All About Vegetable Oil

There are various methods of extracting vegetable oil from olives, seeds, beans, grains or nuts. The first way utilizes a hydraulic press. This is an age-old method, and it still produces arguably the best quality of oil. There are only two materials that can yield oil without being heated first, and those are olives and sesame seeds. So, olive oil and sesame oil are the only oils that can truly be called "cold pressed". That term, as well as "virgin", are terms that are actually meaningless to consumers.

These terms don't have a legal definition, since they can mean virtually whatever the manufacturer wants them to mean. They don't give the consumer any real description of the product that the label is describing. To organic merchants, these labels will not be used to mislead customers. The term "virgin" in olive oil refers only to the processing without heat by a hydraulic press. "Cold press" refers only to the use of hydraulic presses without added heat.

The second method used to produce vegetable oil is one that uses a continuous press with a worm shaft that is constantly rotating. The operators will put cooked materials into one end, and then they are placed under pressure, continuously, until it is discharged from the other end, with the oil having been squeezed out.

The last method of making oil is called extraction, whereby materials that bear oils are steam cooked, ground and then mixed with a base that dissolves from the oils, which leaves a residue that is dry. This is the method used by major manufacturers to make oil.

The full process of refining vegetable oil is analogous to the refinement of whole sugar and whole wheat into white oils. Oils are generally lipid materials that are derived from plants. They may be of a liquid consistency at room temperature, and fats when they are solid. Chemically, they are both composed of triglycerides. Even though many parts of plants can make oil, oil is usually extracted from seeds.

Oils and fats may be inedible or edible. Some inedible oils and fats include tung oil, linseed oil and castor oil that's used in making pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, paints and lubricants.

Many oils can be consumed or used as food ingredients, a role that they typically share with ghee, butter and animal fats. The oils work in the following ways:

Flavor base - oils can carry other ingredients' flavors
Flavor - some oils have specific flavors associated with them.
Texture - oils can be used to make other ingredients do less sticking together.
Shortening - to give your pastry a texture that is crumbly.

Vegetable oil can also be heated, and then used to cook other types of foods.

Author: Jenny Styles
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Import duty

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