Choosing The Best Cooking Oil As Per Your Health
Home cooks have plenty of options when it comes to choosing which type of oil to sauté, bake and drizzle with. Some, like olive oil, are well known, and others, like avocado or coconut oil, are less familiar.
The reason there are so many different types of oils is that they can be extracted from a wide range of seeds, nuts, legumes, plant fruits and grains. E.g. sunflower seeds, walnuts, soybeans, olives and grains like rice can all be used to produce vegetable oils.
Many consumers are confused about which types of dietary fat experts encourage or discourage in order to promote heart health, said Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition science and policy and director of the cardiovascular nutrition laboratory at the Tufts University Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging in Boston. Further complicating matters, there’s been hype about coconut oil, and claims have circulated that “butter is back,” Lichtenstein said.
A note on storing your oils properly-heat and light can damage oil and may alter its taste, so store oil in a cool, dark place for up to a year. Be sure to read labels carefully, though, because some oils have specific storage requirements. Grapeseed oil, for example, should be refrigerated.
