This morning, as I frequently do, I cut a piece of parchment paper for my baking sheet before I laid out breakfast to go into the oven. I thought back to a recent conversation I had with my father about why I use parchment paper. For certain things, it allows me to completely skip using oil or butter when cooking or baking. Yes, there are a lot of very healthy fats & oils that I can use when I’m cooking. Skipping them isn’t a bad idea either on occasion!
Naturally that made me start thinking about the oils I use and why and what the benefits are of each type. My favorites are olive oil, occasionally coconut oil, and, to be honest, butter. I also occasionally use grapeseed oil.
Let’s start with the least obvious: butter. In moderation, butter is not as unhealthy an addition to your diet as various fads (fed by bad science) have led us to believe over the years. Butter contains fat-soluble vitamins, healthy saturated fats, and unlike margarine, will not increase your risk of a heart attack. Also? It’s tasty. My preference is normally for unsalted butter as I like trying to control the amount of sodium in my diet. Sodium is necessary for good health, as I wrote in April, however, too much sodium is a bad idea.
I include coconut oil on the list as it can be a good choice for cooking on occasion, although after I used it almost to the exclusion of everything else (except olive oil) for quite a while, my bad cholesterol numbers were much higher than they should have been. Granted, I did not track everything else that I ate during that time so I don’t know what else in my diet might have contributed. Coconut oil has saturated fats, however, it may be better than certain other sources of the same types of fats. It also provides phytochemicals that are helpful antioxidants. I still like coconut oil and it has some benefits; I simply use it more sparingly now. (I’ve even used it to cook with when my father is having dinner with us. If you’re concerned about the flavor coming through for those who don’t like coconut, don’t be! If he can’t taste the coconut, nobody could. He doesn’t like coconut at all!)
Grapeseed oil is one that many people may not be familiar with. This oil is a byproduct of the winemaking process, and one particular brand I’ve used is a truly odd shade of green, but that’s the natural color. (It’s a really bright green and that takes me by surprise every time I use it!) It has some vitamins (mostly E) and omega-6 fatty acids. Not much research has been done on the health benefits (or problems) for humans, so there isn’t much to say. It has a somewhat different flavor from olive oil, of course, but it’s a nice change when I don’t have or don’t want olive oil for whatever reason.
I’ll close with the oil I use more than anything else: extra virgin olive oil. Antioxidants. Vitamins E & K. Good fats. May fight inflammation and protect against cardiovascular disease. (Also? It’s an excellent oil base for flavored oils, such as garlic olive oil, which is also one of my very favorite oils to cook with!)
What’s your favorite fat or oil to use when you cook?
Cheers! Here’s to your health!
p.s. Tonight’s wine is a lovely peach wine concoction from a winery in Wisconsin that I had the opportunity to visit a few months ago. Cheers! :)