Grapeseed, sunflower and canola oils all have smoke points above 250☌, while AEVOO is in the range 200-220☌. To date the smoke point of an oil has been used to indicate its stability, but the results from these tests contradict this. The best performers with the lowest level of polar compounds and trans fats were coconut oil and AEVOO. These oils also produced the greatest amounts of harmful trans fats. The worst performers here were sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, canola oil and rice bran oil. Most of the oils were stable for the first hour, but over the next couple of hours there were big differences between oils. The results from the second test, examining the stability of the oil over time, are shown in the graph below. Test 2: What happened to the oils when heated over time? It was remarkably stable right up to 240☌." "The AEVOO, the solid green line, performed the best with only a tiny rise. It was remarkably stable right up to 240☌. The other oils all remained below the 25% cut-off, but you can clearly see that the AEVOO, the solid green line, performed the best with only a tiny rise. Yet worryingly, this is a commonly used oil in industrial kitchens and in food production. Both had a rise in polar compounds from the relatively low temperature of 150☌ and by the time the oils reached 240☌ the canola oil was well over the safety cut-off of 25%. The grey line is grapeseed oil and the yellow line canola oil – both oils that are sold as healthier oils, particularly for cooking. The graph below shows the percentage of polar compounds produced as the temperature increased. Test 1: What happened when oils were heated? So, what happened to the cooking oils during these two tests? Let’s take a look. In a commercial kitchen where oils are used repeatedly, oils are regularly tested and if the level of polar compounds in the oil exceeds 25% the oil is deemed unfit for human consumption and no longer safe to use. When you heat an oil a number of chemical changes happen including oxidative damage to the fats present and a number of potentially harmful compounds such as polar compounds are formed. So, in this test they were heated to 180☌ for 6 hours. The second test was designed to see how stable the oils were over time. This is generally much higher than you would cook in your kitchen at home, but is not uncommon in commercial kitchens. In the first test the oils were gradually heated over 20 minutes from 25 to 240☌. The researchers ran two tests on the oils. The question has long been asked however about the safety of cooking with extra virgin olive oil, but what about other cooking oils? The real question we should be asking is which is the safest oil to cook with?Ī few months ago, I wrote about cooking with extra virgin olive oil, but can now bring you the results from new Australian research comparing the following common cooking oils: AEVOO, olive oil (a refined blend), canola oil, rice bran oil, grapeseed oil, coconut oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil and avocado oil. These are basically the only oils I need for cooking, drizzling and dressing. What you will find are a variety of different Australian extra virgin olive oils (AEVOO). Neither will you find vaguely named ‘vegetable oil’ (this is a misnomer as no oil comes from vegetables, these are blended, refined oils, primarily extracted from seeds), rice bran oil or grapeseed oil. Today while you’ll certainly find whole sunflower seeds in my pantry, you won’t find sunflower oil. My mum had a big plastic bottle of it next to the cooker and this was basically used for all cooking, while the extra virgin olive oil was kept in the pantry to be used for salad dressings. When I was growing up the ‘in’ oil for cooking was sunflower oil.
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