FitSugar

The Only Cooking Oils You'll Ever Need

Camilla Salem — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:30:13 PDT

A small investment in a variety of oils will go a long way in your efficient and organized kitchen. I'll admit to being guilty of trying to use olive oil for most of my cooking, but the truth is, having the proper oils on hand is essential to versatile home cooking.

Keeping your pantry properly stocked will help you cook your favorite recipes and explore new cuisines more seamlessly. Here are the only four types of oil you'll ever need.

Oil for high-heat cooking: Keep neutral flavored oils, like canola and peanut, on hand for high-heat cooking, like frying. Canola oil is also essential in many baked goods.
Oil for medium-heat cooking: Olive oil (not extra-virgin) is a great option for everyday medium-heat cooking, such as sautéing. It imparts great flavor into the food but has a high enough smoke point to make it an effective cooking oil. Olive oil can also be used in baked goods.
Finishing oil: Use a good quality extra-virgin olive oil to finish dishes and give a burst of fruity flavor. This is also best used in salad dressings.
Exotic oil: If you like to cook meals from various cuisines around the world, it's handy to have a variety of unusual oils in your pantry. Walnut, sesame, hazelnut, and pumpkinseed oils are all unique and contribute strong flavors to dishes.

What oils do you keep in your pantry?

How to Cook With Less Oil

Leta Shy — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:44:04 PDT

Often, cooking at home is healthier than dining out. But if you're not careful, cooking with too much oil can lead to a lot of added calories (more than 100 per tablespoon for many oils; read this for our full nutritional breakdown of different types of oils) and fat. While cooking with oils can be beneficial - many contain healthy monounsaturated fats that help lower your cholesterol - if you want to keep that calorie count down, here are some suggestions for how to cook with less oil.

Stick to recipe quantities. If you're following a healthy recipe with nutritional information, stick to the measurements laid out in the recipe. While you may think it's easy to eyeball oil quantities, you may not realize just how many tablespoons you're using if you don't use measuring spoons.

Use a nonstick pan. Searing meats and sauteing vegetables are easier to do sans too much oil if you have a good nonstick pan. Just make sure you don't heat your pan higher than 500 degrees Fahrenheit (leave it on low to medium-high heat) in order to prevent releasing toxic fumes from the nonstick coating.

Spray it on. For adding a finishing touch of oil to dishes, use an oil mister instead of a heavy-handed pour from the oil bottle.

Read on for more suggestions for cooking with less oil.

Know Your Ingredients: Dende Oil

Susannah Chen — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 03:38:10 PDT

In an age when grocery shelves are stocked with everything from toasted sesame oil to coconut oil, here's a relative unknown that you may have never heard of: dendê oil.

This oil, which has a distinctive orangey-red color and a thick, somewhat opaque consistency, is a recurring ingredient in the cuisines of Southeast Asia, West Africa, and Bahia, a northeastern region in Brazil. There, the very rich, nutty flavor of dendê oil, or azeite de dendê, as Brazilians call it, is used to flavor fritters, sauces, and stews.

The ingredient is derived from the fleshy fruit pulp of the dendê palm tree and shouldn't be confused with palm kernel oil, which is extracted from the fruit's pit. Although it's high in saturated fat, dendê is prized for its antioxidants and fatty acids, and maintains a long shelf life. Have you ever cooked with red palm oil?

Even Acne-Prone Skin Can Benefit From Oil

BellaSugar — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:00:56 PST

With so many products that promise to reduce skin's oil production, putting more oil on your face might seem like a crazy idea. But what sounds like lunacy can actually help your skin look and feel better - yes, even if you battle breakouts. This week, I'll share some of my favorite tips for incorporating oils into your skincare routine.

"But Bella, I already have oily skin," I hear you saying. "Why would I want to put more oil on it?" I know the concern; I've been there, too. Here's the thing, though: if you normally overload your skin with mattifying products made to reduce oil, your skin may think, "Oh, not enough oil! Time to crank up the production." Then you know what's next: mo' sebum, mo' problems. Using oils, on the other hand, can help regulate sebum production.

Over the next few days, I'll talk about cleansing and moisturizing with oils. Have questions or a topic you want me to look into? Leave a comment here.

Source: Flickr User Tétine

Do You Use Other Cooking Oils?

partysugar — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:15:35 PDT

Burger King Turns Trans Fat Free

YumSugar — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:00:16 PDT

Yesterday, Burger King announced that all of its restaurants in the US and Canada have made the switch to cooking with trans fat free oils. The second most popular fast food chain also announced that all of its menu items, including baked goods, will contain zero grams of trans fat by Nov. 1 - earlier than the company anticipated.

According to a statement issued by Burger King, customers who tried the new trans fat free foods were either unable to tell a difference in the taste of menu items or felt that the products tasted even better. The hamburger chain attributes this to its two proprietary blends of three oils.

The company has fallen under criticism for taking so long to cut out trans fat oils: Both KFC and Taco Bell switched in 2007, and Wendy's a year before that. Number one fast food chain McDonald's is now one of the last to make the complete switch, promising a menu free of trans fats by the end of the year.

Source

Definition: Essential Oils

BellaSugar — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:00:44 PDT

Essential Oils are made from the volatile and highly fragrant part of the plant. They are used in aromatherapy and are often referred to as aromatic oils or ethereal oils. They are believed to each have their own health benefits such as strong healing powers, so they're often used as alternatives to medicinal cures. Essential oils quickly penetrate the body through the skin and the respiratory tract, and they enter and leave with body without leaving any toxins behind.

Commonly, they are used in perfumes, cosmetics and flavoring. They are usually distilled or put through some kind of distillation process, but essential oils can also be cold-pressed (like oils of citrus fruits) or burned (for instance, made into incense). The most common essential oils are lavender, peppermint, and eucalyptus; however, there are more than 400 in production.

Source

Know Your Enemy: Poison Ivy!

FitSugar — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:30:00 PDT

'Tis the season for Hiking and trail running. There's a lot of beauty in these woods, but you got to be careful and avoid the poison ivy that lurks at the edges of the forest. Yes, it pays to know your enemy.

First off, it is the uroshiol oil on the plant that is the culprit and creates the horrible itchy, blistery skin reactions associated with poison ivy. While some people don't have a reaction to the oil, others may be hospitalized because their reaction is so severe. You should also know that even if you've been exposed to poison ivy and had no reaction, you are not necessarily immune to it. People can develop reactions at any time of their lives, so it is best to avoid poison ivy at all costs.

You will experience symptoms wherever the oil makes contact with your skin. First you will get a red, itchy spot on your skin, that develops into blisters. Once you wash your skin with soap and cold water, the rash won't spread. If you pop the blisters, the rash won't spread either, but the wounds could become infected so it is best not to pop them.

Many plants can look like poison ivy, so pay close attention whenever you're walking in moist areas. The rule "Leaves of 3, Let it be," doesn't always work. It can grow in groups of 3 leaves, with a larger middle leaf, but it can also grow up to 9 leaves in a group.

Want to know what to look out for, then

Poison ivy needs light to grow, so often you'll find it lurking on the edge of woods, roads, parking lots, and fields. In the deep woods, poison ivy can't get enough light, so watch out for moist places that get enough sunlight.
Poison ivy generally grows in a cluster of low weed-like plants, but it can also be a vine that climbs up trees.
The edges of the leaves have tiny "teeth."
The leaves aren't always green - they are reddish in the spring, green in the summer, and yellow or orange in the fall.
The berries are typically white.

Fit's Tips: To avoid getting poison ivy, wear long pants and shoes that cover your entire foot if you are going to be trekking in the woods. If you know you've been exposed to poison ivy, rinse the area immediately with COLD water - hot water will open your pores and let the oil in, which could make your reaction worse.

Here are some more pictures of poison ivy:

poison ivy in the spring

poison ivy in the summer

poison ivy in the fall

climbing poison ivy

Fit's Tips: Poison ivy grows everywhere in the U.S. except in the far west, deserts, and high altitudes.

a poison ivy bush

Source

The New Trans Fat: Interesterified Oil

FitSugar — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 08:45:00 PDT

As you know, I have been pretty thrilled about all the bans on trans fat happening worldwide, but of course food makers are finding a way to still make food cheap and unhealthy, without the trans fat. Enter Interesterified Oils.

Being confused about it myself, I decided to look to Mr. Seth Braun, natural health expert and author of healthyfastandcheap.com, because he's really done his research on this new type of oil:

Food manufacturers are getting around the trans fat labeling by mixing small amounts of fully hydrogenated oil with liquid polyunsaturate oils and calling “interesterified oil.” They claim that fully hydrogenated oil is healthier. Since there is less trans fat, they can sell this product to food manufacturers for use in commercial dressings, baked goods, candies and anything else that used to have partially hydrogenated oil in the ingredient list.

In plain english, interestification means mixing fully hydrogenated oil with liquid polyunsaturate oil to produce a consistency similar to partially hydrogenated oil, which is the source of trans fats. The solution to the trans fat problem; from the manufacturer perspective!

So what's the moral of the story? Read those labels folks. Food makers are in the business of not only making food, but also in the business of making money. If it has interesterified oils listed, chances are it has trans fat too.

Whole Foods Companion

FitSugar — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 02:35:00 PST

If you or someone you know is a health nut, you've got to check out Whole Foods Companion, by Dianne Onstad. It's the ultimate resource guide for everything you eat.

You can look up any fruit, vegetable, legume, grain, seed, nut, herb, spice or oil and find out tons of information.

Each ingredient is listed, including nutritional value (like on the labels you see on all foods), general information, buying tips, culinary uses, and health benefits. You can also find out the history of each ingredient, where they came from, how they were named, and the traditions they are associated with.

When I looked up almonds, I found out that they are actually a fruit. You can soak, crush and strain almonds to make almond milk. This book is full of interesting tidbits like this.

It's a perfect companion to cookbooks and is a detailed and valuable guide to natural foods. You'll learn so much about foods you've been eating your whole life. Plus, you'll discover new foods you've never even heard of.

Fit's Tips: Here's a great gift idea - Give a copy of Whole Foods Companion and your favorite cookbook to the chef in your life.