People food for thought Part XIX; Olive Oil
If you were following all the recipes on our blog, you will notice by now that I use extra virgin olive oil for almost everything from bread baking to dish making except frying foods.
I like using extra virgin olive oil as everyday cooking oil, and I use either peanut oil or vegetable oil for frying foods, drizzle sesame oil over Asian dish (Chinese/Korean/Japanese dishes) to give those dishes more depth of flavor or use the sesame oil to make the sauce for the dishes.
Back home in Japan, I do not think we used Olive oil as everyday oil. Our everyday oil was vegetable oil and, on occasions, we used sesame oil.
There are many cooking oils available in the market but, what oils do you use? Do you have any preference over another?
I use extra virgin olive oil because I know that it is healthy oil to cook with.
Cooking with olive oil and health benefit..
The other day, in the local newspaper, I have found an article about olive oil and health benefit cooking with it.
According to the news article written by Jennifer Motl, French research has revealed that people who use olive oil to saute food or use in their salad dressing had 40% lower risk of strokes.
The researchers collected blood samples from more than 7,000 volunteers and they have measured the blood level of oleic acid (monounsaturated fat in the olive oil).
Those who had higher level of oleic acid had 73% lower risk of strokes over 5 years.
Not only that, Olive oil is known for its ability to reduce the risk of heart disease,diabetes, and some cancers.
Belgian researchers found that people who consumed most olive oil had 50% lower risk of bladder cancer than those who least had olive oil.
If you were asked to name some countries famous for the olive oil, you would probably say "Italy","Spain",Greece".
Their diet;Mediterranean diet, include lots of olive oil,vegetables,fruits,,fish and less meat and diary, and according to the Spanish researchers,they had 50% lower risk of developing diabetes.
Greek researchers found that Mediterranean eating pattern reduced risk of breast cancer over 20% in older women.
What is Monounsaturated fat?
Monounsaturated fat is "healthy good fat" and, typically the fat that can stay liquid at room temperature,and turns solid when chilled.
What you should limit the amount of fat in your diet are Saturated fat and Trans fat. Those two are the bad fat.
Unlike Monounsaturataed fat, saturated fat stays solid at room temperature and good example is butter.
Trans fat is the oil hydrogen was added to liquid vegetable oil to make them more solid.You can check the food label and you can spot them with another name for the trans fat "partially hydrogenated oil".
Good example that may contains trans fat are french fries, potato chips, donuts etc..
You can read more on Trans fat here at wikipedia website.
Types of olive oil..
You always would see me mention "Extra virgin olive oil" in cooking entries. There are many kinds of olive oil on the market, but I like the extra virgin olive oil,especially the one "cold first pressed Extra Virgin Olive oil" and my favorite brand of olive oil is Colavita brand.
Over the years, I have tried different kinds of olive oil but I find personally that Colavita brand extra virgin olive oil is more fruity and, taste better compared to the other brands.
What are the difference between the olive oil?
Extra virgin olive oil; According to Colavita olive oil website, Extra virgin olive oil are the unrefined,unprocessed juice from olives that were pressed soon after the harvest. Often times, acid is less than 1 %.
Jennifer writes, Extra virgin Olive Oil is packed with antioxidants and flavor.
Virgin Olive oil; this is also a first pressed oil but contains higher acidity level than Extra virgin olive oil usually around 1%-3% acid.
Fino Olive oil; it is a blend of extra virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil.
Light Olive oil; this is highly refined olive oil with less added quality virgin olive oil. The term "light" refer to its color and taste, not fat or calories.
You can read more on type of olive oil at Colavita olive oil website here and homecooking about website here.
How Olive oil is made..
When green olives turns red, it is a time for harvesting. Producers place the upside down umbrella-like tool to collect olives under the tree.
These olives get separated from leaves,brunches through the machine and,olives get smashed under the motor until paste texture.
Then, oil get extracted.
You can see how olive oil is made at the discovery channel website here.
Jennifer suggests to swap the vegetable oil with olive oil in the marinades,salad dressing not just cooking with Olive oil.
I think they are good ideas.
I have never made cakes with olive oil but,she introduced olive oil cake (Strawberry lemonade Cornmeal olive oil cake) in her article
She says it is a cross between corn muffin and coffee cake.
I love experimenting things. I must try it and see how it comes out.
To read her full article on Olive oil,please click here.
I like using extra virgin olive oil as everyday cooking oil, and I use either peanut oil or vegetable oil for frying foods, drizzle sesame oil over Asian dish (Chinese/Korean/Japanese dishes) to give those dishes more depth of flavor or use the sesame oil to make the sauce for the dishes.
Back home in Japan, I do not think we used Olive oil as everyday oil. Our everyday oil was vegetable oil and, on occasions, we used sesame oil.
There are many cooking oils available in the market but, what oils do you use? Do you have any preference over another?
I use extra virgin olive oil because I know that it is healthy oil to cook with.
Cooking with olive oil and health benefit..
The other day, in the local newspaper, I have found an article about olive oil and health benefit cooking with it.
According to the news article written by Jennifer Motl, French research has revealed that people who use olive oil to saute food or use in their salad dressing had 40% lower risk of strokes.
The researchers collected blood samples from more than 7,000 volunteers and they have measured the blood level of oleic acid (monounsaturated fat in the olive oil).
Those who had higher level of oleic acid had 73% lower risk of strokes over 5 years.
Not only that, Olive oil is known for its ability to reduce the risk of heart disease,diabetes, and some cancers.
Belgian researchers found that people who consumed most olive oil had 50% lower risk of bladder cancer than those who least had olive oil.
If you were asked to name some countries famous for the olive oil, you would probably say "Italy","Spain",Greece".
Their diet;Mediterranean diet, include lots of olive oil,vegetables,fruits,,fish and less meat and diary, and according to the Spanish researchers,they had 50% lower risk of developing diabetes.
Greek researchers found that Mediterranean eating pattern reduced risk of breast cancer over 20% in older women.
What is Monounsaturated fat?
Monounsaturated fat is "healthy good fat" and, typically the fat that can stay liquid at room temperature,and turns solid when chilled.
What you should limit the amount of fat in your diet are Saturated fat and Trans fat. Those two are the bad fat.
Unlike Monounsaturataed fat, saturated fat stays solid at room temperature and good example is butter.
Trans fat is the oil hydrogen was added to liquid vegetable oil to make them more solid.You can check the food label and you can spot them with another name for the trans fat "partially hydrogenated oil".
Good example that may contains trans fat are french fries, potato chips, donuts etc..
You can read more on Trans fat here at wikipedia website.
Types of olive oil..
You always would see me mention "Extra virgin olive oil" in cooking entries. There are many kinds of olive oil on the market, but I like the extra virgin olive oil,especially the one "cold first pressed Extra Virgin Olive oil" and my favorite brand of olive oil is Colavita brand.
Over the years, I have tried different kinds of olive oil but I find personally that Colavita brand extra virgin olive oil is more fruity and, taste better compared to the other brands.
What are the difference between the olive oil?
Extra virgin olive oil; According to Colavita olive oil website, Extra virgin olive oil are the unrefined,unprocessed juice from olives that were pressed soon after the harvest. Often times, acid is less than 1 %.
Jennifer writes, Extra virgin Olive Oil is packed with antioxidants and flavor.
Virgin Olive oil; this is also a first pressed oil but contains higher acidity level than Extra virgin olive oil usually around 1%-3% acid.
Fino Olive oil; it is a blend of extra virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil.
Light Olive oil; this is highly refined olive oil with less added quality virgin olive oil. The term "light" refer to its color and taste, not fat or calories.
You can read more on type of olive oil at Colavita olive oil website here and homecooking about website here.
How Olive oil is made..
When green olives turns red, it is a time for harvesting. Producers place the upside down umbrella-like tool to collect olives under the tree.
These olives get separated from leaves,brunches through the machine and,olives get smashed under the motor until paste texture.
Then, oil get extracted.
You can see how olive oil is made at the discovery channel website here.
Jennifer suggests to swap the vegetable oil with olive oil in the marinades,salad dressing not just cooking with Olive oil.
I think they are good ideas.
I have never made cakes with olive oil but,she introduced olive oil cake (Strawberry lemonade Cornmeal olive oil cake) in her article
She says it is a cross between corn muffin and coffee cake.I love experimenting things. I must try it and see how it comes out.
To read her full article on Olive oil,please click here.
Comments