# Canola vs Extra Virgin Olive Oil



## delta223 (Oct 10, 2010)

Which do you guys think is the better choice for medium temperature cooking? I have read positive to both. I've also read that Canola comes from some cancer causing seed; not sure if I believe that but olive does seem to have the longer history.


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## tylerm713 (Aug 6, 2010)

Unless you are cooking something with a very strong flavor (in which case you can't taste the olive oil), I would suggest the olive oil. However, if you want to take the heat up, gotta go with something that has a higher smoke point. If I really need a hot pan, I usually go for refined safflower oil. Not much taste, but it can get screaming hot.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

The general rule is to not cook with extra virgin olive oil for cost and flavor reasons. Why, the reasoning goes, ruin that great (expensive) flavor with heat. So for cooking the recomendation is to use straight olive oil.

That aside, there is a major difference between canola and any olive oil. Canola is neutral, bringing no flavor of its own to the table. Olive oil, on the other hand, is richly flavored, and, thus, affects whatever you're cooking in it.

So, your choice isn't either/or, but, rather, which to use in a particular application.

No comes the reality; or at least the reality of my kitchen. First off, I pay nearly the same for extra virgin as for straight olive oil. That being the case, I see no reason to keep two of them around, and often cook with the evoo.

Second, the tale about carcinigens in canola is an urban legend, and you don't have to worry from that viewpoint. But it is produced from genetically modified rape, and I don't allow frankenfoods in my house. So Canola is never used. There's a long list of other neutral oils, however, so that's not a hardship.


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## gunnar (Apr 3, 2008)

Just stay away from Canola there are a few reasons the main one being what KYH said about it being a GMO. Safflower or Sunflower oil are great for med to high heat use and Olive oil for everything else. Unless your doing some cooking that specifically calls for peanut oil, which is great but strong flavored.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

If the consensus is that evoo and light flavored oils do different things, add me to it (the consensus not the oil).

Evoo doesn't deep or pan fry well, but it's certainly very good for a lot of sautees -- and even for pan sears. 

An oil which brings a lot to the party for both utility and flavor is peanut. 

Corn oil is just as versatile, and with a skosh more character than sunflower, safflower or canola; but not as much as olive or peanut. 

Evoo and corn cover our oil bases.

BDL


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

I use EVOO for almost everything, and grapeseed oil for those times when I don't want the EVOO-taste to my dish.


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## homemadecook (Jan 27, 2010)

For me, olive oil is still the best for me but, it is really expensive. /img/vbsmilies/smilies//frown.gif


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## tylerm713 (Aug 6, 2010)

HomeMadeCook said:


> For me, olive oil is still the best for me but, it is really expensive. /img/vbsmilies/smilies//frown.gif


Best for what? Making dressing or frying french fries? Olive oil is fine for sauteing some vegetables, but if I have a pan that needs to get hot or need to fry something, olive oil won't work. It will lose a lot of its flavor by getting so hot, and really won't be able to get as hot as I need it to. Extra virgin olive oil smokes at about 370-375*. Refined safflower oil smokes at about 510*. Just a better choice when high temp is needed. There really is no "best" oil. It's whatever is best for the job you are trying to complete.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

boar_d_laze said:


> Evoo doesn't deep or pan fry well, but it's certainly very good for a lot of sautees -- and even for pan sears.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

It's true about people using olive oil for deep frying in the Med region.  Frequently though, they're using second press, third press, or even pomace, as opposed to evoo (first press).  That makes differences in lots of ways. 

I have no theoretical objections to using evoo for pan and deep frying -- I just don't think it does a very good job for most things.  Temperature constraints aside, the results are too heavy and too greasy.  Used at a shallow depth, or mixed with a different oil -- different result.  If I seemed dogmatic, pardon me.  As far as I'm concerned cooking is results oriented.  Whatever works.

BDL


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

BDL I was just telling you about that so that you could try it for yourself.  I dare you to cook french fries in a peanut/oil mix.


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## peterd (Mar 3, 2011)

The tale of Canola being a GMO product is just plain an untruth. In the 1960's, before GM was being done, it was noticed that some Rapeseed plants had healthier qualities than the average. Seed from these plants were selectively bred and all of the offspring from this breeding was called Canola. I was helping my father farm when this took place and there was much discussion among farmers about this "selectively bred" new crop.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Koukouvagia said:


> In the mediterranean you will see people deep fry in olive oil, have done so for years. It gets a little bitter if you use it straight. But I have found the perfect combo for french fries - half peanut oil, and half evoo. It gives incredible flavor.


Funny you say that Koukouvagia, again we agree. I came to this gradually. Bizarrely, i used to fry in pure extra virgin because for me it was cheaper. (Cheaper because my inlaws would be giant bottles of it from the country where they knew the guy who made it so i didn;t have to pay for it! I never even thought of buying any oil for any use, because paying anything is more than paying nothing and we had little money back then. I then continued because i rarely fry stuff, and the oil i'd buy for frying would always get rancid between uses and have to be tossed out. Now i do buy peanut oil because i pretty frequently make some japanese or chinese dish and though i used to use extra virgin even for this (!) (hey, it was free!) the peanut oil gives me the flavor i want. So now that I have to buy my own oil,. i have peanut oil. but the olive adds flavor to fried things like potatoes, or various croquettes.

I never got the reason for this canola oil - it doesn't exist here and I can't understand why it would have become so popular that it actually is specified in many recipes. I imagine it's some sort of marketing thing. (Why, for instance, would the title of the thread be canola vs olive, when there are tons of different kinds of oil, why would canola be the only alternative to olive that comes to mind?) What i understood about it is that it's got some more processing than regular oils - therefore more industrial, in some way. Is that possible?

Third point, when another american here was asking me where to find crisco some italians who were there asked why she needed it - i explained it was a fat with no flavor for baking or frying. And they said "well if it has no flavor, what's the point of using it?"
good point!


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Can-ola Developed and most of it manufactured in CANADA(therefore the name) from a generic change done to the rapeseed plant which at one time was used in manufacturing of paints.  Why so popular ? One reason is Canadian Government paid our government off as to be allowed to manufacture and export so much of it.to us. Another reason is thay have refined it to a point where it is almost tastless and has a high smoke point.

Olive oil for deep fry ??  I dont think so, at least not here. Compared to a lot of other oils the smoking point is lower, when used for high heat frying it tends to get bitter. The color starts to change after use and tends to brown the product your cooking to fast.

. Looking back it gained popularity in this country because of the health claims . It really only got popular with a lot of non Italian people here in the 80s.Many of the places I worked in both upscale and other prior to the 80s you did not even see it in the kitchen. They kept a bottle in dining room in case someone wanted on a salad..


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

siduri said:


> Funny you say that Koukouvagia, again we agree. I came to this gradually. Bizarrely, i used to fry in pure extra virgin because for me it was cheaper. (Cheaper because my inlaws would be giant bottles of it from the country where they knew the guy who made it so i didn;t have to pay for it! I never even thought of buying any oil for any use, because paying anything is more than paying nothing and we had little money back then. I then continued because i rarely fry stuff, and the oil i'd buy for frying would always get rancid between uses and have to be tossed out. Now i do buy peanut oil because i pretty frequently make some japanese or chinese dish and though i used to use extra virgin even for this (!) (hey, it was free!) the peanut oil gives me the flavor i want. So now that I have to buy my own oil,. i have peanut oil. but the olive adds flavor to fried things like potatoes, or various croquettes.
> 
> I never got the reason for this canola oil - it doesn't exist here and I can't understand why it would have become so popular that it actually is specified in many recipes. I imagine it's some sort of marketing thing. (Why, for instance, would the title of the thread be canola vs olive, when there are tons of different kinds of oil, why would canola be the only alternative to olive that comes to mind?) What i understood about it is that it's got some more processing than regular oils - therefore more industrial, in some way. Is that possible?
> 
> ...


Likewise with me. Where I come from everybody makes their own olive oil (Krete produces some of the finest quality olive oil in the world). My parents ship me a ton of of it after manufacturing every winter. I have it in abundance. Nobody even considers using anything different there for any purpose at all. Of course I do like to have various oils, I have used grapeseed oil for stir fries, sesame oil for asian dishes, peanut oil for frying, vegetable and corn oil for frying (yuck!), and even crisco for cookies. Somehow I always come back to olive oil. I do not use canola oil though. It's very irritating when I see someone making salad dressing with it.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

_I never got the reason for this canola oil - it doesn't exist here _

Siduri, I don't know about your specific area. But it's available all over Europe, where it's called either Rape Oil or Rapeseed Oil.

Because of the American reaction to the word "rape," it was never popular here until they changed the name (and, despite what PeterD says, the genetics).

Its appeal for cooking is that it is a high smoke point, neutral tasting, oil.

I never use it myself, partly for the reason your neighbors gave (if it has no flavor, why use it?), but mostly because I do not knowingly allow frankenfoods in the house.


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

Rapeseed oil is readily available in the UK - but under that name, not Canola.

I never use it - one of the reasons is that I object to so much of the UK's countryside (even in cold Scotland and Wales) give so much of their fields over to the growing of the stuff and the bright yellow, in fact, eye-searingly yellow, looks so alien in our gentle fields!  I also object to the smell of the crop after it has flowered but before harvesting.  It is RANK!


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## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

I also never heard of canola oil. To be honest, it sounds like something to wax your car with. Rapeseed oil is known around here, but I don't know a single person who ever uses it. I'm a little worried to buy stuff like this suddenly becoming popular. I wouldn't be surprised it's some genetic manipulated variety? Dito for soy-oil on my genetic manipulated not-to-buy list.

I mostly use sunflower oil to panfry with; neutral taste, no smoking, high temperatures are never a problem.

But, I also just ordered 5 liters of my favorite Italian (sorry Koukou) olive oil, coming from the Puglia regio (heel of Italy). The brand is Pruvas; they have a website, I thought it was "pruvas.it". I mainly use good olive oil in cold preparations or in low temperature preparations like to sweat onion/carrot/celery mix.


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

If I don't want the very obvious taste of olive oils when I fry, I mostly use sunflower oil.  I sometimes use peanut oil when I'm cooking Chinese,Malay, Thai (etc) foods.

GM foods are still outlawed in the UK (or were last time I checked) - so I'm wondering if the rape grown here is different to the GM mod stuff used elsewhere...  hmmm  I need to investigate!


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

KYHeirloomer said:


> _I never got the reason for this canola oil - it doesn't exist here _
> 
> Siduri, I don't know about your specific area. But it's available all over Europe, where it's called either Rape Oil or Rapeseed Oil.
> 
> ...


Never heard of rapeseed oil (or grapeseed oi either)l here. There's a rice company that is tryinhg to convince people that rice is healthier than pasta and they even make rice pasta (why would you think less protein is "healthier", i don't know) and they just came out with rice oil. (Oil in rice? is it in the germ which they remove? beats me).

Here the fields are all covered in rape in the countryside, and it's sold for animal feed i believe. But in the supermarket, where i can find a wide range of oils, i've seen olive, peanut, sunflower, and rice oils. Then they have "frying oil" which is a mixture of the above. I was curious one day and spent some time looking through them all, and never found anything with any name that referred to anything else. Oh, and of course in the oriental food stores (I live sort of on the edge of what might be considered rome's chinatown) they have sesame and other oils. In the super expensive specialty store they may have nut oils, though i never noticed.

GM foods are either not sold here or if they were, would certainly not be bought.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

There are times I want a nuetral flavored oil and will go with canola for that purpose. Usually for deep frying as it's fairly inexpensive for that. Peanut oil is better but doesn't always fit in the budget. For smaller amounts of neutral oil, I've been using grapeseed oil the last few years or for pan use too.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Most oils today for commercial use now (not your house)  are processed and other things added like silicone dioxide which prevents foaming of the oil and therefore gives a longer life.Many are semi hydrolgenated. They  strive to make them last long and impart  no flavor. Years ago I did some work for Bung who is a major source of cooking oils to the trade I learned quite a bit from their guys. Hardes thing for them is to maintain consistency of product because the source of the oil comes from different locations and different soil and weather conditions. prevail. Their plants by the way ar immaculate.


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## peterd (Mar 3, 2011)

After years of selective breeding in the 1950s and 60s, Rapeseed and Canola are no longer the same plant. If Rapeseed is indeed grown in some parts of the world, its' oil would definitely be an inferior product. Canola was bred to improve the healthiness of the oil for human consumption. The only genetic engineering happened much later when Monsanto wanted to develop a plant resistant to Roundup. Most of the varieties of canola are not genetically modified and a couple of varieties are. That holds true with every crop that Monsanto has got their hands on. Maybe a little time spent researching a topic before weighing in would really improve the forum.


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

All I can do is reiterate:  Canola is not sold in most places in the UK, whilst rapeseed oil IS.

Perhaps YOU need to do a more world-wide research project, instead of pointing fingers at the membership?


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## breadmaker man (Jan 25, 2011)

I pretty much use olive oil for everything. It's a lot healthier and I never seem to get bad results with it.


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## peterd (Mar 3, 2011)

I am familiar with the UK's rapeseed oil. I travel there at least once a year. Rapeseed and canola oil are two separate products and if you don't understand this, there is no point to carry on this conversation.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Todays Canola is  a far cry from the original oil. Today it is extracted from the canola seed from a yellow flowering plant that  who's original was treated and all the bad things removed. The original however was not like this, and was used to produce oil based paints.. Medical claims for it today appear all over the internet, however as one claim states non have been FULLY substantiated. I use it home and at work for deep frying.


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

And... as I've said to you (peterd) - I've never seen Canola oil in any shop here in the UK.  I'm not saying it's not available - just that I have never seen the product.

If YOU can't take that on board, then you're right, there is no sense in  carrying on the conversation. 

BTW - IMO, 'at least one trip a year' wouldn't make you au fait with the UK - just ask Siduri, who travels here from Italy (although she was brought up the USA) a few times a year.


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## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

Canola oil contains small amounts erucic acid that can trigger digestive problems for some people. Personally I stay away from it. Like BDL I use corn oil for high heat and deep frying and olive oil for pan sautes and even high heat searing. Some specialty oils like sesame for adding flavor to stir fry.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

MaryB said:


> Canola oil contains small amounts erucic acid that can trigger digestive problems for some people. Personally I stay away from it. Like BDL I use corn oil for high heat and deep frying and olive oil for pan sautes and even high heat searing. Some specialty oils like sesame for adding flavor to stir fry.


Mary the new process canola has gotten the erucic acid out, at least from what I read in government reports.and the stuff marketed today is a far cry from the old product.Even the manufacturing process has changed.. I love olive oils on salads but I do not cook with it because the oils have a distinct flavor that sometime over powers what I am making.


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## allanm (Jan 20, 2011)

Ishbel,

You have seen Canola Oil, the only difference is it is called Rapeseed Oil in Europe.

Here is a Telegraph article that says that Rapeseed Oil comes from the Canola plant.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/3345221/Bee-Wilson-rapeseed-oil.html

I am not sure if the difference is a matter of North American versus European usage or if it is because Canola is a trademark.

You can verify this for yourself. "Natural" Rapeseed Oil has a distinctive extremely bitter taste. Canola oil was specifically bread to have a fairly neutral taste.

Canola Oil also has very distinctive nutritional profile because of its breeding. Canola Oil is low in saturated fats, 6%, and high in monounsaturated, 62%, and polyunsaturated, 32%, fats. Canola Oil is also high in Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids in a desirable 2:1 ratio. Canola Oil is also a good source of Vitamin E.

https://canola-council.merchantsecure.com/canola_resources/product52.aspx

You can compare that to nutritional labels at your local store or compare it with these UK Rapeseed Oil producers.

http://hillfarmoils.com/

http://farrington-oils.co.uk/

http://laemunns.com/

http://r-oil.co.uk/

http://www.sussexgold.co.uk/da/87445

http://www.wharfevalleyfarms.co.uk/

http://www.borderfieldsrapeseedoil.co.uk/

Note the low saturated fat (half that of Olive Oil), high in unsaturated fat, good source of Omega-3 and high in Vitamin E.

General Links

Canola Oil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola_oil

Keith Downey http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=348

Baldur Stefansson http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007687

Canola Council of Canada http://www.canolacouncil.org/canola_oil_the_truth.aspx

Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/canola-oil/AN01281

Urban Legends http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp


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## granny smith (Jan 31, 2011)

Here's an interesting article on canola oil (I may never use it again after reading this!)

http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/new/canola.htm


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

[quote name="Granny Smith" url="/forum/thread/62717/canola-vs-extra-virgin-olive-oil/30#post_343776"]
Here's an interesting article on canola oil (I may never use it again after reading this!)

http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/new/canola.htm
[/quote]

That seemed pretty slanted and cherry picked for sources besides being old data.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I'm not sure, allanm, if any of your references are actually from scientific journals (subject to peer review, so the methods are controlled).  Internet is full of all kinds of stuff, and if you have the canola oil council stating something you might suspect some bias.  There can also be plenty of "scientific" sites that simply express an opinion of an individual, or that could actually be put out by someone with a specific interest, either in favor or against the product. 

I also distrust medical sites, even with prestigious names like mayo clinic. 

Best to see the actual research that they base their findings on. 

It;s only an idle curiosity, because i can't find either canola or rapeseed oil here, and i don't much see the point in going looking for it, since there are plenty of functional oils that have been around a very long time and so any negative long-term effects are likely to have come to the surface. 

In fact, i tend to always prefer something that has been around for a while for that reason - we know the side effects of aspirin, it's got a very long history - paracetamol and ibuprophen are more recent. Other stuff even more so.   Unless i'm having an attack of gastritis, i'll go with the aspirin!


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## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

_Quote Alanm; "...You have seen Canola Oil, the only difference is it is called Rapeseed Oil in Europe...."_

There's a yes and a no in your remark.

In Europe -and especially in dutch spoken countries-, there are 2 different kinds of oils that refer to Canola!

Let me explain. There's _*koolzaadolie*_ and _*raapzaadolie*_. Koolzaad and raapzaad are the dutch names of the plants and olie simply means oil. An important side-note to make this even more complicated; both oils are called in french _*huile de colza*_.

BTW, "koolzaad" (hence the sound of the french word Colza) is one of the 2 dutch words that have sneeked their way into french (the other is kermis if you want to know)!!

Both plants look very much the same, but raapzaad (hence the name rapeseed) isn't cultivated all that much. It was used for industrial purposes. Nowadays, there's practically no other cultivation than "koolzaad" or colza in french, used to make oil and to be used in food for animals, and, for making bio-diesel!!

Now, (I had to look this up) Canola oil is a variant of "koolzaadolie", which is a healthy oil and certainly not "raapzaadolie"!! Sadly enough, the english productname rapeseed is wrongly used... for both plants!!!

The name rapeseed is very incorrect to refer to canola oil, it should be colzaseed or something similar that point at koolzaad instead of raapzaad...

BTW, on the raapzaad and koolzaad plants; "raap" means turnip in dutch. "Kool" means cabbage. "Zaad" means seed.


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## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

The FDA guideline is under 2% so there is still some present. Canola oil is processed to remove bad stuff and that can add other bad stuff. I should have added that I use a lot of butter also for sautes, eggs, etc. I will stick to the oils that take less processing that can introduce other fatty chain molecules that can be bad for us.


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## pxatkins (Sep 15, 2010)

PeterD said:


> I am familiar with the UK's rapeseed oil. I travel there at least once a year. Rapeseed and canola oil are two separate products and if you don't understand this, there is no point to carry on this conversation.


Peter has the truth of it; Canola and rapeseed are sufficiently different they no longer cross-pollinate. There was a lawsuit settled in favour of Monsanto when a Canadian farmer claimed his Roundup resistant rapeseed crop was contaminated by cross-pollination from a neighbour's Canola fields. He lost. The gene making the plant resistant to Monsanto's roundup (a powerful herbicide) was first identified and isolated by a Govt. of Saskatchewan Min. of Ag. scientist. There was a court battle over who owned the patent. Monsanto won. Because it's GM, it's banned in the EC.


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## onepiece (Jan 24, 2011)

Olive oil for deep frying?!?!  Not to mention the price, but Olive oil has its own flavor too.  I use Corn oil for all my deep frying needs.  It cheap, and doesn't leave a strong taste of the oil.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

ChrisBelgium said:


> Let me explain. There's _*koolzaadolie*_ and _*raapzaadolie*_. Koolzaad and raapzaad are the dutch names of the plants and olie simply means oil. An important side-note to make this even more complicated; both oils are called in french _*huile de colza*_.
> 
> BTW, "koolzaad" (hence the sound of the french word Colza) is one of the 2 dutch words that have sneeked their way into french (the other is kermis if you want to know)!!


Well, that's interesting, Chris, i have heard of olio di colza here too! It was always presented as a kind of crappy oil, not for sale in supermarkets, and used in mixtures of cheap oil. If i'm not mistaken. Or, possibly i saw it in a very cheap olive oil called "olio di colza e di oliva" and i thought colza meant maybe some sort of crappy third or fourth pressing of olives.


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## allanm (Jan 20, 2011)

Siduri,

None of my links go directly to peer reviewed sources however you can drill done in most of them, except for the producers websites, since they supply references. I gave a large number of independent producers so they could collaborate each other.

Wikipedia doesn't have conventional peer review but their multiple eyes plus citations method has proven as accurate a conventional review under multiple studies. In any case the article citations are a good source for doing your own research.

Mayo Clinic publications are obviously editor reviewed and being well read by peers in the field anything unorthodox would be quickly challenged.

The canola council website does reference a lot of peer reviewed material.

The snopes article is endorsed by Quackwatch. Quackwatch acts to peer review alternative medicine. See the wikipedia article for information about Quackwatch and why they are trustworthy.

http://www.quackwatch.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quackwatch

If you want peer reviewed information that is not from a scientific or medical source I am not sure what I can offer.


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## allanm (Jan 20, 2011)

Chris,

Perhaps I should have said edible Rapeseed Oil.

I am not sure what you mean by two kinds of Canola or why you say Rapeseed is wrongly used for both plants. *koolzaadolie* and *raapzaadolie* are both cultivated varieties of Rapeseed. Canola is the variant that is low erucic acid, low glucosinolate. Of course there are many sub varieties of Canola and a few Canola like varieties that represent a small amount of production.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

pxatkins said:


> Peter has the truth of it; Canola and rapeseed are sufficiently different they no longer cross-pollinate. There was a lawsuit settled in favour of Monsanto when a Canadian farmer claimed his Roundup resistant rapeseed crop was contaminated by cross-pollination from a neighbour's Canola fields. He lost. The gene making the plant resistant to Monsanto's roundup (a powerful herbicide) was first identified and isolated by a Govt. of Saskatchewan Min. of Ag. scientist. There was a court battle over who owned the patent. Monsanto won. Because it's GM, it's banned in the EC.


I remember that case. Strange things a guy who grew in Saskatoon in the '80's will remember.......


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

allanm said:


> Siduri,
> 
> None of my links go directly to peer reviewed sources however you can drill done in most of them, except for the producers websites, since they supply references. I gave a large number of independent producers so they could collaborate each other.
> 
> ...


That quackwatch site is very interesting - you might be interested in Ben Goldacre's "Bad Science" articles (in The Guardian online and in his own website) for a very intelligent and also funny debunking of various "scientific facts" that are promoted even by people who should know better.

I wasn;t particularly interested in reading about Canola myself, because it's not anything i would have occasion to use, i was just raising the point. Non-scientific peer reviewed information - no i wasn't referring to that, i meant scientific sources.

But the main problem with anything is that even the best scientist can prove something is harmful but it's impossible to prove it's not. You would have to test every case for a lifetime and no one could do that. All we can say is that SO FAR something doesn;t seem dangerous. As I'm fond of saying, when i was a kid all the good kids shoe stores had an actual xray machine where you would stick your feet in and see the bones (i LOVED it) and they could tell if the shoes fit right. Everyone thought that xrays were perfectly safe. Like asbestos, like thalidomide, like tons of other stuff. Cold-pressed olive oil has been around since the ancient times, if it hurt you, we'd likely know about it by now. I'm just suspicious when something new comes out and suddenly it's the only way to go - all these recipes i come across specifying canola oil - like corn oil or safflower oil or sunflower oil wouldn;t do, like you couldn't just say "mild oil" or something (these are cake recipes by the way, not for frying), so i wonder why are they specifying?

.

I also wonder at the effects of the chemicals on industrially produced oils of all kinds. They mash the seeds, then have to wash out the unwanted particles, and i hear that's done chemically. One of the other reasons i used to fry only in extra virgin oil was that my kids were little and i wanted to make sure they got as least crap in them as possible, without going to any extremes. Now I'm old and the kids are elsewhere, and I'm less careful. Never have fried all that much anyway.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Using your anology , were you there when the olive oil was harvested and processed.?? We all have our likes and dislikes. When I was younger the fad was everyone should use peanut oil. Then the best one in the 80s was Brocolli was great for you, but then again brocolli caused cancer. ??????


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## radiomexico (Mar 5, 2011)

ricebran oil is the best.  no taste, cooks clean at high temp, and NO TRANS FATS.  get into it for any kind of shallow or deep frying.  save the evo for eating raw, or saute when you don't need to heat the oil too much... or when you want that lovely evo flavour...


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## micey (Mar 8, 2011)

A lot of people think olive oil has a very distinctive taste but you can definitely enhance that flavor by infusing.

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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

When it comes to Canola oil there is much scientific doubt on whether it's good for you or not. When there's doubt I go without.


chefedb said:


> Using your anology , were you there when the olive oil was harvested and processed.??


Yes. Yes I was.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Chefedb, there are extremely strict rules for what can be put in extra virgin olive oil - one ingredient - olives. 

Yes, someone might do something else and get away with it, but chances are the other oil producers would be just as interested in getting him caught because it would ruin the entire market.  I have bought inferior extra virgin (cheapo no-name brand) and it had a chemical smell when i heated it - never bought that brand again.   Italians are very very particular about what they put in their stomachs!

So while I wasn't there when it was pressed, I trust it more than other oils which legally CAN contain traces of other ingredients.


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## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

siduri said:


> Well, that's interesting, Chris, i have heard of olio di colza here too! It was always presented as a kind of crappy oil, not for sale in supermarkets, and used in mixtures of cheap oil. If i'm not mistaken. Or, possibly i saw it in a very cheap olive oil called "olio di colza e di oliva" and i thought colza meant maybe some sort of crappy third or fourth pressing of olives.


The "huile de colza, or olio di colza" (koolzaadolie) is seen as a very reliable food oil in my country and in France. It's been used more and more. Seems to be quite a healthy oil. It's sold by a number of brands and always mentions "huile de colza" or "koolzaadolie" in Belgium (my country is bi-lingual french/dutch).

Thing is, this colza-oil is called rapeseed oil in english!!! It had better be named colza-oil instead of *rapeseed, which is another plant than the colza, used for industrial oils! *

Colza is also the stuff that Canola is made off, at least, that's what I read, although they mentioned "a variety of colza" is used. It didn't mention genetically manipulated, which doesn't mean it's not manipulated. My guess is as good as any guess.


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## racineboxer (Dec 12, 2010)

I'm a big fan of canola.  Just like I'm a fan of corn and/or vegetable blended oils (corn/soybean/canola).  Or even blended olive & canola (like my favorite celebrity chef Michael Symon usually uses for cooking).  The lower saturated fat content is desirable for me and therefore it's in my kitchen.

I saw it mentioned earlier in the thread that folks try to pick 2 or so oils to cover their bases and that's my strategy as well.  I use a blended oil for most cooking and EVOO for drizzling on finished dishes and salads or in the unique sauteeing case where I want big, bold olive flavor.


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## tremainiac (Feb 26, 2011)

Interesting discussion.  Here's the point for me:  do I want to taste olive oil in what I'm cooking?  If yes, then I use it.  If no, then I use a more neutral oil.  I generally like olive oil, so will use a cheaper (not extra-virgin) oil for quick frying, etc.  I do, sometimes, if Santa's been good to me, have a more expensive EVOO around with a distinctive flavour that I use for 'finishing'.  I don't expose it to too much heat, and drizzle it over a finished dish simply because I like the flavour of it.  Other oils, especially, I'm led to believe, peanut oil, are more suited to deep-frying and other high-heat applications.  As several here have stated already, it simply depends on what you want to achieve with your oil.  Olive oil is great for salad dressings, but not all salad dressings; it depends on the salad.  Grapeseed oil is very neutral in flavour, so you can let other ingredients in your dressing shine through.  Again, it's what you want to achieve.  I love olives and olive oil, so I use it often.  It's up to you.  Remember also the great differences in olive oils in terms of flavour.  Try a Spanish extra virgin and a Tuscan extra virgin, and you'll certainly find some differences in them which will affect the flavour of your dish.


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## redzuk (Dec 7, 2010)

ChrisBelgium said:


> I mainly use good olive oil in cold preparations or in low temperature preparations like to sweat onion/carrot/celery mix.


Me too. Like ChefEd, I remember when practically overnight, everyone decided you should saute with olive oil. Heard the other day about how heating olive to the smoking point did something that makes the oil unhealthy, wasnt paying too much attention though.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Olive Oil    Smoke points      x =virgin  320////  virgin  420///  pomace  460///// x-lite  468....Therefore how anyone can deep fry in pure olive oil is beyond me, and if you  blend it  you add all kinds of processed things to it..


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

chefedb said:


> Olive Oil Smoke points x =virgin 320//// virgin 420/// pomace 460///// x-lite 468....Therefore how anyone can deep fry in pure olive oil is beyond me, and if you blend it you add all kinds of processed things to it..


What i do in my home kitchen can hardly be called "deep" frying - I would fry some breaded cutlets for the kids, or some rice croquettes with leftover risotto. Occasionally some cauliflower or eggplant. In a frying pan. It doesn;t really count for deep frying and it was liked by the family. A whole 'nother thing for a restaurant kitchen. Now i use peanut generally, and it works great but it's just us older generation. and i fry even less often.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

In my experience really excellent olive oils produced in small batches (similar to coffee beans or wines) are so distinctive in flavor that you want to handle them with minimal processing. When I buy an exceptional olive oil I treat it with care. So much so I make sure it is not in direct sunlight, that I don't use it for frying or even sauteing. Even beating olive oil in an aluminum bowl with an aluminum whisk can really alter the flavor. I prefer to gently mix the olive oil in a glass bowl as opposed to a metal mixing bowl. With these types of olive oils I typically use them only for making a vinaigrette or for finishing a dish. 

For frying I like to use peanut oil since I think it gives the best taste. I have deep fried with olive oil but it just seems like a waste to me as the high heat completely breaks down all the meaningful characteristics of the oil. I have however worked in very high end restaurants where we fried artichoke chips in evoo. In retrospect I am not sure that was such a great idea. The one thing I do like fried in olive oil are eggs. My yia yia (grandmother) used to fry my eggs in olive oil and it really has a nice flavor. 

I have used canola oil but I think it's only redeeming quality is the cost savings. It has really been interesting reading all the info on Canola oil. Too tell you all the truth the more I read and learn about the Monsanto company the more I no longer want to use any of their products.


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## gonefishin (Nov 6, 2004)

My current year harvested olive oils...



I've got a picual from Chile and two from Spain (Castillo de Canna), an arbequina from Spain (CdC) and from Sicily. I've also got a bottle of Royal olives from Spain, current harvest. I've had the pleasure of buying a couple of these same olive oils year after year. This is the largest difference I have tasted between any other years of fresh harvested olive oils across the board (comparing the same oil from previous year), all of the arbequina are much milder and less grassy aggressive tones.

Canola, olive oil? There's a time and a place for both. Olive oil, especially certain types of olive oil are extremely flavorful and can overpower delicate proteins and mild tasting vegetables. If I want a lighter, smooth olive oil I'll grab my French blend. But I still use other oils for times I don't want to add a bunch of extra flavor.

Dan


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## javierfaro (Mar 14, 2011)

I have found in the region an excellent alternative to fry on high temperature: Coconut oil. However, it provides some particular flavor in my opinion it's not disgusting at all. Contrary, could be nice...


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