Cooking oils are a pantry staple used for various things like frying, saute, making dips and success, adding in salads, food for flavor, and many other uses. There is a lot of variety of plant-based oils available, you can choose them depending upon your usage, flavor, and benefits offered by them.
The most common types of oils that people find difficult to choose between are olive oil and vegetable oil. Each of them has unique characteristics and this article will help you decide what’s better for your health.
About Olive oil
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As the name says olive oils are the natural juices from pressed olives and can be consumed directly. They are rich in Vitamin K and E and High in anti-oxidants. They have a low smoke point. Olive oils can be salad dressings, as dips on bread, flavorings, and grilling. It is rich in flavor.
About Vegetable oil
Vegetable oils are a blend of different oils like canola, sunflower, corn, soy, and peanut, etc. It has no flavor of its own but does provide basic oil benefits and minimum nutrients. It has a high smoke point.
The debate: Which is better
Let’s consider the following points to differentiate among them:
Extraction and processing
Just remember one rule, the more processed the oil is, the less the flavor it will have. And every oil undergoes processing to get rid of impurities.
Olive oil is extracted from pressed olives which makes it less processed than a vegetable oil which is a mixture of various other oils, therefore processing is necessary. Hence olive oil is flavourful and the latter is neutral.
The degree of processing does not only affect the flavor but its nutrients as well. While both oils contain unsaturated fatty acids, they offer different nutrients. Olive oil is high in monosaturated fats which are anti-inflammatory and great for heart health. Vegetable oil has low micronutrients and contains polyunsaturated fats that are pro-inflammatory and can harm heart health if consumed in excess.
Olive oil has a smoke point of 390 degrees Fahrenheit and vegetable oil has 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore vegetable oil suits better when you have to cook at high temperatures or you don’t want the flavor of the oil to overpower the flavor of food.
Well, practically olive oil provides has a better nutritional value attached to it and is better for health too. But, they are not versatile in nature which means they cannot be used everywhere.
In conclusion, answering which oil is better it is without doubt minimally processed olive oil due to its health benefits.