Shortages, What Next

[Deleted member 174758]

Most "vegetable" oil is rapeseed.

Back when I was young and gave a damn a food chemist told me to stop eating anything marked "vegetable oil" and stick to groundnut oil, corn oil, sunflower oil and olive oil as they wouldn't "clog up my arteries". I've been cooking with 2nd pressing olive oil, corn oil and sunflower oil ever since (in the early 70's I can't recall many firms doing sunflower oil and rapeseed oil was still a way off in the future AFAIK - and groundnut was gallon cans only and silly money, so that was out). The reason for avoiding plain old "vegetable oil" was because the term is still a catch all and in law it can contain any kind of vegetable oil on the planet - including the infamous rainforest-destroying, artery clogging, cholesterol-laden palm oil, which is often still the cheapest bulk vegetable oil available for blending. So, read the label. You've been warned!

 

[Justin Passing]

Ground nut is great for Chinese, but high in sat fats - depends how often..
Coconut oil is unfortunately one of the worst.
In Jordan I had to ask what the heck oil they were using - it was sesame. It's definitely different. You buy it on the street from a big fat Arab with a monster ancient press he heaves on, all lubricated with the stuff.

 

[securespark]

No, I understand what you say about veg oil being a catch all.

IME, all the veg oil I have seen for retail sale has been rapeseed.

Palm oil and vegetable blends are more commonly seen in the food industry.

I trained in Food Technology in the 80s and part of that was food chemistry. In those days, hydrogenation was a BIG thing. Fats had hydrogen added, turning them from liquid unsaturated oils into solid saturated fats.

Hydrogenated fats are still a thing, but I don't believe they are so prevalent.

These should be avoided at all costs.

 

[securespark]

Ground nut is great for Chinese, but high in sat fats - depends how often..
Coconut oil is unfortunately one of the worst.
In Jordan I had to ask what the heck oil they were using - it was sesame. It's definitely different. You buy it on the street from a big fat Arab with a monster ancient press he heaves on, all lubricated with the stuff.

Peanut oil is around 17% sat fat.

I forget what sat fat content coconut oil has, but from memory it's in the 80s.

HOWEVER......it's not all about saturated vs unsaturated. There's a bit more to it than that. It is not fair to say that coconut oil is one of the worst.

It contains Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs). These help balance appetite controlling hormones amongst others, thus keeping you feeling full.

Some studies suggest they also improve your balance of cholesterol by raising HDL ("good" cholesterol) and lowering LDL ("bad" cholesterol) and also help the body to burn fat, although the jury is out, as others say it increases LDL.

Coconut oil is known to lower insulin levels in the body and protect against cardiac diseases.

Toasted sesame oil is often used to flavour Chinese food.

Sesame oil is very popular in the Middle East. Tahini (made from sesame seeds) is a hugely popular ingredient there and its oil likewise.

It is roughly 14% saturated fat.

Edited for clarity.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Palm oil and vegetable blends are more commonly seen in the food industry.

Yes, well the guy did work for one of the refiners. What has surprised me is how much palm oil gets used in chocolate products

Fats had hydrogen added, turning them from liquid unsaturated oils into solid saturated fats.

So you'll remember products like Trex, then (white, hydrogenated vegetable fat). Brilliant for baking.

I did some work at his workplace and at the end of day he gave me and my mate a whistle stop tour of the refinery and packing lines. I remember amazed at how they could completely change smelly, highly coloured raw oil into almost an almost colourless, almost odourless fluid - and how they could pour the hydrogenated fats into a piece of waxed paper and fold it up into a neat block whilst it was still semi-liquid!

 

[JohnD]

What has surprised me is how much palm oil gets used in chocolate products

which are now horrible.

chocolate oranges*, for example, used to be crisp but are now soft and sticky

also cadbury's choc since the septics bought it

german choc has quality standards, so aldi and lidl own brands are much better.

*except the dark one

 

[Deleted member 174758]

We stopped buying most British brands of chocolate quite a few years back (partly an age thing, I suppose). Cadbury's in particular seem to have gone downhill since Hershey's (?) took them over

 

[JohnD]

Hershey's

kraft/mondelez

hershey's is the one with added baby-vomit scent and flavouring*






*true

 

[ajohn]

We use rapeseed and olive oil. The name crisp and dry gives a clue as to when rapeseed is used. It drains off stuff easily and can be used at high temperatures. We don't use much of either.

Commercial food production for shops etc tend to use oils that give specific results as they did with hydrogenated - it took them a while to sort out the use of some other oil. Sun flower oil shortages seem to be currently causing them problems so trying alternatives. I'm pretty sure pastry figured in hydrogenated's case.

 

[ajohn]

german choc has quality standards, so aldi and lidl own brands are much better.

That's what I find. I gave up sugar rather a long time ago and biscuits and chocolate can use varying amounts. Lidl in our case as we shop their for certain things around once a month. Sugar is strange stuff. We appear to be able to get used to very wide variations in amounts added. LOL As I reduced use I found that 1/8 of a teaspoon was good for drinks. Fine if I made all myself but never ok if some one else made them so dropped it completely. These days I find all sorts of things too sweet.

Goes back to my mother and me being naughty. She had never used sugar in a drink. Me 2 heaped teaspoons like my dad. I found my mum could reliably detect 4 or 5 grains of it in a cup of tea. That caused me to think about how much I used. Also a bit of work for a diabetes charity.

 

[jeds]

You have to be very careful with oils and especially you should never overheat them. Some types when heated to a smoking point are poisonous and carcinogenic. My advice is check out the smoke point of the oil you use and be conscious of it when cooking. Also check out how the oil is made? Take rapeseed for example; it is probably the best all rounder for health and high..ish smoke point - but it has to be cold pressed. On the other hand the Americans press rapeseed dozens of times and heat it to extreme temperatures to extract the last molecule of oil - they call it Canola oil. I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. The extreme pressing and heating changes the nature of the oil. Other oils are made from a similar process. Check out what you use and know it. PS. We also use a lot of virgin coconut oil. Excellent stuff.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

On the other hand the Americans press rapeseed dozens of times and heat it to extreme temperatures to extract the last molecule of oil - they call it Canola oil. I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

I have got a use for camola oil - when we ran a glue pot edge bander I used to use it to prevent glue sticking to some of the surfaces. That said it was as cheap as chips, but I never really fancied cooking with it (the big red sticker on the front which said "Industrial Use Only - NOT for Use with Foodstuffs" helped convince me). Wasn't there a scandal a few years back in Europe where some cowboys were buying industrial rapeseed oil and relabelling it as food quality?

 

[Ihavenojob]

with added baby-vomit scent and flavouring*

Butyric acid. Used in fishing baits.

 

[JohnD]

Butyric acid. Used in fishing baits.

fish and americans like it.

europeans don't

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Explains why I always felt like throwing up every time anyone offered me chocolate when I was in the 'States. Thanks