Best choice: organic cold pressed oils. For deep frying - go for sesame oil (traditional hindu choice) or coconut oil.
Production
Cold pressed
Cold pressed oils are obtained by physical pressing of the seeds, fruits & nuts and forcing the oil out. This is the same as the traditional process to extract oils.
Refined oils
Refined oils are the oils that are extracted through the use of solvents and through bleaching and deodorizing processes.
Refined oils not only lose the aroma and taste, but also many of the vitamins & nutrients. The refinement processes make the oils last longer at the shelves of the supermarkets as nutrients with lower shelf lives are simply removed.
Hydrogenation
Hydrogenation leads to production of trans fats. Very bad for arteries.
Cooking
Deep frying
- Certain fatty acids present in cold pressed oils get oxidized at high temperatures and turn into free radicals that are harmful. The oxidation happens at a temperature called the ‘smoke point’ of the oil.
- The cold pressed oils have lower smoke point than the refined ones. Hence, for deep frying purposes, one must exercise caution while using cold pressed oils. Among the locally available oils, sunflower oil and safflower oil are not the right choices for deep frying. Instead, one can prefer groundnut oil, sesame oil, mustard oil and coconut oil.
- Once used for deep frying, the oil must be discarded and not kept for further reuse.
- Ghee has a higher smoke point than any of the oils and it is a better idea to use ghee worry-free for deep frying purposes.