How To Buy and Store Olive Oil:

Source :whats cooking america

Buying oil in small sizes, or splitting larger bottles with friends, is a practical way to buy expensive oils. Oil purchased in bulk should always be poured into smaller containers, preferably in a can or a dark-colored bottle.


Remember - Olives are fruit; olive oil is a fruit juice.Air, heat, and light will cause olive oil to turn rancid(rancid is the flavor which is imparted in an oil after it has undergone the process of oxidation. Since prolonged contact with oxygen is the rot cause of oxidation, rancidity is a common defect, so it should be stored in a cool place in an airtight container). If your oil has a buttery taste, then it's probably rancid.

The ideal temperature for storing olive oil is 57°F or 14 degrees C, although a normal room temperature of 70ºF works very well if the olive oil is stored in a dark area where the temperature remains fairly constant.

 A kitchen cabinet located away from the stove and away from direct sunlight will work quite well. If you have a wine cellar, store your olive oils there and keep a small amount in your kitchen. Do not put olive oil in a container without a tight cap.


Refrigeration does not harm most grades of olive oil, but it is not recommended for expensive extra virgin varieties because condensation may develop in the bottle, affecting the flavor.


 When chilled, or in cold weather, the oil may turn cloudy and even solidify. Such oil will clear again as it warms, so cloudiness should not be taken as an indication that the oil is past its prime. 


Be sure bottles are tightly sealed. Refrigeration will extend the life of olive oil without harming the oil. Doing so will cause it to congeal and turn cloudy, but should not affect flavor. 


If refrigerated, olive oil will return to its original, liquid state when warmed to room temperature again.

Tinted glass, porcelain, or stainless steel are the best materials for containers; oil should never be stored in plastic or in reactive metals. Stay away from plastic containers as the oil can absorb PVCs. 

The Right Cooking Oil

Source :moneylife :Tanushree Kar

The well-known nutritionist, Anjali Mukherjee has emphasised the use of healthy fats
The well-known nutritionist, Anjali Mukherjee has emphasised the use of healthy fats in her book Healing with Food where she says that since all oils and fats are made up of fatty acids, it is the individual fatty acids that make all the difference to our health.


 Since the average Indian palate is fond of deep-fried foods, it is essential to know the pros and cons of cooking oils and fats to reduce the damage to one’s health.

Cooking oil is defined as purified fat of plant or animal origin, which is liquid at room temperature. Some of the varieties of edible oils are palm oil, olive oil, soybean oil, sunflower, peanut, sesame, mustard and rice bran oil. 


The term ‘vegetable oil’ is, however, used for a blend of a variety of oils based on palm, corn, soybean or sunflower. 


Fats are an essential nutrient in human diet, but an unbalanced diet is not healthy. Nutritionists recommend that less than 10% of a day’s intake of calories should come from saturated fats. Since any oil is rich in calories, one should use them rather sparingly. Cooking oil poses a peculiar problem of its own. 


Though the hydrogenation of cooking oil makes it more stable, a side effect is that it also creates trans fats, which are unhealthy. 

During cooking, even healthy unsaturated fat, like that present in olive oil, sometimes gets converted to trans fat. Unlike other fats, trans fat is neither required nor beneficial for health. Eating trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease. 


Trans fat from partially hydrogenated oil is generally considered more of a health risk than those occurring naturally. Trans fats occur naturally in small quantities in meat and dairy products. There are two types of oil available in food stores -- refined and unrefined. Refined oil is usually bland and extremely light in colour and considered safe for deep frying. Unrefined oils are processed by cold- pressed and expeller-pressed methods.


 Unrefined oils may have a strong flavour, but they definitely have a higher nutritional value. Unrefined oil should preferably be used for sautéing and not for deep frying.

When buying oil, it is necessary to read the labels carefully to see the expiry date. Oils and fats are susceptible to rancidity because as oils and fats age, they get oxidised. Rancid oils are not only bad in taste but are also unhealthy and toxic. 


So what is the proper way to store oil? Three conditions accelerate the oxidation of fats: exposure to heat, oxygen and light. Oils should be stored in cool conditions and sealed so that they are not exposed to air. 


Once opened, some oils, like olive oil, should be stored in the refrigerator. How long oil can be prevented from turning rancid depends on the storage conditions. Sunflower is an excellent all-purpose oil. It remains fresh for a longer time because of its high resistance to rancidity.

Olive oil is a monounsaturated oil extracted from ripe olives. The colour of the oil ranges from light amber to green and sometimes it is extremely strong in flavour. Olive oil is graded according to its degree of acidity and the process used to extract it. 

Olive oil which is labelled ‘virgin’ is cold-pressed, a process using no heat or chemicals and containing low levels of acidity. Olive oil labelled ‘pure’ uses heat or chemicals to process olive residue from subsequent pressings. 


Cold-pressed olive oil is superior to the refined variety. Oil from the first pressing is called virgin olive oil and is the most flavourful. ‘Pure’ olive oil or that which is labelled just ‘olive oil’ may be a combination of cold- pressed and refined and is suitable for cooking. -