This is a good read.. has all the info on the oils we use
from http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/oils.html
Varieties
General: Oils and fats are pretty uniform at 120 calories per tablespoon. The only exceptions are semi-solid products sold whipped with a lot of air - fewer calories by the tablespoon but still the same per ounce. The words "Light", "Lite" and similar applied to oils refer to taste, not to calories.
For smoke point and fat type content, refer to our Oils Chart.
Achiote Oil / Lard - see Annatto Oil.
Almond Oil
While the smoke point of refined almond oil is high (495°F/255°C), you're more likely to find this oil as an "unrefined" oil which should be used for low temperature applications because taking it too high will destroy the flavor you paid extra for.
Annatto Oil / Annatto Lard [Lara (sp), Achiote Oil / Lard (sp)]
Oil or lard infused with annatto seeds which dye it an intense red-gold color (orange to yellow as thinned) and give it a subtle warm flavor. This oil is important in Cuban, Filipino, Portuguese, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Jamaican Cooking.
You can make it easily by adding 1/2 cup annatto seeds to 1 cup oil (or 1 cup annatto to 1 cup lard) then heating and stirring over moderate heat until the desired color is achieved (overheating will cause it to lose its red color and flavor). Alternately for oil, heat to 350°F, take off heat and stir in annatto. Continue stirring until foaming stops and desired color is achieved.
Argan Oil
This oil was, until recently, almost unknown outside Morocco. It is used as a dipping oil, as a cooking oil, and is important in cosmetics, having a very high vitamin E and phenol content. This oil is now much more widely known due to conservation efforts and is now exported as a high value product making properly managing the trees economical. Details and Cooking. Photo distrubuted under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.
Avocado Oil
Here we have a real smoke point champion (520°F/270°C). If you want to sear meat quickly, or some other very high temperature application, this is the way to go. It is also a very healthy oil with a profile similar to Olive Oil. Unfortunately, it's not commonly available.
Beef Fat [Suet, Tallow]
Suet is fat from the abdominal cavity of a cow or sheep and makes the best tallow, but meat packers more likely use any fat found on the animal. This is "rendered" by boiling and skimming to produce a purified white fat called tallow.
Well made tallow can be kept at room temperature much longer than suet without spoiling. This fat was once used to make candles and as a lubricant but today is used mainly to make soap and industrial products, and by "fast food" restaurants as a low cost ingredient. It is also favored as a binder and nutrient in making winter feed blocks for song birds.
Beef fat is, of course, the primary flavoring and moistening agent in beef, particularly American beef which has been bred and fed to maximize "marbling". Consequently, fat cannot be largely removed from beef as it can be from other animal meats because it's shot through the muscle. On the other hand, the beef is of inferior edibility without it.
Butter
Whole butter is a mix of fats, milk solids and moisture derived by churning cream until the oil droplets stick together and can be separated out. Shown are the standard 1 pound and 1/4 pound blocks and a jar of ghee (see below). Butter is high in saturated fats which cause it to be solid at normal room temperature. Whole butter can be used only at low temperatures because included milk protein solids brown and then burn easily. Overheated butter loses much of its flavor and severely overheated butter will be bitter.
"Canola" is an invented name (Canada + oil + low acid) for genetically modified rapeseed oil. Technically it is "low erucic acid, low glucosinolates rapeseed oil". Originally this modification was by breeding but recently it's by "engineering", with 80% of the crop now considered "GM".
Rapeseed oil was long an important lubricant for machinery exposed to water and steam, so during World War II, when European and Asian supplies were cut off, large plantings were established in Canada. After the war new markets needed to be found, so voila! "Health food".
Rape is a member of the mustard / cabbage family. Stems of leaves are sold in Asian markets as Yu Choy, and it's a fine vegetable - but unmodified rapeseed oil is high in erucic acid, thought to cause of heart lesions in humans and animals. The FDA consider it unfit for food. The genetically modified Canola version has under 2% erucic acid and is listed by the FDA as GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe), though it's rumored that listing cost Canada a bundle.
Canola is now intensely promoted by the seed oil industry as the healthiest of all cooking oils, pointing to it's high monounsaturated and Omega-3 fat contents. The success of this promotion is shown by the many cookbooks now specifically listing Canola oil in every recipe calling for cooking oil. As usual with industry promotions, there's negative stuff swept under the carpet. Some experts point to dangers and a few even call it unfit for human consumption - but those shrill Internet tracts about mustard gas are completely without merit. For more details see our Canola Oil page, Photo by Prazak distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution v3.0.
Castor Oil
Pressed from the seeds of a member of the spurge family, this oil tastes awful so you don't want to use if for cooking. Traditionally, castor oil was used as a gentle laxative and to induce vomiting. Today it is used in a large number of industrial products and processes, but not in food. The beans from which it is squeezed also contain ricin, one of the most toxic substances known, but it is not in the oil.
Chicken Fat
Important in European Jewish cooking but otherwise little used today. Schmaltz (rendered chicken or goose fat) is used as a spread for bread and to cook chopped liver and potato pancakes (see Recipe. Goose fat is preferred for its flavor if available.
Coconut Oil
Depending on your preferred panel of experts, coconut oil is either more deadly than heart killing pig fat or the most healthy oil on earth. It's 91% saturated fat (pig lard is just 43%). Saturated fats are supposed to clog your arteries with "bad" cholesterol. Unfortunately for "accepted medical knowledge" no clogging is found among those who use coconut oil every day for every meal, and the only study showing it to be bad (in an animal study) is invalid because it used hydrogenated oil (evil trans fats).
Coconut is the most used cooking oil in southeast India, Indonesia and the Philippines. Northern Indians despise coconut oil as "smelly", but the oil commonly available in the U.S. is thoroughly deodorized and has almost no smell at all.
Some say the discrepancy from medical theory is because there are "good" and "bad" saturated fats just as we now have "good" vs. "bad" cholesterol, but others hold that the whole saturated fat theory is bunk. See our article Oils, Fats & Health for more on this.
Anyway, my tests show coconut oil is a fine medium temperature frying oil, clear and devoid of any flavor that would interfere with the taste of the food being fried. Since it's solid at room temperature it can also be used as a shortening for baked goods.
Coconut oil is highly resistant to rancidity, so it can be stored at room temperature for long periods of time and is a preferred ingredient for many products that will be stored at room temperature. Of course, with all that saturated fat it's pretty stiff except in a California heat wave when it'll be quite liquid.
Coconut oil has an extremely low oxidation factor so it's highly durable as a deep fat oil, even more durable than beef tallow, but has to be kept below 350°F/175°C making it of limited use for commercial deep fry.
Cod Liver Oil
See Fish Oil except cod liver oil is very high in vitamin D and used as a supplement for those short of that vitamin.
Corn Oil [Maize Oil (uk)]
Corn oil, along with Soy Oil is a dominant ingredient in supermarket general purpose frying/salad oil. This oil is manufactured in vast quantity in the U.S. (and corn growers are promoting it as a motor fuel in hopes of pushing the price up). Since there are better oils for any particular purpose, and even for general purpose (Grape Seed, Canola), I see no reason to use it unless price is the only consideration.
Cottonseed Oil
Rarely found on store shelves, cottonseed oil is used in massive quantity by the food industry, particularly for salad dressing and for hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil products such as vegetable shortening, margarine and hydrogenated fry oils used by the fast food and snack food industries. New "zero trans fats" products generally depend on fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil for their room temperature solidity and resistance to heat and rancidity.
Duck Fat
Duck and Goose fat are very flavorful and particularly excellent for frying potatoes. As with all animal fats the smoke point is moderate (375°F/190°C) and you don't want to get too close to it or you'll lose flavor, so fry slowly. This is not a commercial product in the U.S., so you'll have to render your own when you cook a duck.
Duck Butter is a water soluble lubricant used in stretch forming aircraft skins and in plumbing. I'm not sure if it is now or ever was made out of ducks.
Fish Oils
Fish oils are generally not sold in bottles for cooking use (though health food purveyors do sell it in capsules). Fish oils are particularly high in Omega-3 polyunsaturated oils which all sides of the oils vs. health battles pretty much agree is highly beneficial. Omega-3 oils appears to reduce the incidence of various cancers to perhaps an even greater degree than the Omega-9 monounsaturated oils in Olive Oil.
This opinion appears to be supported by the evidence of ethnic populations that eat a lot of fish. These oils are best added to the diet by eating oily fish such as mackerel, tuna, salmon and herring. While the body can convert the Omega-3 in vegetable oils (flax, canola) into the Omega-3 oils found in fish, that process can be blocked by a number of factors, including those evil trans fats again.
Flaxseed Oil [Linseed Oil]
Flaxseed oil is sold as a food supplement rather than for cooking. Fiber from the seeds is sometimes included as it is considered beneficial at some dosages. Flaxseed oil has its cachet from an Omega-3 fatty acid known as alfa-linolenic acid.
From its Omega-3 content flaxseed oil is compared to fish oil, but the comparison isn't necessarily valid because the Omega-3 oils in fish oil are very different from that in flaxseed and canola oils. The major uses of flaxseed oil are still paints, varnish and industrial products.
Ghee - see Butter and Vegetable Ghee.
Goose Fat
Goose and Duck fat are very flavorful and particularly excellent for frying potatoes. As with all animal fats the smoke point is moderate (375°F/190°C) and you don't want to get too close to it or you'll lose flavor, so fry slowly. This is not a commercial product in the U.S., so you'll have to render your own when you cook your goose. Goose fat is used as a tastier alternative to chicken fat for Schmaltz (see Recipe) in European Jewish cuisine.
Grape Seed Oil:
This is promoted as an excellent all-around frying oil because it has a very high smoke temperature (480°F/250°C for refined oil) and is highly resistant to breaking down. Once again, be aware of gourmet "cold pressed" or "virgin" oils which will smoke at a much lower temperature.
With its unobtrusive flavor, grape seed oil can be used for Chinese stir fry in place of peanut oil called for in many recipes. Grape seed oil is higher in polyunsaturates than some other oils (see chart) but has a high anti-oxidant content so it resists rancidity better than many vegetable oils. One caution: it's a fast drying oil so you want to clean up splatter right away because cleaning will be a lot harder in a few days. On the other hand, this makes it very good for seasoning bare steel and cast iron cookware.
Jojoba Oil
Pronounced "hohoba" this oil is actually a liquid wax (waxes and oils are closely related). The main culinary interest in jojoba is as an appetite suppressant (it produces a satisfying full feeling without contributing a lot of calories) but this is still in the experimental stages. Currently it is popular as a cosmetic oil and as the only lubricant that can replace sperm whale oil. Jojoba beans grow on a shrub native to the deserts of southwest U.S. but experimental plantings have been made in Egypt and elsewhere.
Lamb Fat - see Sheep Fat.
Lara - see Annatto Oil.
Lard [Pig Fat]
Lard is made by "rendering" fat cut from pigs by boiling and skimming. This was once the most popular cooking and baking fat in America and Europe, but has largely been replaced by vegetable shortenings due to fear of saturated fats, but it's still heavily used in Mexican cooking. Now that evil trans fats in vegetable shortening are claimed to be even more dangerous, pig is back in the running. Experts say the health implications for lard are about the same as for butter.
Lard is still by far the best fat for many baking uses such as pie crusts, but U.S. supermarket lard tends to be of poor quality and off flavor. The best lard to use for baking is called "leaf lard" which is made from the fat from around the pigs kidneys. It is available from some specialists (O4).
Of course, those suffering under religious prohibitions against pig must make do with lesser products such as tallow made from lamb or beef and vegetable shortening. Again with lamb, the best fat comes from around the kidneys and it may be available from shops specializing in Near Eastern items. Margarine
This butter substitute sold in 1/4 pound blocks, tubs and other forms is vegetable oil (largely soy and corn) caused to be solid at room temperature by "partial hydrogenation". Back in the '60s health gurus told us to use margarine instead of butter to avoid dangerous heart killing saturated fat, but today we are told hydrogenation produces evil trans fats which are at least as bad as saturated fats.
"Soft margarine" sold in tubs has a much lower trans fat content. See our Oil Chart for details. Of course this product doesn't work well where a more solid product is needed such as baking, where you might as well use leaf lard which provides the best results and is now no more dangerous than butter.
Margarine was originally made from beef suet and lard as a cheap substitute for butter, but by the 1920s it was manufactured entirely from low cost vegetable oils.
When I was a child my parents bought margarine when butter was a lot more expensive. It was white then by law due to pressure from the dairy lobby and I got to break open the capsule of yellow dye and stir it into the white margarine until it looked sort of like butter.
On my own I've never used margarine because the flavor and texture remind me too much of axle grease. I figured dying sooner from butter would still be the better deal overall. Now there's no reason to use it at all since the trans fat issue has reduced the margarine promoters to telling us their product is "nowhere near as bad as you've heard".
Mineral Oil
Mineral oil has medicinal uses but its main use in the kitchen is to saturate your cutting board and other wood items to make them water resistant. Unlike vegetable oils, mineral oil will never go rancid or dry into a varnish.
Made from the same basic feed stock as diesel fuel and gasoline, mineral oil is refined until it is water clear and safe for human consumption - but it's indigestible and should never be used for cooking. Basically, it's a liquid form of vaseline. Find it at a local pharmacy or in the medicines section of your local supermarket.
Mustard Oil
Mustard oil is important in India, particularly in Bengal (northeast India and Bangladesh) but also in Goa and other parts of northern India and Pakistan. Many consider this oil essential to get the proper flavor for recipes from these regions. This oil is unique in that usage calls for heating to the smoke point, but only for a second or two. The flavor of raw mustard oil is harsh, but brought to the smoke point and then cooling down a bit the flavor becomes much more pleasing.
Because of its high erucic acid content, a substance formerly thought to be dangerous, all mustard oil sold in the U.S. and the European Union carries the warning "For Massage Use Only" in small print on the label. Demographic data and recent research suggest there is no significant risk (except to male rats). Details and Cooking
Mutton Fat - see Sheep Fat.
Olive Oil
Here we have the king of both cooking and salad oils with a range of quality and flavors we associate with wine. The Finest olive oils do tend to come from areas famed for wine: Italy, California, Greece (OK, retsina isn't to our taste) and Spain. Turkey, Lebanon and Tunisia also makes fine olive oil, and could make good wine but for the prohibitions of Islamic law. Of these, Italy and California produce the top quality oils. Italians import huge quantities of olives from Spain and Greece, so oil labeled "Italian" isn't guaranteed made from Italian grown olives. In fact it may contain little oil of Italian manufacture at all.
When I first learned to cook, health "experts" warned us to avoid olive oil since it contained more artery clogging saturated fats than other vegetable oils. Today it's the only oil both the warring seed oil and coconut oil partisans agree is healthy and it's the darling of both gourmets and natural foods enthusiasts. Now saturated fats are gaining favor, hydrogenated oils are the devil and polyunsaturated vegetable oils are trying to avoid demonization. Details and Cooking.
Omega-3, Omega-6, Omega-9 Fats
Omega-6 are your standard polyunsaturated fats found in vegetable oils. Omega-3 fats, particularly from fish, are considered to promote health, while Omega-6 fats are considered by some to promote heart disease and cancer. See our article Oils, Fats & Health. Omega-9 is your monounsaturated fat as in olive oil.
There is debate over the validity of relating Omega-3 in vegetable oils (Canola and Flaxseed) to the health benefits of fish oils, as the Omega-3 oils in fish are quite different from the one in vegetable oils, and the vegetable ones come with many times the percentage of Omega-6 compared to fish.
Palm Oil
A bright red/orange palm oil is typical of the cuisine of Brazil. It's not easily available in the U.S. but you can get pretty close by coloring some coconut oil with annato as in Annatto Oil (though taste and odor won't be quite the same).
The palm oil available in the U.S. is generally deodorized and with the color removed. Most commonly it's been made into Vegetable Ghee sold in groceries catering to Near Eastern and Indian communities.
Peanut [Ground Nut (uk)]
Planter's peanut oil used to be wildly popular and in every grocery but now any peanut oil is hard to find. Acquisition of Planters and near destruction of its brand name and markets is a textbook case for the incompetence of overpaid corporate executives and wrote "fini" to the then popular management theory that "a trained manager can manage anything".
Peanuts are actually legumes (beans) rather than nuts, so general comments about "nut oils" do not apply.
Peanut oil is called for particularly in Chinese cooking because its light flavor does not detract from the flavor of quickly stir fried ingredients and its high smoke point lends it to that style of frying. I find "house brand" peanut oil in gallon jugs and 5 gallon cans at a local restaurant supply store, but substitutes like grape seed oil are now available everywhere (peanut is lower in polyunsaturates).
Pig Fat - see Lard.
Rapeseed Oil - traditional rapeseed oil is not considered suitable for food in North America but is widely used in Asia. A genetically modified version "market named" Canola Oil is now widely used in North America, particularly for "healthy" restaurant and food processing use.
Rice Bran Oil
Extracted from the byproducts of milling brown rice into white, this oil has a fat profile almost identical to Peanut Oil except it is much higher in antioxidants, can go to even higher temperatures and is OK for people allergic to nut oils. It is quite neutral in flavor so is suitable for applications where the distinctive flavor of Olive Oil is not wanted. Formerly an upscale "health food" cooking oil, oils from California and Italy are now appearing at prices in the Olive Oil range. It is widely used as a cosmetic and anti-aging oil as well as in sunscreens.
Safflower
Safflower is a member of the sunflower family, but its oil is even higher in polyunsaturated fat and lower in saturated fat than sunflower oil. This extreme composition means it does not solidify when refrigerated, which has made it a favorite for production of salad dressings. It also has a very high smoke point, 510°F/265°C. A very useful oil unless you are one of the growing number that suspects polyunsatuates are evil.
Schmaltz - (from German schmalz: rendered fat (commonly pork fat in Germany)) rendered Chicken Fat or Goose Fat used as a spread and as a cooking fat in European Jewish cooking. Recipe for making it.
Seal Oil
Rendered from the fat of seals, this oil is preferred by Alaska's native Inuit for cooking, garnishing and dipping. To quote a lady reciting a recipe on the radio, "It's delicious, but then anything cooked in seal oil would be delicious".
Seal oil is rather difficult to get in the lower 48 and Hawaii, so you really have to know someone in Alaska or northern Canada. Alternatively, it's easy to make it yourself. When you cut up your seal, take all the blubber and cut it in chunks. Put the chunks in a bucket which you keep at about 40°F somewhere the dogs can't get at it. In about 5 days the oil will have rendered out and can be used as is or can be filtered and purified depending on your needs (if your outdoor temperature is above 40°F you might want to render by boiling and skimming instead).
Sesame Seed Oil
This oil, pressed from tiny sesame seeds, is available in several distinctly different varieties. The photo shows Gingelly on the left and Dark sesame oil on the right (with sesame seeds in the front).
Store these relatively perishable oils in a cool place away from light in tightly sealed containers and they should last up to 9 months. Since I use little of it I usually store a small can of the dark sesame oil in the refrigerator (it does not solidify) to extend its life.
Sheep fat is processed from suet to tallow the same way as Beef Fat and is particularly used as a substitute for Lard by those living under religious prohibitions against pig. Note that in the U.S., mutton does not exist - any sheep that hasn't died of old age is a "lamb".
The preferred fat is from the sheep's tail, and in some countries sheep are specially bred for large fat laden tails. Tail fat is not available in the U.S. because the tail is always cut off new born lambs here. This is to avoid a problem with flies you'd rather not know about. The other preferred fat comes from around the kidneys, same as with "leaf lard" from pigs.
Shortening - see Lard and Vegetable Shortening. Shortening is an animal fat or vegetable oil product containing enough saturated fat (or trans fats) to make it fairly solid at room temperature - important for pie crusts, cookies and other baked goods.
Soy Oil
Soy oil was originally produced for the manufacture of paint, but when the air pollution folks forced the paint makers to go to mostly acrylics, the soy industry looked for new markets and chose food. Now soy oil, along with corn oil, dominates the market for general purpose cooking oil sold in the supermarkets.
While serious health questions surround some soy products (soy milk and TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein)), soybean oil is widely considered safe, unless you ask the coconut oil partisans. Because it is high in polyunsaturated fats and contains limited antioxidants it is more subject to rancidity than, say, olive oil or canola oil, so keep it in tightly sealed containers in a cool place away from direct sun and it should be good for 9 months or so.
Suet - See Beef Fat
Sunflower Oil
Sunflower oil is used extensively in Russia and the Black Sea countries where sunflowers grow in profusion (the giant yellow sunflowers are natives of Siberia and the Russian grasslands).
Refined sunflower oil is a good all-around cooking oil but not as neutral in flavor as grapeseed or peanut. "Virgin" or "cold pressed" sunflower oils have a very low smoke point and should not be used for cooking. High in polyunsaturates, sunflower oil will go rancid faster than, say, olive oil or canola oil. Store it tightly sealed in a cool dark place and use it within 9 months.
"High Oleic" sunflower oils are now made which approach the oil balance of olive oil and are much more durable for deep frying than the regular sunflower oil.
Tallow - See Beef Fat
Vegetable Ghee
A substitute for Butter Ghee (clarified butter) derived from vegetable oils. It became popular in India due to the high cost of dairy ghee and because some religious groups use no animal products at all. Later it came to be considered healthier than butter ghee just as vegetable shortening did in the U.S..
The products I've used are made from 100% palm oil colored with beta carotene and with some butter like flavorings added. This casts it deep into the tropical oils controversy. I see no problem with the palm oil products, but vegetable ghee made from hydrogenated oils would be Trans Fats - same problem as with vegetable shortening and fast food fries.
Vegetable Oil - Products so labeled are a blend of whatever seed oils the manufacturer can buy most cheaply. Generally they will be oils high in polyunsaturates such as Soy and Corn. Read the label as it varies greatly, and it can even say "may contain" so the manufacturer can vary the composition with market fluctuations.
Vegetable Shortening
Proctor and Gamble invented Crisco, the first vegetable shortening, because they were being killed in the soap business by competitors. They made it from the same cottonseed oil they used for soap and sold it based on unverified claims (no FDA back then) that it was a "healthier" substitute for Lard in baked goods. This sounds just like the recent shift by the soy oil folks from paint to "healthier food".
The main requirements for vegetable shortening are to be a fat solid at normal room temperature, devoid of flavor and made from plants, so vegetable oils, mostly cotton seed, soy and corn, are partially hydrogenated to achieve the right consistency.
Unfortunately partially hydrogenated oils are evil trans fats, now considered the most dangerous type of fat, more dangerous even than evil saturated fats. New government labeling laws and a flood of health articles are making this product harder to market, so the edible oil industry has responded with new formulas (Crisco & others) with very low trans fat content. These are made by fully hydrogenating cottonseed oil.
Fully hydrogenated oils have the consistency of a hockey puck, but by whipping in unhydrogenated vegetable oils the correct consistency can be achieved. Of course fully hydrogenated oils are saturated fats, what they were trying to get away from in the first place. It's still about half the saturated fats of butter or lard, so it's better for you unless you're more concerned about the high content of ( dangerous?) polyunsaturates.
Walnut Oil
While the smoke point of refined walnut oil is reasonably high (400°F/200°C), this oil is far more commonly found as an "unrefined" oil which should be used for lower temperature frying and salad applications because taking it too high will destroy the flavor you paid extra for.
Whale Oil
Whale oil was once heavily used in the U.S. for lamp oil and lubricants but not for cooking. The Inuit do use whale oil for cooking as an alternative for Seal Oil. Oil from sperm whales (actually a liquid wax) is still the best oil for some precision lubrication applications but is now generally illegal due to the endangered status of whales (the last sperm oil company in the U.S. closed in 197
. Jojoba Oil is the only satisfactory alternative for whale oil lubricants.
from http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/oils.html
Varieties
General: Oils and fats are pretty uniform at 120 calories per tablespoon. The only exceptions are semi-solid products sold whipped with a lot of air - fewer calories by the tablespoon but still the same per ounce. The words "Light", "Lite" and similar applied to oils refer to taste, not to calories.
For smoke point and fat type content, refer to our Oils Chart.
Achiote Oil / Lard - see Annatto Oil.
Almond Oil
Annatto Oil / Annatto Lard [Lara (sp), Achiote Oil / Lard (sp)]
You can make it easily by adding 1/2 cup annatto seeds to 1 cup oil (or 1 cup annatto to 1 cup lard) then heating and stirring over moderate heat until the desired color is achieved (overheating will cause it to lose its red color and flavor). Alternately for oil, heat to 350°F, take off heat and stir in annatto. Continue stirring until foaming stops and desired color is achieved.
Argan Oil
This oil was, until recently, almost unknown outside Morocco. It is used as a dipping oil, as a cooking oil, and is important in cosmetics, having a very high vitamin E and phenol content. This oil is now much more widely known due to conservation efforts and is now exported as a high value product making properly managing the trees economical. Details and Cooking. Photo distrubuted under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Avocado Oil
Beef Fat [Suet, Tallow]
Well made tallow can be kept at room temperature much longer than suet without spoiling. This fat was once used to make candles and as a lubricant but today is used mainly to make soap and industrial products, and by "fast food" restaurants as a low cost ingredient. It is also favored as a binder and nutrient in making winter feed blocks for song birds.
Beef fat is, of course, the primary flavoring and moistening agent in beef, particularly American beef which has been bred and fed to maximize "marbling". Consequently, fat cannot be largely removed from beef as it can be from other animal meats because it's shot through the muscle. On the other hand, the beef is of inferior edibility without it.
Butter
- Clarified Butter is butter that has been warmed until it is liquid. Any residue that floats to the top is skimmed off and discarded, the clear oil is poured off and the solids that sink to the bottom are discarded. Clarified butter can be used at a higher temperature than whole butter and is resistant to rancidity, but it does lack much of the flavor of whole butter.
- Ghee is a very thoroughly clarified and purified butter fat used as a major cooking oil through much of India. Because it is so thoroughly purified of all moisture and solids it can be used at higher temperature and is much more resistant to rancidity than more casually purified clarified butter. Pots of ghee buried by nomads have been found in excellent condition even after a couple hundred years. Many Indians now use vegetable ghee, similar to Western vegetable shortening, for health and economic reasons which brings us back to the saturated vs. trans fat issue (see lard).
- Sweet Butter is butter that has not been salted. It's called for by many European recipes, but if you're going to add salt anyway, using unsalted butter is unnecessary. Even salted butter will turn rancid fairly quickly at room temperature so refrigeration and prompt use is even more important for sweet butter.
"Canola" is an invented name (Canada + oil + low acid) for genetically modified rapeseed oil. Technically it is "low erucic acid, low glucosinolates rapeseed oil". Originally this modification was by breeding but recently it's by "engineering", with 80% of the crop now considered "GM".
Rapeseed oil was long an important lubricant for machinery exposed to water and steam, so during World War II, when European and Asian supplies were cut off, large plantings were established in Canada. After the war new markets needed to be found, so voila! "Health food".
Rape is a member of the mustard / cabbage family. Stems of leaves are sold in Asian markets as Yu Choy, and it's a fine vegetable - but unmodified rapeseed oil is high in erucic acid, thought to cause of heart lesions in humans and animals. The FDA consider it unfit for food. The genetically modified Canola version has under 2% erucic acid and is listed by the FDA as GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe), though it's rumored that listing cost Canada a bundle.
Canola is now intensely promoted by the seed oil industry as the healthiest of all cooking oils, pointing to it's high monounsaturated and Omega-3 fat contents. The success of this promotion is shown by the many cookbooks now specifically listing Canola oil in every recipe calling for cooking oil. As usual with industry promotions, there's negative stuff swept under the carpet. Some experts point to dangers and a few even call it unfit for human consumption - but those shrill Internet tracts about mustard gas are completely without merit. For more details see our Canola Oil page, Photo by Prazak distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution v3.0.
Castor Oil
Chicken Fat
Coconut Oil
Coconut is the most used cooking oil in southeast India, Indonesia and the Philippines. Northern Indians despise coconut oil as "smelly", but the oil commonly available in the U.S. is thoroughly deodorized and has almost no smell at all.
Some say the discrepancy from medical theory is because there are "good" and "bad" saturated fats just as we now have "good" vs. "bad" cholesterol, but others hold that the whole saturated fat theory is bunk. See our article Oils, Fats & Health for more on this.
Anyway, my tests show coconut oil is a fine medium temperature frying oil, clear and devoid of any flavor that would interfere with the taste of the food being fried. Since it's solid at room temperature it can also be used as a shortening for baked goods.
Coconut oil is highly resistant to rancidity, so it can be stored at room temperature for long periods of time and is a preferred ingredient for many products that will be stored at room temperature. Of course, with all that saturated fat it's pretty stiff except in a California heat wave when it'll be quite liquid.
Coconut oil has an extremely low oxidation factor so it's highly durable as a deep fat oil, even more durable than beef tallow, but has to be kept below 350°F/175°C making it of limited use for commercial deep fry.
Cod Liver Oil
Corn Oil [Maize Oil (uk)]
Cottonseed Oil
Duck Fat
Duck Butter is a water soluble lubricant used in stretch forming aircraft skins and in plumbing. I'm not sure if it is now or ever was made out of ducks.
Fish Oils
This opinion appears to be supported by the evidence of ethnic populations that eat a lot of fish. These oils are best added to the diet by eating oily fish such as mackerel, tuna, salmon and herring. While the body can convert the Omega-3 in vegetable oils (flax, canola) into the Omega-3 oils found in fish, that process can be blocked by a number of factors, including those evil trans fats again.
Flaxseed Oil [Linseed Oil]
From its Omega-3 content flaxseed oil is compared to fish oil, but the comparison isn't necessarily valid because the Omega-3 oils in fish oil are very different from that in flaxseed and canola oils. The major uses of flaxseed oil are still paints, varnish and industrial products.
Ghee - see Butter and Vegetable Ghee.
Goose Fat
Grape Seed Oil:
With its unobtrusive flavor, grape seed oil can be used for Chinese stir fry in place of peanut oil called for in many recipes. Grape seed oil is higher in polyunsaturates than some other oils (see chart) but has a high anti-oxidant content so it resists rancidity better than many vegetable oils. One caution: it's a fast drying oil so you want to clean up splatter right away because cleaning will be a lot harder in a few days. On the other hand, this makes it very good for seasoning bare steel and cast iron cookware.
Jojoba Oil
Lamb Fat - see Sheep Fat.
Lara - see Annatto Oil.
Lard [Pig Fat]
Lard is still by far the best fat for many baking uses such as pie crusts, but U.S. supermarket lard tends to be of poor quality and off flavor. The best lard to use for baking is called "leaf lard" which is made from the fat from around the pigs kidneys. It is available from some specialists (O4).
Of course, those suffering under religious prohibitions against pig must make do with lesser products such as tallow made from lamb or beef and vegetable shortening. Again with lamb, the best fat comes from around the kidneys and it may be available from shops specializing in Near Eastern items. Margarine
"Soft margarine" sold in tubs has a much lower trans fat content. See our Oil Chart for details. Of course this product doesn't work well where a more solid product is needed such as baking, where you might as well use leaf lard which provides the best results and is now no more dangerous than butter.
Margarine was originally made from beef suet and lard as a cheap substitute for butter, but by the 1920s it was manufactured entirely from low cost vegetable oils.
When I was a child my parents bought margarine when butter was a lot more expensive. It was white then by law due to pressure from the dairy lobby and I got to break open the capsule of yellow dye and stir it into the white margarine until it looked sort of like butter.
On my own I've never used margarine because the flavor and texture remind me too much of axle grease. I figured dying sooner from butter would still be the better deal overall. Now there's no reason to use it at all since the trans fat issue has reduced the margarine promoters to telling us their product is "nowhere near as bad as you've heard".
Mineral Oil
Made from the same basic feed stock as diesel fuel and gasoline, mineral oil is refined until it is water clear and safe for human consumption - but it's indigestible and should never be used for cooking. Basically, it's a liquid form of vaseline. Find it at a local pharmacy or in the medicines section of your local supermarket.
Mustard Oil
Mustard oil is important in India, particularly in Bengal (northeast India and Bangladesh) but also in Goa and other parts of northern India and Pakistan. Many consider this oil essential to get the proper flavor for recipes from these regions. This oil is unique in that usage calls for heating to the smoke point, but only for a second or two. The flavor of raw mustard oil is harsh, but brought to the smoke point and then cooling down a bit the flavor becomes much more pleasing.Because of its high erucic acid content, a substance formerly thought to be dangerous, all mustard oil sold in the U.S. and the European Union carries the warning "For Massage Use Only" in small print on the label. Demographic data and recent research suggest there is no significant risk (except to male rats). Details and Cooking
Mutton Fat - see Sheep Fat.
Olive Oil
Here we have the king of both cooking and salad oils with a range of quality and flavors we associate with wine. The Finest olive oils do tend to come from areas famed for wine: Italy, California, Greece (OK, retsina isn't to our taste) and Spain. Turkey, Lebanon and Tunisia also makes fine olive oil, and could make good wine but for the prohibitions of Islamic law. Of these, Italy and California produce the top quality oils. Italians import huge quantities of olives from Spain and Greece, so oil labeled "Italian" isn't guaranteed made from Italian grown olives. In fact it may contain little oil of Italian manufacture at all.When I first learned to cook, health "experts" warned us to avoid olive oil since it contained more artery clogging saturated fats than other vegetable oils. Today it's the only oil both the warring seed oil and coconut oil partisans agree is healthy and it's the darling of both gourmets and natural foods enthusiasts. Now saturated fats are gaining favor, hydrogenated oils are the devil and polyunsaturated vegetable oils are trying to avoid demonization. Details and Cooking.
Omega-3, Omega-6, Omega-9 Fats
Omega-6 are your standard polyunsaturated fats found in vegetable oils. Omega-3 fats, particularly from fish, are considered to promote health, while Omega-6 fats are considered by some to promote heart disease and cancer. See our article Oils, Fats & Health. Omega-9 is your monounsaturated fat as in olive oil.
There is debate over the validity of relating Omega-3 in vegetable oils (Canola and Flaxseed) to the health benefits of fish oils, as the Omega-3 oils in fish are quite different from the one in vegetable oils, and the vegetable ones come with many times the percentage of Omega-6 compared to fish.
Palm Oil
A bright red/orange palm oil is typical of the cuisine of Brazil. It's not easily available in the U.S. but you can get pretty close by coloring some coconut oil with annato as in Annatto Oil (though taste and odor won't be quite the same).
The palm oil available in the U.S. is generally deodorized and with the color removed. Most commonly it's been made into Vegetable Ghee sold in groceries catering to Near Eastern and Indian communities.
Peanut [Ground Nut (uk)]
Peanuts are actually legumes (beans) rather than nuts, so general comments about "nut oils" do not apply.
Peanut oil is called for particularly in Chinese cooking because its light flavor does not detract from the flavor of quickly stir fried ingredients and its high smoke point lends it to that style of frying. I find "house brand" peanut oil in gallon jugs and 5 gallon cans at a local restaurant supply store, but substitutes like grape seed oil are now available everywhere (peanut is lower in polyunsaturates).
Pig Fat - see Lard.
Rapeseed Oil - traditional rapeseed oil is not considered suitable for food in North America but is widely used in Asia. A genetically modified version "market named" Canola Oil is now widely used in North America, particularly for "healthy" restaurant and food processing use.
Rice Bran Oil
Safflower
Schmaltz - (from German schmalz: rendered fat (commonly pork fat in Germany)) rendered Chicken Fat or Goose Fat used as a spread and as a cooking fat in European Jewish cooking. Recipe for making it.
Seal Oil
Seal oil is rather difficult to get in the lower 48 and Hawaii, so you really have to know someone in Alaska or northern Canada. Alternatively, it's easy to make it yourself. When you cut up your seal, take all the blubber and cut it in chunks. Put the chunks in a bucket which you keep at about 40°F somewhere the dogs can't get at it. In about 5 days the oil will have rendered out and can be used as is or can be filtered and purified depending on your needs (if your outdoor temperature is above 40°F you might want to render by boiling and skimming instead).
Sesame Seed Oil
Store these relatively perishable oils in a cool place away from light in tightly sealed containers and they should last up to 9 months. Since I use little of it I usually store a small can of the dark sesame oil in the refrigerator (it does not solidify) to extend its life.
- Sesame Oil (plain) is seldom found outside the "health food" section. It's very light colored and has most or all of the sesame flavor filtered out. It's commonly packaged in tiny bottles at absurd prices for use as a salad oil or for moderate temperature cooking - but I have a hard time figuring out why.
- Gingelly Oil is much used in Singapore and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. It is clear and light yellow in color with a very distinct flavor of crushed sesame seeds. It can be found in Indian groceries and stores catering to Southeast Asian populations. This oil is used for condiments and pickles and should not be used at high temperatures as its flavor will be lost.
- Dark sesame oil is familiar from Chinese, Japanese and Korean cuisine. Much darker than Gingelly, this oil is pressed from roasted sesame seeds.and is available in a range of shades and flavors. Use this oil as a flavoring oil, not as a cooking oil. It is generally added to cooked dishes just before they are taken off the heat.
The preferred fat is from the sheep's tail, and in some countries sheep are specially bred for large fat laden tails. Tail fat is not available in the U.S. because the tail is always cut off new born lambs here. This is to avoid a problem with flies you'd rather not know about. The other preferred fat comes from around the kidneys, same as with "leaf lard" from pigs.
Shortening - see Lard and Vegetable Shortening. Shortening is an animal fat or vegetable oil product containing enough saturated fat (or trans fats) to make it fairly solid at room temperature - important for pie crusts, cookies and other baked goods.
Soy Oil
While serious health questions surround some soy products (soy milk and TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein)), soybean oil is widely considered safe, unless you ask the coconut oil partisans. Because it is high in polyunsaturated fats and contains limited antioxidants it is more subject to rancidity than, say, olive oil or canola oil, so keep it in tightly sealed containers in a cool place away from direct sun and it should be good for 9 months or so.
Suet - See Beef Fat
Sunflower Oil
Refined sunflower oil is a good all-around cooking oil but not as neutral in flavor as grapeseed or peanut. "Virgin" or "cold pressed" sunflower oils have a very low smoke point and should not be used for cooking. High in polyunsaturates, sunflower oil will go rancid faster than, say, olive oil or canola oil. Store it tightly sealed in a cool dark place and use it within 9 months.
"High Oleic" sunflower oils are now made which approach the oil balance of olive oil and are much more durable for deep frying than the regular sunflower oil.
Tallow - See Beef Fat
Vegetable Ghee
The products I've used are made from 100% palm oil colored with beta carotene and with some butter like flavorings added. This casts it deep into the tropical oils controversy. I see no problem with the palm oil products, but vegetable ghee made from hydrogenated oils would be Trans Fats - same problem as with vegetable shortening and fast food fries.
Vegetable Oil - Products so labeled are a blend of whatever seed oils the manufacturer can buy most cheaply. Generally they will be oils high in polyunsaturates such as Soy and Corn. Read the label as it varies greatly, and it can even say "may contain" so the manufacturer can vary the composition with market fluctuations.
Vegetable Shortening
The main requirements for vegetable shortening are to be a fat solid at normal room temperature, devoid of flavor and made from plants, so vegetable oils, mostly cotton seed, soy and corn, are partially hydrogenated to achieve the right consistency.
Unfortunately partially hydrogenated oils are evil trans fats, now considered the most dangerous type of fat, more dangerous even than evil saturated fats. New government labeling laws and a flood of health articles are making this product harder to market, so the edible oil industry has responded with new formulas (Crisco & others) with very low trans fat content. These are made by fully hydrogenating cottonseed oil.
Fully hydrogenated oils have the consistency of a hockey puck, but by whipping in unhydrogenated vegetable oils the correct consistency can be achieved. Of course fully hydrogenated oils are saturated fats, what they were trying to get away from in the first place. It's still about half the saturated fats of butter or lard, so it's better for you unless you're more concerned about the high content of ( dangerous?) polyunsaturates.
Walnut Oil
Whale Oil
. Jojoba Oil is the only satisfactory alternative for whale oil lubricants.
