Take a detailed look at plant oils

Plant oils are an important dietary component. They add an appetizing flavour, aroma, and texture to foods and take a long time to digest, making them great for satisfying hunger. This guide will teach you more about plant oils.

• Oils and fats belong to the lipid family and differ only in their melting points. Oils are liquid at room temperature and fats are solid. The two kinds of lipids are otherwise interchangeable, and are necessary in moderate amounts for essential body functions and the absorption of fat-soluable vitamins.
• All fats and oils have a nearly identical caloric content: nine calories per gram, or 240 to 250 per ounce.
• Vegetable oils are cholesterol-free (cholesterol is only found  in animal products).
• As techniques for extracting and preserving oils have improved, many more plants have been introduced to cultivation. Currently, the main oil crops are coconut, corn, cottonseed, olive, palm, peanut, rapeseed (marketed as canola), soybean, and sunflower.
• Most vegetable oils are concentrated in seeds or fruits, which are broken down by pressing or grinding. For some oils, the tissues that remain after pressing are further treated with solvents and heat to remove the last of the oil. "Virgin" oils are those extracted by pressing alone.
• Most oils are refined by lye treatment, centrifugation, and filtration to remove undesirable solids, as well as steam deodorization. Some also go through "winterization" to remove substances that crystallize and can make the oil cloudy when it's chilled.

More and more studies are applauding plant and vegetable oils for their plethora of health benefits. Use this guide to get a better understanding of plant oils and then start using them in your day-to-day cooking. They're both healthy and delicious!

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