— Linda Bunzel

Let me start out by saying that, uh, I like to cook in a, in a low stress environment. And, um, um, generally speaking, I don't get too caught up in, in some of these, um, uh, uh, these, these uber details, um, of, of one oil versus another, okay? Necessarily. Um, but let me address this from a couple of angles, okay? From a, uh, from a health perspective, uh, there are certainly different nutrient profiles that are associated with different oils, okay? Um, more refined oils, uh, will have more of their inherent nutrients removed, and so they're really not offering you, um, as much as a less refined oil could. Okay? Now, uh, you know, having said that, I mean, generally speaking, uh, it's probably a good idea for most people, most of the time to limit, uh, the amount of cooking oil that's added, okay? That's used, okay? During your, your day-to-day, uh, kitchen operations. All right? So in other words, don't rely on oil as a significant source of your nutrients. All right? Uh, I think whole fats are a different, different story. If we're talking about eating avocados or, or olives or, or walnuts or almonds, for example, that's a different story. But when we're talking about cooking oils generally, right? Uh, we want to limit the quantities there. Now, um, uh, when we, uh, think about, uh, nutrient profiles, you know, I, I think, um, uh, olive oil, you know, very often sort of, uh, comes to the, the, the top of the heap, so to speak. It's, uh, associated with, um, uh, the very helpful, uh, uh, you know, health positive Mediterranean diet. And, um, you know, folks have a lot of success, uh, you know, using that as, uh, their one and only oil. Um, but, uh, again, I'll let you leave that to your preference. Um, some of those, uh, oil choices, um, from a now culinary perspective, okay, can, uh, be dictated by the flavor profile. So, for example, in some regional cuisines, or maybe, uh, based upon your personal preference, uh, coconut oil, uh, is preferred or not, or olive oil is preferred or not, okay? Other, uh, more refined oil is, are pretty neutral, okay? Um, you know, my experience, avocado oil, uh, is, is neutral. Um, canola oil right, is neutral. Um, and, uh, as you get into these more highly filtered olive oils, like the light olive oil, uh, they tend to be more neutral in flavor or, or much, much lighter in flavor. Okay? So that choice becomes a personal one from a culinary perspective. Again, not a health perspective, but a culinary perspective now. Okay? Um, the other consideration would be, uh, smoke point. And smoke point, um, is a sort of a, a, a, a general, um, uh, category of, of, of, um, uh, to talk, to talk about or, or a way to look at oils where visibly you start to see smoke, um, coming from that oil as it gets to a certain temperature and exceeds that temperature. Okay? And generally speaking, we want to stay away from the smoke point and cook at something below that. Um, now there are certainly a lot of, uh, nuances to this discussion, uh, if we were to get into the chemistry of cooking oils and how different oils based upon their constituent properties are more or less resistant to heat. Um, but I'll let you pursue that if you're interested through academic papers that are accessible, uh, through databases online. Um, uh, but otherwise, as from a culinary perspective, uh, a general way, uh, to, to, or thing to keep in mind is just to kind of keep the oil below the smoke point. Um, and, and it, um, there's less damage, uh, that's done to the oil and that that rolls over, uh, into the culinary side of things, because flavor and aroma can be negatively affected, and then also into the health side of our discussion, uh, because, um, the positive aspects of the oil can decline and, and negative health aspects can, uh, increase, uh, if, if that's the way we are handling the oil, okay? So, uh, you know, ultimately there's, in my opinion, no single go-to oil. This is an individual decision, uh, based upon perhaps your family culture, uh, or maybe some other, uh, beliefs or information that, um, you wanna base your decision on. Okay? And it can certainly be situational, as I mentioned, based upon the regional cuisine, uh, that you may be preparing. Okay? And, uh, so think about all these things and how you might wanna proceed, uh, with the way that you select your cooking oil. Thank you.