Which is the healthiest oil for use in the kitchen, vegetable oil (soybean oil), canola oil or olive oil? You may have a different answer for cooking and salads. I know that canola oil is lower is saturated fat, but I have heard that it turns to trans fat at 120 degrees.

linnealand

you're right about the shopping smarts. that's where i am, too. i believe in staying healthy, but i'm not interested in being all extreme about it, and i'm not too interested in getting preachy to others about it either. but i AM an EVOO evangelist to anyone who wants to hear about it, that's for sure.

what on earth is going on with this ice-cream thing? flowers, ice-cream... next we're going to find out that brushing your hair puts holes in your eyes. have you ever left dirty pennies in a cup of coke overnight? if you haven't, give it a try!!

fran: YES! i'm a huge, huge fan of sesame oil. i don't know if any of you are fans of deepak chopra, but i absolutely love him. he discusses the benefits of wiping your skin down every day with sesame oil, lightly rinsing your mouth with it... i've tried it, and i have to say it's AMAZING.

i love homemade cold sesame noodles.

there's a salad that i make for myself all the time. it's just super high quality fennel, cut in half and then sliced thinly, with some salt, a nice amount of freshly cracked black pepper, and some sesame oil drizzled on top (have not tried it with dark/toasted sesame oil). it's strong, but i'm crazy about it.

also, i do the same thing with super good EVOO. replace all sesame oil with EVOO. sounds simple, but i think it's heavenly. you can also add vinegar here, but it's not necessary.

frangipanis

okay, you've convinced me. I'm out to find some sesame oil. The salad sounds delicious Linnealand.

N0help4u

Remember the oils in the section with the Crisco/wesson are not good
The oils with the olive oils are good.

wildandblue

But you have to store your oil properly because rancid oil contains baddies the stuff that you take antioxidants for (heating oil past it's smoke point oxidizes it)Also our local pet supply store had a whole lot of 50# bags of oil sunflower seed for sale. Later when they were all sold to people (as birdseed I guess)the spot where they had been sitting on the salesfloor looked highly suspicious to me. I'm just avoiding trouble, let other people buy it, not me. Also it's called canola oil but the plant it comes from is a form of mustard/radish called rape. Rapeseed oil just doesn't have the same sales appeal. You can make mustard gas from that plant too. No thanks!

frangipanis

we had Trout cooked in sesame oil last night with a vegetable mix including fennel. It was delicious. We mostly use extra virgin olive oil, so apart from anything else, it was nice to have a change.

I hadn't known canola oil was so controversial which we've also used from time to time.

Where do you store your oils wildandblue?

linnealand

sounds delicious, fran! that's the way to eat!

EVOO should be kept in a dark or green bottle, away from heat and sunlight. keep the bottle well closed. easy as pie!

wildandblue

Yes that's right keep it inside a cabinet or pantry in the dark but not a cabinet too close to the stove which would be too warm.

linnealand

one more note - anyone with expired oils should just throw them out immediately, no matter what it cost when you bought it. time can turn it rancid and render it extremely unhealthy to your body.

my dad used to be the cook in the house, and then he left the kitchen for a long time. now my sister and i are major cooks, and when we were over at his place, we found a ton of products that he wanted to keep but we just had to throw out ourselves. it's a hard bullet to bite...but it's a bullet!

wildandblue

We mix leftover oil with a little water, a squirt of dish detergent, and all the hydrated lime it will take to make a creamy consistency. This makes good cheap whitewash paint for fences and barns and sheds.