There are a variety of selections of cooking oils that we consume daily. A lot of them can change the flavor of the meal making it more tasty, some are more known like the olive oil, canola, soy, coconut oil and more. But there are some oils that are preferred to sauté, bake and drizzle with, choosing the right one can have some amazing benefits to your health.
Which oil is the best for you? It actually depends on what you want to use it for, some oils are not some recommended to use in the daily, the frequently consumption of these can have harmful effects to your health, and other are more preferred to cook or drizzle, this will depend of the type of fat that it is and the smoke point of each oil.
We can categorize oils by main structure, smoke point and the most recommended to use:
STRUCTURE
On structure wise there can be 4 types:
Polyunsaturated ( OMEGA 3, Olive oil, soy, avocado)
Monounsaturated (OMEGA 9, Sunflower, Olive oil, soy, canola)
Saturated (Found in animal fats and products mainly ut also in coconut oil)
Hydrogenated or TRANS fats. Liquid oil are made in solid fats (margarine)
SMOKE POINT
Taking into account the heating point and taking into reference the table below, the oil with a higher temperature resistance are Avocado, safflower, peanut, coconut, olive, sesame. The others like soy, sunflower, margarine are best for a lower temperature and low time exposure to the temperature.
How do you know if they have reached their smoke point? If there is smoke cooking out the pan on the oil it has reached the smoke point and it's more probable to have a negative health effect if the consumption is frequent or if there is reusage of the oil.
USE
Now according to the cooking process and the smoke point the best oil for each process are:
Cooking or Baking: Avocado, coconut oil, safflower, soy, sesame, canola, olive, sunflower.
Drizzle on RAW: All of the high temperature oils can be eaten raw, the best are OLIVE, SOY; AVOCADO, SUNFLOWER, this beacuse it has more OMEGA 3 in their structure than other oils, but use the one that you like the best.
It’s important to say that even if coconut is an oil that can take a lot of temperature while cooking it's mainly saturated fat, it has health benefits, but when consumed on a daily basis can have negative effects on your colesterol levels.
Oils are used to potent a flavor, but the frequency and the ones you choice goes a long way. Oils are more just than fats, they have energy, essential nutrients and health benefits, and so if you want all the benefits that some oils can have it's your job to chosse the best for you.