, corn or olive oil should do the trick.

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