Olive and Canola oil: For almost all occasions

Cinzia Cuneo 11 gennaio, 2012 salute

Fat has a bad reputation, but this is undeserved. Fat is required by the body and brain to function properly. It also adds flavour to food. It’s the type and quantity of fat that matters.

You will notice in our recipes that, most of the time, we recommend olive and canola oil. Both are good choices as they contain “good fats” and little or no “bad fats“, such as saturated and trans fats.

Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats, which reduces the bad low-density (LDL) cholesterol and increases the good high-density (HDL) cholesterol. Our recipes typically recommend the very tasty extra-virgin olive oil for vinaigrettes (for pouring over cold vegetables and grills), and ordinary olive oil for cooking.

Canola oil is an excellent source of a specific omega-3 component (alpha-linolenic acid) which the human body is unable to produce. Its taste is very light and it is a good choice for cooking at high temperature (frying) because its “smoke point” (temperature at which both flavour and nutrients start to degrade) is very high.

In summary, stock up on olive and canola oil and follow our recipes!

Autori

Cinzia Cuneo

Italiana di nascita e canadese d'adozione, Cinzia ha deciso di coniugare le sue competenze professionali e la sua passione per la buona tavola sviluppando un servizio per aiutare i numerosi «aventi bisogno» a riprendere il controllo della loro alimentazione. Così è nata SOSCuisine. Ingegnere di formazione al Politecnico di Torino, Cinzia ha conseguito un Master's Degree in scienze applicate all'École Polytechnique de Montréal.