How to Choose the Right Cooking Oil from the Supermarket?

Just pouring some oil into the wok and starting to cook is the easiest part of cooking. For delicious food on the plate of your breakfast or dinner, one must choose the best cooking oil. Do you know that different cooking oils bring different taste to food depending on the way of cooking? In recent years, the awareness about the healthiest cooking oils has been increased across the world. According to a report by Research Dive, the global cooking oil market is expected to experience a booming growth in upcoming years.

There are some ways you can choose the best cooking oil for your family. Some of them are mentioned below:

1. Constancy of Cooking Oil

Best quality cooking oils remain steady under high temperature. This kind of steadiness depends on the way the oil oxidize or how effortlessly they respond with oxygen to produce free radicals. The relative degree of saturation of the fatty acids in the oil is most significant factor in identifying the resistance of the oil to oxidation.

2. Smoking Points

The smoking point or the burning point is another element to consider before choosing the cooking oil for your family. Smoking point is basically the temperature at which the oil starts smoking in the pan. When the oil starts to smoke, the flavor and healthy components get spoiled as the burning creates a toxic mixture of free radicals and trans fats. Smoke points of cooking oil range from relatively low 325o F to very high 520o F.

The smoke point is higher for more refined oil and the taste becomes more neutral.

Generally, the more refined oil, the more neutral it tastes, and the higher its smoke point. Refined avocado oil and sunflower oil have high smoke points which are over 400 degrees. Avocado oil is considered to be excellent oil for higher temperatures cooking.

3. Quality of Higher Temperature

The original raw ingredients such as seeds, nuts, fruit, and grains are essential in determining the quality of the oil. There’s no doubt that organic oils are better than the non-organic ones. This is because of the pesticides. They are soluble in fat and get stored in the fatty acids of the plant. Oils being highly concentrated, small amounts of pesticides and other toxins in the environment mix up easily.

Organic oil products are refined in a non-genetic way. Canola, cotton seed, soybean, corn are the non-organic and they are refined genetically.

4. Fat content:

Most of the cooking oils contain saturated (SAFA), monounsaturated (MUFA), and polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids. Creating a balance of these contents, while choosing the cooking oil, is essential.

Being highly stable, saturated fats resist oxidation and supports digestion. These fats, however, are less healthy compared to monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats as the latter two reduce the risk of heart diseases and high cholesterol level.

5. Perfect Omega Ratio:

According to National Institute of Nutrition and Indian Council of Medical Research, for good health, Omega 6 and Omega 3 ratio is the perfect ratio. Look out for cooking oil that is rich in Omega 3 and Omega 

6. Vitamins A, E and D:

A crucial part of a healthy diet is cooking oil that is supplemented with vitamins A, E, and D. Vitamin A is good for lifestyle changes and stress and anxiety.  Vitamin E is essential for healthy hair and skin and Vitamin D enhanced immunity.

Cooking good food is an art. There’s no second opinion to that. But, preparing healthy food needs healthy cooking oil which enhances taste of the food and also contributes to the good heath of the entire family. In the supermarket aisle of food and essentials, you’ll get confused by the wide variety of cooking oil. Next time, you won’t get confused while choosing the best cooking oil if you’ve read through this blog.

About the Author(s)

   

Upama Goswami

Upama Goswami is a creative writer, editor, aspiring poet, and life-long learner of philosophy, literature, technology, and all things interesting. Her works have been published in various online publications. Upama is quite creative in her craft and can engage her audience with a compelling style of storytelling. She loves to paint, travel, exploring different niches of performing arts, watching movies, and learn new languages in her free time.