Cooking Oil - An Introduction

Cooking oil is known and commonly used product in the 21st century. In general, oil is any neutral substances, chemically non polar, viscous liquid at ambient temperatures and is both hydrophobic, means it repels water, and lipophilic, it attracts or love fats [1]. There are many types of oil and classified according to source and to its application, the cooking oil belongs to the latter classification.

There are two sources of oil, organic oil and mineral or crude oil. Ideally, organic oils would imply that it originate from plants, animals, or other organisms. Unfortunately, for mineral or crude oil is also organic and not from minerals, as it originate from fossilized organic materials. The misnomer stems from the process this type of organic oil have been extracted, similar to minerals it is mined through drilling.

Classification of Oil - According to Application

The common uses of oil, aside from cooking, are for fuel, lubrication, cooling, manufacturing, medicines, cosmetics and painting, and religious rites. Amongst the applications, cooking plays an important part of daily activity as it is a source and support nourishment, needed to survive and thrive. 


Cooking Oil

Cooking includes frying and baking, yet this class of oil is also used as flavouring. There are a wide variety of cooking oil sources from plants, animals and synthetic fat. Plant sources, also called vegetable oil, are from seeds, flowers and fruits of plants.  Animal sources are either from animal parts, like lard; or animal product, like butter from churned cream or milk. While synthetic oil, known as a fat substitute, is from a specific type of sucrose polyester blend and known to used in manufacturing chips.

First, focusing on the different types of vegetable oil, its characteristic, heat tolerance and ideal application, would help narrowing down on what vegetable oil to by for certain type of cooking technique. It is important to match the oil tolerance with the temperature a cooking technique employs to achieve a desired product and more important safe and healthy.

Characteristics of Cooking Oil

Fatty acids

Generally a fatty acid is made up of a straight chain of an even number of carbon atoms with hydrogen and carboxyl group at opposite end. If the carbon to carbon bonds are all single the acid is saturated, while if double or triple, it is unsaturated and more reactive. Monounsaturated contains one double bond, while polyunsaturated contains more than one double bond [2].

Oils high in monounsaturated fats store longer than those high in polyunsaturated fats, while, the shelf life of oils high in saturated fats is longer than high in unsaturated. Low in polyunsaturated fats is less reactive and more stable. However, always consider the best before date that are on the product labels. The variety of oil stability will aid in choosing which oil one could stock in greater quantity, compare to which oil to keep in smaller quantity.

The characteristic of stability, oils with high saturated or monounsaturated fats are general ideal for frying food than high in polyunsaturated fats.

Fatty acid is an important component of living cells, as it is a source of fuel for most animals. With its effect on human health have some controversial as in the 1950s promotes low in saturated fats is healthier, but new studies and review have challenged that claim. A discussion on the different health benefits of fatty acids and discovering which cooking oil is deem healthiest would be on another separate article after presenting all the different cooking oils.    

Smoke point, Flash point and Fire point

These cooking oils characteristic pertains to temperatures. The smoke point is the temperature at which oil start to burn, having burnt flavor in the food, and the degradation of essential nutrients. The flash point is above the smoke point, is the temperature at which oil vapors will ignite but inability to remain lit. While the fire point is when enough oil vapors will ignite and sustain a burn [3]. The longer the oil has been heated, there lower these temperature points become.

The variation of cooking oil’s smoking point is due to the refining process. The more impurities and free fatty acids remove, the higher the smoking point. Refined version of the oil is more ideal for frying compare to unrefined cooking oil type.

Cooking oil is an essential part in food preparation and it is valuable to be aware of the different variety and it’s characteristic. Information would help which cooking oil would be ideal for certain cooking method and food preparation.  Moreover, knowledge on cooking oil shelf life would be economically beneficial. Besides, all oils degrade in response to heat, light and oxygen, so the general proper storage would be a cool, dark, and dry place.

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References

1. Kinkead, E.B., Sehbai, D.S. & Tunney, C.J. (Eds.). (1972). Modern Century Illustrated Encyclopedia (Vols. 9). Australia: McGraw-hill Far Eastern Publishers

2. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2013). Encyclopedia Britannica. [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/science/fatty-acid . Retrieved on 2017, October 12.

3. Gunstone, F.D. (Ed.). (2011). Vegetable Oils in Food Technology: Composition, Properties and Uses (Second Edition). United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.