What's the safest/healthiest cooking oil?

[sahmmie]

Well today I read that olive oil produces carcinogens when heated at hight temps! So which oils are healthy and safe to cook with?

[sahmmie]

anyone?

[jazzharmony]

Olive oil is fine up until smoke point (I don't know the exact temp) I use it for sauteeing veggies and on salads. Europeans have been using it for cooking... forever...

Many oils now say on them what temp they are good for. Spectrum, I believe, has a picture of a thermometer on every bottle, telling you exactly how high the heat should be for each particular oil. You could google too, of course.

[rhianna813]

Coconut oil can up to really high temps. I use olive oil, coconut oil, butter and bacon grease - depending on what I am cooking.

Coconut oil is especially good for stove top popcorn :-)

Rhianna

[sahmmie]

Oh, okay. I usually use olive oil for stir fries and things like that. I wonder if baking is too hot, though. I use it for home made french fries and breaded chicken cutlets.

I've considered buying some coconut oil. Maybe I'll give it a try.

Thanks!

[lakeruby]

I like coconut oil for high heat uses, and I also sometimes use Grapeseed oil, which has a high heat point too.

[avendesora]

I don't cook with olive oil - I only use that for salad dressings, or on cooked pasta. We use lard for roasting and frying. Heat-stable.

Aven

[raksmama]

[QUOTE=jazzharmony;15289134]Olive oil is fine up until smoke point (I don't know the exact temp) I use it for sauteeing veggies and on salads. Europeans have been using it for cooking... forever... QUOTE]

Yes, Olive Oil only for sautéing not frying and I heard that sautéing onions and garlic will neutralise the carcinogens, something Mediterranean people have been doing for centuries. Otherwise for frying I heard grape seed oil can be heated up.

[Friendlee]

I usually use coconut oil or we "healthy sautee" by heating a little chicken stock (or veggie stock) with some chopped onion. You let the onion "sweat" which creates a natural oil and then throw in whatever you're cooking. The moisture from the stock and the onions is enough to sautee stuff.

[karika]

I use olive, sunflower, coconut here. I use the olive for on top the stove savory things, or to coat a salmon.. and use coconut or sunflower for baking or cooking something I don't want the olive taste on. Oh and I use bacon grease too... I gave up all forms of canola after deciding I believe it has been compromised by GMO and I believe it caused a coughing reaction in me, so for a while I didn't know what to put on my potato or rice (I am also dairy free) and coconut oil is so yummy there too. I find it is much cheaper to buy it at my super supplements store however, like 1/3 cheaper....

[Llyra]

I prefer animal fats for higher-heat cooking. I use butter, uncured bacon fat, or chicken fat, depending on what I'm cooking. When I can get natural lard, I use that, but don't use the hydrogenated lard you can buy at supermarkets.

If I have to use a vegetable-based oil, virgin coconut oil is nice, but even so it's only good at medium heat. I also have some palm oil shortening (Spectrum), and we like like that, but I think it's maybe not the healthiest thing in the world since it's pretty highly processed. Natural palm oil is wonderful, but expensive. I would also use small amounts of avocado oil, peanut oil, and sesame oil, but not too much. In general, we try to avoid using much vegetable oil. The modern vegetable oils are highly refined foods that were not used much before 100 years ago, and they add to our diets too many omega-6 fatty acids.

[liliaceae]

I've been wondering about this too.....any other opinions?

[Babina's Mommy]

Just asking in general here, I bought a jar of coconut cream from Tropical Traditions, anyone know if I can use that as though I'd use the coconut oil? Possibly just heat it up a bit?

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by Babina's Mommy

Just asking in general here, I bought a jar of coconut cream from Tropical Traditions, anyone know if I can use that as though I'd use the coconut oil? Possibly just heat it up a bit?

Nope. Totally different beast.

And probably the reason you're not getting a lot of responses is that there was another thread on the front page on cooking oils when you posted it. It seems to come up every other week or so. Let me find it for you... http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1213888

[Babina's Mommy]

Thanks for the info...was unsure...hmmm, now what to do with that coconut cream? haha

[PlayaMama]

sesame oil has a compound that retards rancidity and has a fairly high temp. we use it, coconut, and ghee for everything.

[treemom2]

We don't cook with olive oil in our home, we use it more as a finishing oil. . .like on pastas, salads, on veggies after steaming them. For cooking, we use butter, rendered fat (we keep a jar in the fridge for all our leftover chicken fat, beef fat, bacon fat, etc. . .), and coconut oil (popcorn cooked in coconut oil is awesome!!).

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by Babina's Mommy

Thanks for the info...was unsure...hmmm, now what to do with that coconut cream? haha

Smoothie, with pineapple?

Or, you could put it into a hot Thai sauce...so yummy.