Choosing Healthy Cooking Oil for Your Family
Cooking oil is an indispensable condiment on the family dining table. Consuming an appropriate amount of cooking oil daily can enhance the family's physical fitness. However, the current cooking oil market is rife with adulterated and counterfeit products, with some unscrupulous vendors even selling "gutter oil." For the sake of our family's health, how should we choose cooking oil?
The cooking oils we commonly consume are mostly vegetable oils, including corn oil, peanut oil, olive oil, camellia oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, sesame oil, and walnut oil. When purchasing cooking oil, we can follow these methods:
Look at the color: Generally, the more refined a vegetable oil is, the lighter its color. However, due to different raw materials, each type of vegetable oil has its own characteristic color.
Look at the clarity: Pure vegetable oil is transparent. Therefore, when purchasing cooking oil, be sure to choose a clear and transparent one, and the higher the clarity, the better.
Smell the aroma: Place one or two drops of cooking oil on your palm, rub your hands together until warm, and then smell it carefully. You can purchase it if there is no unusual odor (rancid or pungent smell).
Taste the flavor: Use chopsticks to take a drop of oil and taste it carefully. Cooking oil with a slightly sour taste is不合格 (unqualified) and should not be purchased. Cooking oil with other off-flavors should also not be purchased.
Listen: Take one or two drops of oil from the bottom of the bottle, apply it to a flammable piece of paper. If it burns abnormally and makes a "sizzling" sound, it indicates that the oil has excessive moisture and is unqualified. If it makes a "popping" or "crackling" sound when burned, it suggests that the oil may contain impurities.
Health Tip
Cooking oil can easily volatilize and spoil if stored improperly. So, how should we store vegetable oil? Vegetable oil is sensitive to direct light, air, high temperatures, and water. Therefore, when storing it, be sure to protect it from light, seal it tightly, keep it at a low temperature, and keep it away from water.