Quality Food Oils

flowerpower *
flowerpower * Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

I am interested in producing food oil. When we are producing our own food what would we do for oils? Our body needs quality oils, although nuts and seeds could also be used. Oils can be freshly cold pressed from quality ingredients.

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Vegetable-Oil

Comments

  • annbeck62
    annbeck62 Posts: 1,028 ✭✭✭✭

    @flowerpower * have you tried it yet? I'd be curious how easy/hard it is as organic cold pressed oil is expensive to buy.

  • flowerpower *
    flowerpower * Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    @annbeck62 I am still at the point of getting equipment. I do use a small coffee grinder to grind up flax seeds to use cold. I sprinkle nuts and seeds on prepared dishes especially salads. I am looking at the organic virgin olive oil and coconut oil that I use for cooking and wondering how I could prepare something similar locally.

  • happy-trails
    happy-trails Posts: 170 ✭✭✭

    Very cool! My favorites for cooking on high heat are avocado oil and tallow. Many oils denature and become unhealthy/toxic to the body at higher temperatures. I also try to consume olive oil for cold or low-heated foods, and coconut oil regularly (cold pressed organic and first pressing preferable). I need to incorporate more schmaltz and duck fat too!

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    I think the easiest thing for most gardeners to use for making oil at home would be sunflowers and safflowers. Unless you are lucky enough to live in an area where you can grow nuts. Hazelnuts grow in my area but it would be an armed battle with the squirrels to collect enough to make even a tiny bit of oil.:) A lot of the other seeds that you could grow for oil would take quite a bit of space to get enough to produce any oil. Flaxseed takes a bit of effort to husk and clean. Avocados, olives and coconuts are definitely out of my zone!

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The oil presses in the article are interesting but I wonder about using alcohol or kerosene to heat the equipment so the oil will flow properly. I wouldn't want kerosene near mine if I have any say about it.

    I wonder if using these machines are considered cold processed even though they light the fluids like an oil lamp to heat the equipment (and/or oil)?

  • flowerpower *
    flowerpower * Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    @vickeym I also did a pause when I saw the oil being heated. I guess the deciding factor is what oil is being pressed and how much heat it can take. Notice how flax seed is baked into goods? I think flax oil should be kept cold, in the freezer preferrably.

  • Tave
    Tave Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭✭

    If it's for cooking and I'm going to heat it anyway, I render chicken fat to use and save the good oils for salad. Of course, it wouldn't work if you want to be a vegetarian, but it's healthier than refined oils.

  • flowerpower *
    flowerpower * Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    @Tave We used to use beef tallow and butter for frying foods. I think that the current idea is that lard is healthy again and is able to take high temperatures. We had a can by the stove and collected drippings. The problem with that is, maybe our cans had plastic liners.

  • Tave
    Tave Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @flowerpower * We did too. It all went into glass jar or old coffee cup. Real butter makes everything better:)

  • DurwardPless
    DurwardPless Posts: 162 ✭✭✭
    edited December 2020

    Most things that I have read lately dealing with healthy oil is to keep the ratio of Omega 3s to Omega 6s as close to 1 to 1 as you can. When I had my DNA tested they told me my body needs mono-unsaturated oil (olive oil) and that I should supplement with that and Omega 3s (which are usually sourced from fish and krill),

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    @DurwardPless Following is a link to an article suggesting that depending on your body and individual symptoms a different ratio might be better suited to you. Its just the abstract and not the full article but it gives one thought for more research. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12442909/ Its pretty difficult to reach a 1:1 ratio but getting it down from the SAD ratio to 4:1 or 3:1 would be a good objective.

    I think it is important to increase your Omega-3s to offset the ratio with Omega-6 but it can be done in the diet and you don't necessarily have to take supplements. Grass fed meat and dairy is high in Omega 3. Flaxseeds and chia seeds are both very high in ALA Omega-3s. If you have Rosalee's book Wild Remedies, there is an excellent recipe that combines flax and chia to make a gluten free muffin. "High Fibre Blackberry Muffins".

    There are other mono-unsaturated fats besides olive oil. Avocado, peanut, sesame, sunflower, safflower, walnut. These oils might also be better for high heat cooking than olive oil. They are nice for varying the flavour if you are making your own salad dressings. But even these oils are not created equal. Some may not be pure and some are processed with chemical solvents (most commonly, petroleum based hexane) and/or high heat.

    Krill oil may be a good source of Omega-3, but make sure you are getting a good quality oil. I watched a program on the harvesting of krill and not all companies are doing it sustainably and some companies may be adulterating the end product with other fish oils. Check your labels and make sure your oils are pure and coming from a good source. Don't trust the front label; turn it over and read the small print. Personally, I like cold water salmon oil. But again, check your labels. Not all salmon oil products are pure. Our coastal First Nations used to make a fish oil product (some nations still do) from a small fish called Eulachon or Ooligan. This was done before first contact so it was accomplished without equipment in a factory setting. It was a very important part of their diet.

    In keeping with the discussion here on making quality oils, peanuts are something that a lot of gardeners would be able to use to produce their own oil. I have made peanut butter from scratch and it readily separates. But growing them is not a project for me. I am a bit too far north.

  • DurwardPless
    DurwardPless Posts: 162 ✭✭✭
    edited December 2020

    @torey very good!

  • flowerpower *
    flowerpower * Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    I used to make a butter substitute called "better butter" which mixed flax seed oil with butter. I think the recipe was from "Laurel's Kitchen". Now I mix flax seed oil with coconut oil, using organic oils, quality sea salt, and blending it so that it has an smooth spreading quality when stored in the fridge.

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • heirlooms777
    heirlooms777 Posts: 208 ✭✭✭

    I make bone broth almost every day in a clay crock pot. The first batch is full of tallow, which I put in ice cube trays and use when cooking. Sally Fallon Morell said that bone broth is the base of all good cooking.

    @happy-trails What is schmaltz?

    I want to learn to make butter and ghee.

    I have to admit, I’m not really interested in other oils. I like flax seed meal, for example, with the whole grain.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    @heirlooms777 I don't think happy-trails is with us any more but I can answer that one for you. Schmaltz is clarified chicken or goose fat. What do you use as the base for salad dressings?

  • heirlooms777
    heirlooms777 Posts: 208 ✭✭✭

    @torey I am not sure I eat raw salads alone anymore. I usually add them at the end of a dish, starting with the heaviest vegetables to cook, and ending with something raw or almost raw. This dish is usually cooked with bone broth. But now that you mention it, I am not sure what I use for a dressing of a raw salad. Years ago I used olive oil and perhaps avocado, but I will have to think about it.