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Family Kitchen
Heart Healthy Cooking with Canola Oil: How Does Your Oil Compare?
For years, canola oil has been the standard cooking oil in my kitchen – not only because it’s locally grown and produced, minimizing food miles (olive oil must of course come from Italy, Spain, Greece or other similarly distant countries) but because it has a high smoke point, light, neutral flavour and is heart-healthy, containing less saturated fat than olive oil. In fact, canola oil contains 11% essential omega 3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is an essential omega-3 fatty acid and linoleic acid (LA) is an essential omega-6 fatty acid; both are polyunsaturated.
Canola oil is a good source of the ALA omega-3 fatty acid and its ratio of 2:1 of omega-6 to omega-3 is nutritionally ideal). To compare, olive oil contains only 1% omega 3s. Check out the breakdown of dietary fats in common cooking oils below to see how your favorite compares.
Canola oil is ideal for cooking on the stovetop, for deep and shallow frying, and also for baked goods and vinaigrettes – I use it for everything, unless I’m looking for the flavor of olive oil – perhaps to dip bread. Even then, a good quality cold-pressed canola oil is pretty fantastic. Canola oil is ideal for cakes, muffins, quickbreads – anything with a cakey texture can be made by swapping oil for butter, which is far higher in saturated fats. (Use slightly less oil than you would butter.) Of course other baked goods can be made with canola oil, too – they may just require a little more tweaking.
Meanwhile, try making your own homemade potato chips, using canola oil!
Homemade Potato Chips
Have you ever bought those high-end, thickly sliced olive oil potato chips at a gourmet shop for $6 per bag? Last I checked, potatoes were dirt cheap! Homemade potato chips are dead easy to make, and can be seasoned however you see fit. Because they are baked with canola oil, the fat you get is the healthy kind.
3 medium russet or Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled OR 1 large sweet potato, unpeeled
1-2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 clove garlic, crushed, or ¼ tsp. garlic powder (optional)
1/2 tsp. each salt and pepperPreheat oven to 450˚F.
Scrub potato and slice lengthwise or width-wise into very thin, uniform slices. A mandolin does the best job.
If you are using garlic, stir it into the oil. Brush two baking sheets, preferably nonstick, with about 1/2 tbsp. of oil and place in the oven to heat for about 10 minutes.
Remove the baking sheets from the oven and arrange potato slices on sheets in a single layer. Bake until potatoes are golden on the bottom side, about 20 minutes. Turn potatoes over and bake until they are golden brown all over, about 15-20 minutes more.
Transfer to paper towels to cool. Repeat with the remaining potatoes. Serves 4.
Per serving: 86 calories, 3.5 g total fat (0.3 g saturated fat, 2 g monounsaturated fat, 0.1 g polyunsaturated fat), 17 g protein, 12.6 g carbohydrate, 0 mg cholesterol, 1.2 g fiber. 35% calories from fat
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Emily commented on Sep 05 10 at 8:09 amJulie, I would just encourage you to do some research on canola oil (canola is a marketing name for “canada” and “oil”), which is really an oil from the rapeseed plant (which is toxic). This is a relatively new oil. And think about our health in the last 50 years (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc. etc.). Not to mention that an obscene amount of canola is genetically modified, of which we have no idea what the repercussions. Me, I’ll stick with the olive oil the Mediterranean people have been eating for thousands of years and living long, healthy lives.
JulieVR commented on Sep 05 10 at 11:54 amEmily – yes, I’ve done plenty of research on canola oil – the name “canola” was derived from “Canadian Oil, Low Acid” in 1978. I’m aware of all the myths making rounds via email and the internet – you can read a more about why they aren’t true on Snopes -
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp – if you look around, the following offer unsolicited and unbiased responses to the myths as well: Western Producer has a rebuttal to canola misinformation; Washington Post’s “Canola Baloney” rebuttal to canola misinformation – you’ll also find info at the Cancer Association; Health Central; American Council of Science and Health.
Beth commented on Sep 06 10 at 6:54 pmI guess I will take my chances of dying from the traditional grass fed butter & beef tallow, organic expeller pressed plant and seed oils, and virgin coconut oil. Any article promoting a “myth” is more than likely a big-business paid marketing spin anyway. You know, like babble teaming with Similac to promote breastfeeding – I think NOT. (More like Similac waiting to pounce on vulnerable mothers) Of course, this comment will never make it past the approval process anyway, so I should save my energy huh…traditional foods, God-intended methods of feeding never win over mankind’s self imposed “supremacy”.
JulieVR commented on Mar 16 11 at 7:58 pmThis post was not paid for by anyone. I use canola oil in my own home, for myself and my family.
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