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Admin
Feb
9
Pantry Audit: Oils and Fats
February 9, 2010 |
Deep-fried: Cauliflower Leaf and Onion Fritters
What oils/fats are healthiest?
Those contained within the source - as in those found in nuts, seeds and fish. There was a two year phase when I stopped using any added oils/fats (as in bottled or canned oils) to my food. I meandered back into oil slickdom because I just got tired of being treated like a freak and constantly having to explain my choices. It’s particularly hard in India where assorted aunties are always trying to shove murukku and mysore pak down your gullet and take it personally if you decline.
The fact remains, that the more I read about these oils and fats, the less I feel inclined to use them. Anyway, here’s what I think for whatever it’s worth. I have a bunch of cooking oils and fats in my pantry and after they are over, I’m not sure which ones I’ll replace or whether they are worth replacing at all.
UNSATURATED FATS
Unsaturated fats can be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. Most vegetable and seed oils have a combo of both.
MONOUNSATURATED FATS: Fatty acids that have a single double bond in the fatty acid chain and all of the remainder of the carbon atoms in the chain are single-bonded.
Lemony Rosemary-Polenta Cake with Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Found in
oils - olive, peanut, avocado, mustard, canola, grapeseed, macadamia.
nuts - especially peanuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds
seeds - pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds
avocados
olives
POLYUNSATURATED FATS: Fatty acids that have more than one double bond.
Found in high concentrations in vegetable oils -
sunflower, corn, soybean, sesame, cottonseeds, mustard oils
foods rich in Omega-3 such as walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp, and oily fish
leafy greens
WHAT TO KEEP IN MIND:
Raw whole foods over oils
Processing and heating destroys the linoleic acids in these fats. Olives, walnuts, avocados and lightly cooked fish are superior to olive oil, walnut oil and fish oils - they have the fibre intact and a wider array of nutrients.
Mono over Poly
Monounsaturated oils reduce LDL - bad cholesterol - and increase HDL - good cholesterol. Polyunsaturated oils reduce both good and bad cholesterol. While polyunsaturated fats are essential, getting too much of them can suppress the immune system and increase the risk of certain cancers. (Link)
The recommended amount is 20% of total calorific intake from monounsaturated fats. The recommended intake for polyunsaturated differs between 3% and 10% of total calorific intake.
Olive oil scores over vegetable oils (ivillage)
M=Monounsaturated, P=Polyunsaturated, U=Unsaturated, S=Saturated
Organic Cold/Expeller Pressed over Refined
All cold-pressed oil is expeller pressed, but all expeller pressed is not cold pressed. “Cold pressed” means it has been done at or below 120F. Refined oils, unless organic, are treated with solvents and chemicals and exposed to temperatures of up to 470 degrees F.
If the oil you buy is bland and almost colourless, you can be certain that it has been fully refined, bleached, and deodorized. (What these terms mean.)
In polyunsaturated fats, refining and high heat renders them harmful to health (for example, by creating trans-fats and free radicals). Refined canola oil is worse than others. It has trans fats.
One little-known source of trans fat is canola / rapeseed oil. The trans fat occurs as a result of processing, which takes place at high temperature. The raw seed begins with a high level of beneficial omega-3 oils, however these tend to oxidise during processing producing off, rancid odours. During deodorisation, some of the omega-3 fatty acids are converted to trans.
The proportion converted to trans is highly variable - in general, UK oils have low levels of trans, however researchers at the University of Florida at Gainesville, found that liquid canola / rapeseed oils sold in the USA contained as much as 4.6 percent trans fat. Currently this trans fat content is not usually listed on labels and consumers have no way of knowing it is present. (Link)
The Great Con-Ola
The Real Story of Canola Oil
If you have only a limited budget for organic foods, Oil and Dairy are the two places to spend it. If buying canola oil, get ORGANIC, Expeller Pressed.
Some food-savvy environmentalists say that if you can afford to buy only one organic food item, it should be culinary oils. They base their assertions on several things, but at the top of the list is the fact that heavy metals (which can show up in sewage sludge used to treat some non-organic farms) and industrial chemicals such as pesticides tend to stick to fats.
Many common cooking oils–canola, soy and cottonseed chief among them–are genetically engineered to withstand more pesticide spraying than their common counterparts.
(Link)
Small bottle over big
Forget about those giant Costco containers.
Researchers at the University of Foggia in Italy analyzed several varieties of extra-virgin olive oil produced from groves in the Italian countryside at production and during storage. After three months of storage, the antioxidant activity in the oils remained unchanged.
However, antioxidants decreased by about 40 percent for almost all of the oils after six months. (Link)
Buy oils in green bottles (to protect from light) and refrigerate them if you can.
Below Smoking Point
When you heat oil to smoking point, it can generate free radicals and increase cancer risk. (Except mustard oil which is remarkably stable at smoking point and improves in flavour.)
If an oil is mostly saturated, it’s pretty stable. If it’s mostly mono-saturated, it’s pretty stable. If it’s polyunsaturated, it’s anybody’s game. More seriously, oils that contain mostly polyunsaturated fats will generally be less stable, but there’s significant variation. (How Hot is Too Hot?)
Also, refined usually has a higher smoking point than the same oil unrefined. So unrefined sesame oil’s smoking point is 350F (177C), refined sesame oil is 410F (210C).
Lentil Puris with Potato Bhaji
Deep frying usually takes place at 365F. The smoking point for Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is 350F. Butter is 350F. Avocado Oil is the highest at 520F.
All oils, including mustard oil lose valuable antioxidants and nutrients at high heat. So if you’re baking with extra virgin coconut oil or butter, it’s a good idea to bake for longer at 300F, which is below the 350F smoking point. Ghee (clarified butter) is at 485F. Butter and sesame oil actually may be better for you upon heating.
Lentil Fritters in Sesame Oil
GHEE Clarified butter, known as ghee, contains the conjugated linoleic acid which has anti-cancer properties. Casein which is a harmful protein is removed by this process. You take the butter, slowly heat it until butter solids precipitate on the top and then you filter it through a cloth and you will have a liquid that can be stored at room temperature. This is the best combination of different fatty acids for human consumption. Safflower oil and most vegetable oils get oxidized and damage the liver and heart. Clarified butter does not cause this damage.
SESAME OIL which is cold pressed is very powerful. It contains natural antioxidants and when it is cured by heating, the long molecular chains are broken down to shorter chains and become very powerful antioxidants. (Link)
Tomato Rice with Sesame/Gingelly Oil
Moreover, despite sesame oil’s high proportion of polyunsaturated fats, it is least prone, among cooking oils with high smoke points, to turn rancid when kept in the open. This is due to sesamin and sesamol, natural antioxidants. (Link)
So, for deep-frying, use
- a monounsaturated oil with a high smoking point - like peanut, grapeseed or avocado oil
- sesame/gingelly oil
- mustard oil
- ghee
- if it’s refined, it should be through a chemical-free process.
Omega-3 over Omega-6
An ideal intake ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids is between 1:1 and 4:1, with most Americans only obtaining a ratio between 10:1 and 25:1. Since heat destroys linoleic acids, the best sources are raw - sushi, walnuts, greens, and lightly cooked fish as well as cold-pressed fish oils.
Nepali Cucumber Salad with Raw Mustard Oil
Unrefined mustard oil (preferably-cold pressed), as well as cold pressed Walnut and Flax Oils are excellent sources for vegetarians.
SATURATED FATS
The fatty acids have no double bonds between the carbon atoms of the fatty acid chain and are thus fully saturated with hydrogen atoms.
NATURAL TROPICAL and ANIMAL FATS
Found in
cocoa butter (in chocolate)
coconut, palm, coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil
animal fats such as butter and ghee (clarified butter), lard, suet, goose fat, chicken fat, beef tallow
(A Primal Primer: Animal Fats)
Chocolate-Almond Brownies with cocoa butter and butter
Cocoa butter makes me happy. So do coconuts. The fat in coconuts comprises MCTs (medium chain triglycerides). When it is metabolised in the body, it behaves rather more like a carbohydrate than a fat. The fuel of preference for the body is carbohydrate, and the body will use up its store of carbohydrate before using other fuels. One of the MCTs in coconut oil is lauric acid, vital to immune health. (Coconut Oil). Again, coconuts over coconut oil, consumed in moderate amounts.
Vegan Nutella with Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Animal fats are not really bad for you. They may even be good for you.
“Unlike vegetable oils, animal fats are very stable and don’t turn rancid easily. This makes them ideal for cooking, which involves heating the fat. And they have no trans fats.
Animal fats have lots of good fatty acids that fight disease, help absorb vitamins and lower cholesterol. Your body burns the short-chained fatty acids found in animal fats and stores the long-chained ones found in polyunsaturated fat. It is a myth that eating animal fat makes you fat.
But best of all, fat—with its big round molecules—tastes good, it feels good in your mouth, on your tongue and it carries flavors.” ~ Jennifer McLagan in Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes
Good fats are the naturally-occurring, traditional fats that haven’t been damaged by high heat, refining, processing or other man-made tampering such as ‘partial hydrogenation’. The best of these kinds of fats are found in fish, nuts, avocados, seeds and, believe it or not, fresh creamery butter.
Animal fats have a bad reputation, but many professionals believe it is not animal fat, but the combination of animal foods, fats and low-fibre vegetables that is the problem. Also, because of horrible factory farming methods, antibiotics and steroid use, fats from non-organically raised, non-free-range animals should probably be used with prudence. (Link)
So yeah, use real butter. Or ghee. Organic and hormone free. Unlike unsaturated fats, though saturated fats may impair insulin sensitivity (Link)
TRANS FATS
Liquid oil is changed into a solid fat by adding hydrogen. In doing so, saturated and trans fat can be created. This process is called hydrogenation. Trans fats act like saturated fats and can raise your cholesterol level and have no positive benefits.
Found in
hydrogenated vegetable oil
partially hydrogenated vegetable oil
vegetable shortening
margarine
Butter is milk cream with, maybe, salt. What’s in margarine?
Edible oils, edible fats, salt or potassium chloride, ascorbyl palmitate, butylated hydroxyanisole, phospholipids, tert-butylhydroquinone, mono- and di-glycerides of fat-forming fatty acids, disodium guanylate, diacetyltartaric and fatty acid esters of glycerol, Propyl, octyl or dodecyl gallate (or mixtures thereof), tocopherols, propylene glycol mono- and di-esters, sucrose esters of fatty acids, curcumin, annatto extracts, tartaric acid, 3,5,trimethylhexanal, ß-apo-carotenoic acid methyl or ethyl ester, skim milk powder, xanthophylls, canthaxanthin, vitamins A and D.
No thanks.
What about non-hydrogenated margarine?
Instead of hydrogenating liquid vegetable oil, manufacturers now add a tiny amount of modified palm and palm kernel oil to make it more spreadable, creating a soft margarine that’s trans fatty acid free and lower in saturated fat than regular margarine.
Sample of ingredients in one brand:
Liquid canola oil, 68%, Water, 16%, Modified palm and palm kernel oils, 12%, Salt, 1.8%, Whey powder, 1.4%, Soy bean lecithin, Vegetable monoglycerides, Potassium sorbate, Artifical flavour, Citric acid, Vitamin E (dl-alpha tocopherol acetate), Vitamin A palmitate, Beta-carotene, Vitamin D3
No thanks. Here’s how to make a nice spreadable “butter”.
Better Butter
from here.
Makes 2 cups (500 ml)
1lb (500 g) salted organic butter
**better yet, use organic homemade ghee. Vegans can use organic extra-virgin coconut oil. You can also use a nut butter.
1 cup (250 ml) unrefined essential-fatty-acid-rich oil such as flax or walnut
**or extra virgin olive oil/unrefined sesame oil/mustard oil
Cut butter into eight pieces. Put butter and oil into a food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate in a covered container.
Fats and Cholesterol: Harvard School of Public Health
Cooking Oils
From Our Pantry
All these are from the regular grocery store, except the Mustard Oil, which is from the Indian store. For the ghee we use organic salted butter. All edible mustard oil sold in the U.S. (including in the Indian store) is labelled “for external use only”.
For general cooking:
Sesame (Gingelly) oil
Mustard oil
Ghee (Jai’s favourite)
For frying:
Sesame/Gingelly Oil
Grapeseed oil - not sure if I need this one, since we don’t do much high-temp frying.
For using raw:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Mustard Oil
For Baking:
Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
For adding to Chinese food (just a couple of drops):
Dark/Toasted Sesame Oil
I think I’m going to ditch this one.
- bee
coconut oil, ghee, gingelly oil, grapeseed oil, mustard-oil, NUTRITION, olive oil, PANTRY AUDIT, sesame oil, vegetarian recipes
Excellent post Bee! I’ll any day take saturated animal fats over industrial refined fats. I’ve been making ghee with KerryGold Irish Butter (from grass-fed cows) and the taste is phenomenal. I use mostly virgin coconut oil for cooking and sometimes ghee, EVOO for oven-roasting and salads, lard/bacon grease for frying eggs. I have tallow too, but I find the taste over-powering. And good old Idhayam nalennai (sesame oil) for chutney podis and puliyodharai.
The demonization of tropical fats like coconut and palm oils was started by the corn and soybean oil industry to promote their own products.
What an informative post, thanks Bee. I need to do a pantry audit soon, am sure to unearth many hidden ‘treasures’
Superb post! v.very informative article. These days I use vegetable oil for deep frying..is it OK? In 660 curries Raghvan Iyyer says the Canola oil is best for cooking.
Though, your post has cleared my confusion abt cooking oils. Thanks for this post.
Very informative post, thank you.
Apologies if I sound a little thick here, but you say “Unlike unsaturated fats, saturated fats may help diabetics by improving insulin sensitivity”, however the link right after seems to suggest otherwise - “A change of the proportions of dietary fatty acids, decreasing saturated fatty acid and increasing monounsaturated fatty acid, improves insulin sensitivity but has no effect on insulin secretion.”
So, would animal fat then be considered not so good according to this study??
The reason I am really to know is because I am a recently diagnosed border-line insulin-resistant diabetic. Therefore, I am doing my best to read up and find more on what I can do to alleviate (and reverse, if possible) my condition.
Many thanks for this wonderful insight into cooking oils! And
sorry, i meant “impaired”. corrected.
http://robbwolf.com/2009/03/12/fat-and-insulin-sensitivity/
Great post. I was expecting to see oil pantry audit some day
I make ghee with organic valley sweet cream CULTURED butter, unsalted. Trust me, it makes the best ghee, like those home made in India(my grandma’s home have milking cows), i cant resist really smelling the ghee quite often.
Very happy seeing this post!
The canola story is a hoax and you should be ashamed to post such fake studies.
Check out this link
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blcanola.htm
you should be ashamed to waste our bandwidth and for commenting without actually reading what has been posted.
from the canadian government
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/food-aliment/trans-eng.php
from the link you posted.
yeah, 50% have been genetically modified to be ’roundup resistant’. wikipedia says it’s 80% and trans fats are at 4%..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola
enjoy your roundup resistant canola oil.
Thanks a million bee …what a wonderful post… Its like a prayer answered for me…
I have been hunting for which is the best oil or fat… Ayurveda recommends ghee while all others seem to be making ghee the baaaaad guy… I was so confused and afraid that ghee means gaining lots of weight, arteries clogged and what not
Now feels it like all my questions are answered…. Vicky my DH is jumping out of joy that GHEE is good for health…Its his favourite and I used to use it rarely…
He sends his special thanks to you
Oh my God! Lots of research! Hats off to you Jugalbandits to enlighten common people on such complex information! Let me crawl back to my bed with that bowl of cauliflower fritters
Loved this post- super informative.. I’ve been wanting to buy mustard oil from the Indian store forever- but every time I see the ‘only for external use’ sign on the label- I resist..I’ll get some the next time I head there.
I’ve heard good things about macadamia nut oil- Have you ever used it?
no. i’ve also heard of the benefits of rice bran oil, tea seed (camellia) oil and avocado oil.
I love camellia oil, but have only used it on my face and in a cream that I made- never for cooking. Will try it - Thanks!
Please ensure that you dont use the “for external use only” mustard oil in cooking. From what I know, the mustard oil for cooking is different from the one that is used for oil massages for babies etc (thus labelled, “for external use only”)
from what i understand, all 100% mustard oil is labelled “for external use only” if it is sold in the u.s. - even the ones uses for cooking.
http://forums.chef2chef.net/viewtopic.php?t=531524
the same oil is not labelled as such when sold in india.
Lot of information. I think i should cleanup my shelf as i know for sure there are some bottles sitting there and vegatating which i haven’t used for long.
A great fat roundup, pardon the pun.
I do envy you because you are able to select high quality organic products, in your area of residence. I often read longingly of fellow bloggers using good organic food items. In India, there’s just no way of trusting organic products since it is a largely unregulated market. As for extra virgin cold-pressed oils, forget it. I’ve never seen extra virgin coconut oil on supermarket shelves here. Supermarkets are stocked with large cans of imported olive oils, but even so I’m afraid to use it because I’ve heard stories of how olive oil scams do occur. And it is beyond the budget of most ordinary folks. Smaller quantities of these oils are not even stored properly … we get them in clear glass bottles, so exposed to heat and sunlight by the time they reach our country that good old coconut oil seems more body-friendly after all.
Highly informative post - baking with coconut oil, will the nutty flavor overpower the baking goodies? Interesting subst. for butter
Do you accept friends requests on fb from your blog-dosts or is it only for people you know personally?Love your site.
we don’t have a facebook account. wait, maybe one of us signed up ages ago, but we don’t use or check it. ditto with twitter. we lasted there about 24 hours and gave up.
Arey bhai,tum tel-vel ko lekar itna tension kyun lete ho…..cool rehne ka, kya !
A very comprehensive list, Bee. After reading your mustard trilogy, I was researching on the best oils to use and honed in on Sesame,Peanut and EVOO with Ghee every now and then.
This post makes it easier. Thanks. Writing Informative posts takes lot of time and research and you do them very well. Kudos to you.
Thanks! Never knew there was so much to all the oils. Really helpful. We have been using Extra virgin olive oil for raw foods, and extra virgin coconut oil also at home. Sesame oil is used for frying and dosas, pickles etc. However, for regular vegetable cooking and tadka, we use the sundrop refined oil available in the market, which claims to be low cholesterol and fortified with vitamins etc. Have to see what to substitute that with then.
Excellent. Complete information as always!
A wonderful post on calories from proteins! Thanks.
http://jugalbandi.info/2008/02/caloric-and-protein-needs/ Helps me understand why after one year of running (quite well) I have been sick and tired, sick and lethargic, sick and sad… you get the drift.
Now, do you think these protein figures are correct? http://www.indiacurry.com/nutrition/rotidosaidli.htm
(A guess, if you are unsure) If yes, whole grain roti and brown rice dosa it is!
we use only brown rice for idlis and dosas. here’s a thought. substitute some of the rice in the idlis/dosas with amaranth flour or quinoa flour (you can get whole grains and grind it up yourself.) or add a scoop of non-GMO brown rice or pea protein. it’s especially easy with dosas or adais. you’ll get more high quality protein.
Hmm, could you post the proportions of brown rice & dals you use to make dosas and idlis? I did try and look thru’ your blog but did not find this info. My earlier attemtpts to make idli with brown rice were disastrous. Also, if you were to use the other alternatives, Amaranth flour or Quinoa, do the proportions of grain vs urad dal remain the same? Thanks for any info you can provide.
As always, thanks for posting excellent info and bringing so much awareness on food and nutrition to your readers. I am one avid follower
http://jugalbandi.info/2007/04/whole-grain-idlis-and-podi/
for dosas and adai ( i don’t make idlis as the batter rarely ferments in my home), i use any proportion of any grain i feel like.
for idlis use short-grain brown or rosematta rice, for dosas use long-grain.
Hello! I think this might be my first comment here, though I have been here on and off for a few years. Fantastic information, most of which I gather from all over cyberspace, but somehow reading it here makes it more authentic for me.
From a practical view point though, would you be cooking only with sesame oil?
I think about healthy living a lot, read a lot, but find it hard to translate to real life. So I have been making incrementally better choices. I think it is time to ditch the colorless olive oil from Sam’s club which I use for my regular cooking.
Just wanted to say thank you for a informative, thought-provoking and beautiful blog.
Best wishes!
sesame oil has spoilt us. we cook everything with it (or mustard oil). no more bland oils for us.
What a terrific post! Thanks so much for the effort and the information.
By the way, I made the Nepali cucumber salad the other day. It was one of those serendipitous occasions when I happened to have all the ingredients at hand. It was simply divine!
Hi Jai and Bee,
This one of the best articles. I have always been very consious of making healthy choices for my family. I try to read as much as possible to get the best available things for my kids. I know you are not milk fans but if you could write something about raw milk and ghee made from Raw butter or even how harmful this ultra pasturized ultra homogenized crap is it will be great.
Unfortunately in our own family we have people who feel all these ultra refined crap is the best so is the rbgh containing milk. I am going to send this article to everyone i know and hopefully it will make some dent in their thinking…
Keep up the great work.
Another question- do you think there is any point using extra light tasting olive oil for high heat cooking (which is a mix of refined and unrefined olive oils?), or is it better to just use some other unrefined oil with a high smoking point (or ghee). As in, does the extra light tasting olive oil really have any of the benefits of the extra virgin version? Thanks!
i don’t see any point in using refined oils. period.
Been visiting this site since it’s inception.Looks like you guys are really into reading a lot….otherwise how do you explain terms like’cognitive dissonance’ etc which your posts are liberally dotted with.Don’t you think loyalists like me deserve to see you…its ’bout time you stopped monkeying around(literally & metaphorically)& posted some decent pics of you both.What are you so squeamish ’bout?Grow up maaaan for heaven’s sake.
shabdha is an absolutely gorgeous and unique name.
Guess what, if I was to write this kind of post for my blog, I might take another year to come up with such post..so much of researching , so wonderfully arranged , and so much of info in one post..incredible.
And hey you guys like Ghee…thts one piece of info that rejoiced me..I still cant believe tht u vote for it even though not for regular cooking but still…U made my day with tht
Jai and Bee I really don’t have enough words to express my thanks for this wonderful post. I didn’t know that peanut oil was good for deep frying. I don’t know why my grandmother used to tell that it was not good. I think she used to mention that it upsets the stomach or something. I really don’t remember.
I know it is too much to ask but I was wondering if you can spare some time to write a post about soy too. I’m hearing a lot of mixed things, that it is good and it is not. I have been reading a lot about this lately and I’m not able to come to a conclusion. Thanks.
Excellent post both of you…the best one from you guys..I think.A sincere thanks for all the time and effort both of you might have put in to write such an accurate post.
Can’t help smiling at your smack in the face reply to CRAP Canola upholder!
Kudos to you both!
Awesome post..looks like one post led to another and another..
very very informative.
And I love the way you summarized in the end what to use based on type of cooking.
After reading your previous post, I found mustard oil but it said external use only..will look out for the right one.
that’s the one you want - in the u.s. ALL 100% mustard oil - even for cooking is labelled “for external use only”.
http://forums.chef2chef.net/viewtopic.php?t=531524
Hi,
Loved this post. I have to read it again because I kept losing focus on the matter since you have posted some terrific pictures in the middle, :).
I would like to link this page from my blog.
Great Post, very informative.
Vandana
Vallare,vallare nanni,btw my sis’s name’s Shloka.
Excellent post. I’ll be coming back to this.
I discovered Jugalbandi pretty recently & am having a great time catching up on all your previous posts - what a fantastic site! Quick question - you’ve suggested sesame oil for frying but the unrefined variety (the one in the Indian store) would probably have a lower smoke point (350F)than that required for frying (365F), wouldnt it? Would you go with the refined sesame oil in this case?
no, i wouldn’t.
Great post - thanks! I agree whole heartedly about gross canola oil (I saw one in the supermarket this morning which combined canola and palm oil and marketed itself as heart friendly!! the mind boggles) and how terrific peanut oil and extra virgin coconut oil is. I haven’t used ghee much though as I always think of it as saturated fat. Can I ask why you make your own ghee - is it just for taste preference or is there something not so good about commercially prepared ghee?
we do not consume non-organic dairy.
I’ve been visiting your site for some time. Love your blog…lots of information. I just started blogging . superb post. Your clicks are just amazing.
Well Excuuuuse Meeee….You linked to a hoax and I pointed it out.
We have come far. Out gora-ing the whiteys?!! Now we eat only organic, slavery free, free trade, cruelty free blah blah blah
Wonder what crap we ate growing up in Bharath and I mean literally and figuratively. Pani puri and batata vada. dhabeli and murukku. With one does of sweat and a smear of shit , please!!!
Now check out how bad agave syrup is
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/sugar-may-be-bad-but-this_b_463655.html
Is nothing ture, honest and pure anymore?
love you crazy kids
i pulled this out of spam just to let you know that racism is disgusting at any time, in any place.
Hi Jai and Bee,
I have been a silent infrequent reader of your blog in the past and this post has brought e out to the open.
I want to thank you for this informative post. I see a lot of research gone into this. I have been using Canola oil for a while now since I read it was “healthier” than others (ofcourse except for olive oil) but now you have also given me more options for different cooking processes. I never cook in ghee thinking it was BAD but I am reconsidering that.
Keep up the good work!
aw, guys now u are going to make me throw out my big can of olive oil from costco! thanks!
how come u guys don’t use coconut oil except for baking?
we do.
Thank you for this post - I’m glad I have stuck to ghee and sesame oil for the most part. Finally managed to ditch the sunflower oil this month after cooking in it for 13 years.
This was a very informative post, thanks! I use sesame oil for cooking too, but have brought sunflower oil this time since I couldnt find my regular one.
Hi Jai and Bee,
Thank you for a very informative and helpful article. It prompted me to do a lot of reading on this and you had provided all the references which were very helpful. I have a question. I use Olive Oil for tadka and sauteing. I do not use it for deep frying. Do you think or have come across any issues with using it. I was able to get the smoke point of Olive Oil from one of the references, but I dont know to what temperature oil heats for tadka. I tried searching in the internet but wasn’t able to find out much. It will be great if could give me any pointers.
Thanks !!
Ann
Hi Guys,
My wife forwarded this to me and we are evaluating this very seriously and I am willing to take a bet that lots of your other readers are too.
Do you mind sharing your background or expertise (with respect to food science). I understand your reasons for anonymity but there is a difference between reading an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, NY times and in the National Enquirer.
I realize that you guys take this seriously but this is one of those issues that we will come to know whether we have made the right choice 30-40 years from now. So, every bit of disclosure will help, particularly as your article is tilted against conventional wisdom.
Sincerely,
AB
our expertise with regard to food science = zero.
Hi AB,
I am not a person of medical background or food science, but I have started reading a lot on this topic. I suggest you read the article ‘The paradigm: The Greatest Health Scam of the century’ in the website http://www.drpasswater.com/. It will raise questions about some of the conventional wisdom reg. heart disease and cholosterol. Again, try to back it up with your own reading.
Regards,
Ann
that’s a good resource. thank you.
Great, informative post. I wonder what you know and think about rice bran oil? Here in Thailand it is a new, locally-produced option.
Thanks much!
Dear Jai and Bee,
Is idhayam nallenai good for cooking?
Priya