What You Need To Know About Cooking With Oils

At WeeMunch we believe that how you prepare your food is as important as what you eat. Last week we introduced you to The Jungle Effect by Dr. Daphne Miller. One of the appendixes in her book provides an excellent overview to oils, how to cook with them, store them and discard them. Here is the 411 you need to know about cooking with oils:

1. Store oils in a cool, dark place to protect from light, moisture and oxygen. This protects your oils from becoming rancid or developing a lower smoke point.

2. Avoid heating oil above its smoke point. When oil starts to smoke or burn, it releases carcinogens in the air and forms dangerous free radicals that should not be ingested. Throw out any oil that smokes, turn on the stove fan, and start over.

3. Do not reuse oils used for frying. Each heating causes the fatty acids to break down and release harmful free radicals into the oil.

4. Cooking oil should never be dumped down the drain. A single gallon of oil can contaminate as much as a million gallons of water. Improper disposal of oil can congeal in our pipes and cause serious plumbing problems, and more importantly it can harm fish, other wildlife, and destroy millions of gallons of drinking water. The best way to dispose of your cooking oil is to place it in a non-rcyclable container and throw it out with your regular garbage. It can also be recycled in soap or biodiesel fuel. Search for Household Hazardous Waste disposal centres to see if you can recycle your cooking oil locally.

No-Heat Oils/Fats

Nutritional supplement oils (store in the fridge in a dark container)
Fish Oil, Flaxseed Oil, Evening primrose Oil, Borage Seed Oil

Medium-Heat Oils (up to 350 Degrees F)

Great for sauteing, sauces, salad dressing, wok cooking (richer flavour)
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, Unrefined Sesame Oil, Unrefined Peanut Oil, Butter, Walnut Oil

Medium-High Heats (up to 425 Degrees F)

Great for baking, sautéing
Butter, Refined Canola Oil, Refined Walnut Oil, Refined Peanut Oil,

High Heat Oils (up to 510 Degrees F)

Great for frying, sautéing (neutral flavour)
Refined Avocado Oil, Refined Almond Oil, Refined Super High Heat Canola Oil, Palm Fruit Oil. Refined Sunflower Oil, Refined Sesame Oil, Refined Safflower Oil (high oleic), Refined Extra Light Olive Oil